MINUTES OF THE FIRST MEETING OF THE RECYCLING
& WASTE MANAGEMENT SUB-GROUP
HELD ON 1ST MAY 2007
Present:
Alan Stephens, Head of House Services
Andrew Walker, University Health, Safety and Environmental Advisor
Roger Matthews, Deputy Director of Information Services
Dr Russell Davies, Marketing Manager
Diane Jones, Estates Office
Joan Rowlands, Arts Centre
Neil Weston, Chief Technician, Institute of Rural Sciences
Apologies: None received
Mr. Alan Stephens (AS) extended a warm welcome to all present to the first
meeting of the Recycling & Waste Management Sub-Group. All that attended
introduced themselves and a revised agenda was distributed.
1.
Minutes of the Previous Meeting.
a) There were no minutes of a previous meeting as this was the first.
2.
Purpose, Scope, Definition and Responsibility of the Sub-Group
a) Dr Andrew Walker (AW) gave the background for establishing the
Recycling and Waste Management sub-group and made reference to a
previous group named the Sustainability Advisory Group. An audit report
from the University’s auditors, Price Waterhouse Coopers, recommended
establishing an Environmental Strategy Policy that is supported by UWA
senior management.
b) An overview of the University Environment Strategy was given by AW to
include reporting to UWA Council via the Health, Safety and Environment
Committee.
c) A number of specialist sub groups have been formed that form the
Environmental Strategy Group to include, Procurement, Transport and
Travel, Resource Consumption (water and energy), Waste and Recycling
and Green Curriculum Training. Each sub group is to be championed as
delegated by Dr John Harries, Pro Vice-Chancellor.
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3.
Definition of Recycling / Waste and Stakeholders
a) AS referred to the draft document of the Recycling and Waste
Management Sub-Group and asked for any observations, suggestions or
amendments. A page turn of the document was carried out.
b) AS stated he had written to IGES and Ben Gray of the Students Guild, but
had not received a response from either.
c) Mr Neil Weston (NW) suggested that Mr Hugh McConochie, Farms
Manager, should be included in the list attendees. AS agreed to consider
the suggestion and consult the Head of Department for the Institute of
Rural Sciences, Professor William Haresign.
Action AS
d) Mrs Diane Jones (DJ) asked should Asbestos be excluded? AW said it is
necessary to follow legal aspects regarding removal of Asbestos, as this
needs strict compliance. It was agreed to add Asbestos to the list of
materials and products within the scope of the sub group.
e) Ms Joan Rowlands (JR) enquired whether there was a committee
responsible for the excluded items. AW replied that the Health and Safety
Committee would be concerned with hazardous chemicals, fluorescent
tubes and construction waste, etc. New regulations are due shortly
whereby large construction projects will need their own dedicated waste
plans. Estates will be the UWA department charged with ensuring
compliance on such plans.
4.
What is being Recycled Now?
a) AS passed round a handout of a list of recyclables that gave the method
of recycling and name of the recycling contractor. Not all recyclables
identified has a recycling method and are yet to be arranged.
b) There were positive comments from the members and was the first time
any form of concise list of recycling had been seen. It was suggested by
several members whether some form of table could be incorporated into a
web page. AW mentioned the need to update the existing recycling maps.
This issue was discussed and AS agreed to host some recycling
information in the House Services web pages. Options discussed mouse
over maps giving the viewer detailed information as to what can be
recycled and where. AS agreed to investigate the idea.
c) DJ referred to the Wastewise web page and as the site was not yet live
AS suggested a link to the House Services site could be included when
the site is live.
d) AS went though the Recycling Procedure handout. He mentioned that
paper has been recycled for over ten years together with printer cartridges
and other recyclables. Some departments have their own arrangement in
place, for example The Institute of Biological Sciences send away their
own printer cartridges to a charity. AS explained that the practise for the
past 3 or 4 years is to use Action Aid for used printer cartridges. To help
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e)
f)
g)
h)
i)
j)
with transportation issues, 5 or 6 bags are stockpiled before calling Action
Aid.
AW enquired about the Waste Stream and what is the cost. AS replied
that the cost of waste disposal to the university was about £128k for
2005/2006. There is an arrangement with Aberystwyth Recycling Centre
to recycle paper, cardboard, used beverage and food cans and soft
plastics. The service provided costs approximately £90 per week in
academic buildings and is cheaper than disposing of the waste via the
local authority route. Glass is recycled via Ceredigion Recycling
(Aberystwyth Skip Hire).
DJ asked where florescent tubes and hazardous waste goes to. AS
replied that spent fluorescent tubes and lamps are stored in large steel
rectangular containers at Llanbadarn campus and when full are swapped
with empty containers by a company from Manchester which is organised
by the Estates Office. Also at Llanbadarn there is a large metal skip for
recycling scrap metal that is also used by the IRS workshop. AS said that
the facility is only open during normal work time as to prevent fly tipping.
At the moment the University has no arrangement for disposing of
electrical items except for redundant computer equipment.
Fridges and freezers should be taken to the civic amenity site at
Glanyrafon and there will be a charge to the respective department.
The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment was mentioned by DJ and
AW advised that there are several companies have equipment to shred
the equipment with sophisticated equipment to separate individual
materials.
AS advised the sub group that it was difficult to recycle furniture and that
CRAFT were quite choosy in what they took. TFTS take a lot of the old
type furniture that is used in their productions. Abandoned cars are not
such a problem at the moment as the price of scrap metal was good.
5. Ideas for reducing, reusing and repair, recycling and waste
disposal
a) AS informed about the success of the recent weekly email promoting the
reuse or recycling of wooden pallets. Goods delivered to the university are
sent by pallet are delivered by third party transport companies that have
no interest in taking back old pallets. Over 20 responses had been
received from students and staff.
b) AS informed the sub group that several new recycling banks had recently
been sited at Cwrt Mawr, Rosser and Trefloyne. The recycling sites are
being combined alongside the existing waste collection areas. A sign for
the sites was shown to the sub group. Recyclables include paper,
cardboard, beverage and food cans, glass and plastic bottles. AS advised
that some of the plastic bottle banks were full within 6 to 8 weeks and
contained 2 cubic metres of used plastic bottles or the equivalent of two
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c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
large wheely bins that would have cost £23.40 to dispose of via the
council refuse collection service.
AS advised that Residential and Hospitality Services is considering a trial
in self catered residences to recycle at source in kitchens.
AS gave more details about the WASTEWISE initiative and gave a
background to the project. The Wastewise logo had been adopted campus
wide for recycling with stickers being placed on external recycling banks.
The Estates Office is leading the Wastewise project via Mr Nigel Owen
and Mrs Diane Jones. DJ informed that the project is funded by Bangor,
Aberystwyth, the Carbon Trust and Higher Education Funding Council. JW
requested some of the stickers for use in the Arts Centre.
Action DJ
RM advised that during the summer it was proposed to replace large
numbers of computers in public workstation rooms. AS said he was aware
of the project and that there had already been discussions with Mr Nigel
Thomas about the project and the possibility of the disposal contractor for
IT Equipment to collect directly from Llandinam to reduce double handling.
Mr Roger Mathews (RM) said that Information Services has a large
obsolete mainframe computer for disposal. AS agreed to help as there
were several companies now offering disposal to include one from South
Wales that collect regularly from the Hospital and National Library.
Action AS
AS informed that all of the student residences now have a route for
recycling. AS gave examples of the sea front residences using the local
authority lilac bag scheme that cost 85p each with Pentre Jane Morgan
using green bags collected by Aberystwyth Recycling Centre on a weekly
basis.
AS mentioned a discussion with Dr Debra Croft about reusing redundant
IT equipment in the community. The project is being led by Mr Mark
Gibbon, an ex student of the university and is about taking IT into the
community that is called Communities First Partnership for Penparcau.
6. Grants for Reuse and Recycling
a) AS advised the sub group that the Welsh Assembly Government had
recently introduced a scheme whereby public sector organisations can bid
for funding between £500 and £5000, £10,000 in exceptional
circumstances. AS said that the university had been successful on two
previous occasions with grants of £840 and £2877 received. The two
grants received were spent on recycling bins and external plastic bottle
banks.
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7. Targets
a) A general discussion took place about setting targets for recycling. NW
said that the porters in Llanbadarn were good at identifying items for
recycling and asked how can we measure what is being recycled. AS
replied that several surveys are undertaken to monitor the amount of
waste that is disposed of via the refuse route as compared to that which is
recycled. As informed that the last survey a few months prior had shown
that 40% of waste from academic buildings is being recycled. The true
figure is slightly higher as the survey has no easy way to record the
volume of cans, glass and plastic bottles that is recycled from recycling
banks as they are emptied on a weekly collection round. It was agreed
that setting targets at this stage was unnecessary.
8. Education and Awareness
a) A discussion took place about raising awareness for recycling. It was
suggested that the weekly email was one option and another to have
available a clear and concise website to remind everyone. AS agreed to
use the RHS and House Services web pages using Mr Mathew Evans
who has responsibility for the web pages. One idea discussed is a map of
campus with pop up windows informing where to recycle and what. AS
agreed to follow up this issue.
Action AS
b) AS said he was aware of an initiative linking recycling / waste reduction
into the education curriculum. AW advised that there is an initiative to
include global citizenship into the HE sector curriculum.
9. Links with other Local Organisations
a) AS said that it had been suggested to open up the forum to other public
sector organisations in the area such as the National Library, Hospital and
Ceredigion County Council. The sub group discussed this topic and it was
agreed a good idea once the sub group was well established.
10. Legislative Compliance
a) AS informed that all recycling / waste activities must me legal and that the
university must be able to prove compliance. AS advised about the waste
transfer consignment notes received from Ceredigion County Council and
other contractors.
11. Any Other Business
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a) JR enquired about disposing of clean kitchen waste from the ART Centre
kitchen and asked whether the waste could be composted. AW outlined
some issues about composting and about the risks associated with
cooked and uncooked meats and the need to make any arrangement
rodent proof. AW informed the group about a company selling commercial
composting equipment seen at a recent conference and handed out
information about the “Rocket Accelerated Composter”. AW suggested
that a few members of the sub group with a specific interest in composting
meet to discuss any proposal.
b) NW said that at first there was some apprehensiveness about locating
recycling banks out side the Stapledon building. The route for showing
visitors during open and visiting days now includes the recycling banks
and is used as an important part of marketing for the department.
c) The importance of switching off computer monitors and screens was
raised and AS asked if the new equipment planned for the workstation
rooms would have the ability of an automatic off facility. RM advised that
this was an option that was being considered.
d) Dr Russell Davies (RD) advised that there is an issue of perception about
the storage of cardboard boxes and paper on the day of collection when
the promenade side of Old College has a small mountain of recyclables
awaiting collection. External storage due to the layout and listing status of
the building is unfortunately not an option.
e) The meeting closed at approximately 11:45 am and AS thanked everyone
for attending and for their contributions.
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Date and Time of the Next Meeting
a) The next meeting was arranged for 18 September 2007 at 10:30 am. The
venue is to be arranged.
Following the meeting, notification was received that IGES was nominating Dr
James Brasington as their representative. Dr Brasington apologised for not being
able to attend.