Bin free, behaviour change
and the business case for recycling
Dr Keith Pitcher
Sustainable Development Manager
www.leeds.ac.uk/environmental
University of Leeds
30,500 full-time students
7,700 part-time students
31,000 enrolled on short courses
8,000 staff
10,000+ MAIN CAMPUS WASTE
BINS
Environmental Policy
University of Leeds
Environmental Policy – March 2006.
We will conduct our own activities and
operations to reflect best environmental
practice, implement an environmental
management system (EMS) to pursue
sustainability and continuous
improvement and seek innovative ways
of meeting environmental objectives.
Our EMS:
•
summarises environmental performance;
•
sets targets and monitors improvements;
•
provides new programmes and financial resources;
•
delivers a culture that embraces environmental best practice and;
Waste management and recycling is a key objective of our EMS
Waste management – legislation & targets
Landfill tax increasing by £3/tonne per year to £24/tonne in 2007,
£8/tonne per year from 2008 i.e. doubling over a 3 year period
New regulations:
WEEE, hazardous waste, construction site
waste management
We will meet or better UK recycling targets
• 25% by 2005
• 40% by 2010 (was 30%)
• 45% by 2015 (was 33%)
• 50% by 2020
Waste management – not recycling
‘I was shocked and appalled by our visit to the waste site yesterday; within 5 minutes I was
knee deep in paper and books. These were not isolated incidences but originated from across
the university community.’ – Quote from Environmental Co-ordinator
Office recycling pilot
New recycling bins installed on each floor of 5 buildings
•glass, plastics, cans & paper
Monitoring carried out by environment team and Sustainability Research Institute student
Results from pilot:
Recycling rate
Pre scheme
Voluntary scheme
(individual bins remain)
Post scheme implementation
(no bins)
Outcome: Individual office waste bins to be removed
(%)
24
28
55%-75%
Recycling facilities
IT recycling
Initial assessment - a bit of an
underestimate!
Recycling
summary
s
Waste recycling summary
2,000
1,800
1,600
Scrap metal *
Cooking oil
Batteries
1,400
Mobile phones
Toners
Tonnes
1,200
Wood
Chemical bottles
1,000
Fluoro tubes
Computers
Plastics
800
Aluminium cans
Glass
600
Cardboard
Paper
Refuse
400
200
0
(Mar-Dec) (Jan-Dec) (Jan-Dec) (Jan-Dec) (Jan-Dec) (Jan-Dec) (Jan-Dec) (Jan-Dec) (Jan-Aug)
Recycle
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
17.5%
14.8%
18.4%
16.9%
19.6%
26.6%
34.3%
40.3%
2008
43.3%
Staff: Attitudes and Opinions
Communication with staff & students – the
key to success
Staff meetings held with all departments prior
to scheme implementation in their building
Short period for settling in
A lot recycle at home, so recycling at work not
a problem
Bef ore: Level of satisfaction with
recycling facilities provided (civ eng Staf f )
departme
nt
5
14
University
45
32
local
authority
41
14
UK
5
0%
Fine tune where necessary
32
27
45
18
27
23
36
20%
40%
27
60%
80%
100%
v.satisfied satisfied neutral dissatisfied v.dissatisfied
Accept that for a small minority change is
difficult
Af ter: Level of satisfaction with
recycling facilities provided (civ eng staf f )
Plenty of ideas to improve recycling
Leaving office waste bins
doesn’t work!
depart
ment
Univers
ity
9
48
4
0%
22
43
20%
v.satisfied
17
39
40%
satisfied
60%
neutral
4
13
80%
100%
Business case key areas
•
Historic quantities of waste collected
•
Measured performance improvements from pilot
•
Changes in costs: waste collection, landfill tax & investment
•
Income/costs from recycled materials collected
•
Refocus cleaning services’ work
•
Other non financial benefits
• Publicity
• Proves we have a ‘can do’ culture
• Opportunity for future benefits e.g. more that could be recycled
160,000
160,000
140,000
140,000
recycling bins cost
landfill tax
120,000
w aste to landfill
120,000
business as usual
100,000
100,000
80,000
Current issue on
market value of 80,000
recycled products
60,000
60,000
40,000
40,000
20,000
20,000
0
0
2004/5
2005/6
2006/7
2007/8
2008/9
2009/10
Business as usual cost (£)
Cost of waste management programme (£)
Business case summary
New phases
Waste management contract:
• Composting of all food waste
• Mechanical sorting of mixed waste
at MRF
• Target for 2008/9: 50% recycling,
with 70% reached by the end of the
year
Site waste management plans
• Requirement for all university
construction contracts
Final thoughts
Make it strategic
• Establish waste management team
• Develop business cases
• sign off at director level
• include targets, benefits and funding
• publicise progress
Cost savings and environmental improvements can
be achieved (brings finance into the loop)
Consultation with staff & students essential
• why and what we can do
• starts an environmental ‘can do’ culture
More information
• see www.leeds.ac.uk/environmental
The VC said ‘The office
waste recycling scheme
has already been a great
success, but we need
everyone to take part if
we are going to make a
real difference.’