Recycling

Harper Adams University College is committed to promoting sustainability and recycling on the campus. Find out more about the wide range of projects and promotions that are taking place.

College increases its recycling

Since August 2007 Karen Hughes, our Environment and Waste Management Officer, has made great inroads into improving the recycling and management of the University College's waste. A campus waste stream model has been developed and a 'Guide to Recycling at Harper' to show where the waste is disposed. There are only a few waste streams now that we cannot get recycled, mainly due to low quantity and have adopted the practice of closed loop recycling where possible.

Re-use and recycle in action

In May 2010 Harper Adams held its first ever Swishing event which was a great success, with over 35 female staff, students and local residents attending.

Swishing is where you take along items of clothing, jewellery, footwear and accessories of a good quality in exchange for tokens equivalent to the number of items to take along. The idea is that you then exchange your tokens for items that other people have taken along.

The themes of reuse, recycle, saving money and more importantly saving items going to landfill was a good example of how Harper staff, students and the local community are committed to reducing their environmental impact. The event was such a success that there are plans to hold another one later in the year in time for Christmas balls and events.

All remaining items were taken along to the Newport Severn Hospice shop who were more than delighted with the quality items they received that would help to raise funds for our local hospice.

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Students on recycling – annual survey

Now in our third year, we have conducted a 'student perception survey on recycling at Harper' to get the students views on recycling in general and to find out what they think about the recycling facilities here at Harper and are we doing enough! The survey focuses on some key themes:

• How important is recycling to them and to the environment
• What motivates them to recycle or not
• How can we encourage them to recycle or recycle more
• What they think of the facilities here at Harper
• And importantly, how can we improve them
• As well their suggestions for recycling more things and where!

Over the last two years various improvements have been made as a result of the survey, such as; recycling bins going into the self-catering accommodation and catering areas, trials of paper recycling bins in lecture rooms, more signage to the recycling facilities just to name a few.

The Guide to Recycling at Harper sets out the types of waste that can be recycled and where on the campus.

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Closed loop recycling

As part of the closed loop recycling philosophy, here at Harper Adams we are trying to recycle and reuse the materials we have here elsewhere on campus.

For example, all of our construction waste is now crushed and reused on campus for things such as stone bases for pathways and foundations.

The new Countryside, Environment, Leisure and Tourism (CELT) Resource Building is reusing crushed aggregate from the development of the new Student Services Building as the base material of its new pathways. Waste wood from the campus grounds will be chipped and provide the top layer of pathway with wood chippings. The straw wall of the building used straw from the College Farm.

We have also recycled our farm plastic waste which went for reprocessing at Omnia Plastics in Wolverhampton and turned into plastic bollards. We now have these located around the campus.

Next year we will be able to recycle our farm slurry and food waste from all the catering facilities and the self catering accommodation in the new on site Anaerobic Digester which will be converted into heat and power for the College.

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70% Recycling of Catering Waste

Back in late 2006 the Catering department was only recycling its waste cooking oil and cardboard. Today it is recycling around 70% of its waste with exception of non recyclable plastics, food waste and polystyrene. As of next year we will be able to recycle our food waste in the Anaerobic Digester.

The Catering department now recycles its glass, paper, cardboard and plastic. The waste cooking oil is still recycled but converted into biodiesel on site which we use in our vehicles on campus.

The increase in volume of recycling has been achieved through improvements of waste segregation and management, various small projects were undertaken to improve the efficiency of the catering departments recycling and the introduction of green procurement with the help of Placement student James Smith last year.

Future plans are to have supplier days to look at reducing the amount of packaging and look at alternative recyclable products and continuing to improving food quality and procurement in order to reduce waste.

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Increased Recycling Bins on Site

Following the successful trial in early 2008 in Darwin A and B, self-catering halls of residence, with the introduction of recycling bins in each of the kitchens for the segregation of cardboard, paper, cans and plastic bottles, saw the scheme rolled out to the other two self catering halls of residence and some self catering houses on campus in September 2008. In September 2009 all self-catering accommodation had recycling bins in their kitchens. Recycling bins were also placed in all the catering dining rooms for plastic bottles, paper and cans as well as containers outside staff offices, in the Library and Student Services. As with all new schemes they were not without their teething problems which are closely monitored for usage and contamination levels via the help of the Domestic Services staff.

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Confidential Paper Collection

Harper Adams is committed to ensuring it complies with the Data Protection Act 1998 and has introduced confidential waste paper collection points in a variety of locations across the College campus. These bins were introduced to increase security and reduce time wasted shredding and the reduce disposal costs, as a bin of shredded paper is mostly fresh air. The confidential paper is shredded by a local bulk shredding company, WN Security Shredding, who then turn our powdered paper into the green hand towels you find in the toilets.

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Recycling Guide

'A Guide to Recycling' for all staff and students has been published and is available to download as a PDF document. Other initiatives will include awareness-raising campaigns, as well as appropriate signage in various buildings to remind everyone how easy recycling can be.

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Useful Resources

• Waste and your duty of care - Defra
• Student Perception Survey on Recycling
• Campus Plan - includes location of all recycling points