Waste and Recycling

Reducing the volumes and paying attention to the types of waste we produce is the best way to minimise the University’s impact on the environment. By consuming less, we reduce the amount of waste we produce. We also reduce pollution and the environmental impacts from the production of the items in the first place.

Lots of little things make a big difference

Think before you print: only print when necessary and make it double sided when you do. Use electronic versions for policy/strategy/guidance documents where possible.

Get rid of junk mail and unwanted subscriptions. Unsubscribe to services or opt for paperless communication.

Use a reusable coffee cup instead of paper cups for your hot drinks and receive a discount at EAT@NEWCASTLE venues.

Use a reusable bottle and drink tap water instead of buying bottled water.

Bring in lunch from home, made with the contents of your kitchen rather than buying a packaged lunch. Take your reduction mindset home by reducing packaging there as well by using reusable containers and buying loose food. Check out:

• Grainger Market for various loose produce sellers
• Many independent green grocers and health food shops offer soap, shampoo, and cleaning product refills
• Love Food, Hate Waste for food waste reduction guidance

Further information for colleagues on how to reduce waste at the University is available here (University login required).

Remember, reducing the amount of waste you produce is the best way to help the environment! But if you cannot avoid producing the waste, try reusing it...

With more than 6,000 staff and 27,000 students, the University is like a small town. Often, when someone has something they don’t need, it's exactly what someone else is looking for.

Sharing equipment and furniture that is no longer of use saves money. It also saves energy, raw materials and precious time, which could be put back into research and development. In addition to reusing items within the organisation (as seen on the mailing list below), reuse is also considered when carrying out much larger redevelopment projects, including the works happening at Castle Leazes. You can find out more about reuse as part of the Castle Leazes project here.

Furniture Reuse Mailing List

The Furniture Reuse mailing list is an informal way for colleagues to share items that they no longer need with a wide range of people across the University. Estates and Facilities may also utilise this mailing list to advertise larger collections of furniture that are available for the University community to reuse.

To sign up, send an email to sustainable-campus@ncl.ac.uk with the subject 'Join Furniture Reuse'.

To be removed from the list, please see NUIT's guide to unsubscribing from mailing lists, or simply email the Sustainability Team on the above email asking to be removed.

Better World Books donation point

The University now has a donation point for unwanted books right here on campus! We’ve partnered with Better World Books to set up a donation point in the entrance foyer to our Marjorie Robinson Library Rooms. The donation point is convenient and easy to use, but Better World Books do have some rules as to what can and can’t be donated. More advice on this can be found in the FAQs below.

Many waste streams can be recycled across our campus, and we provide paper, can and plastic recycling bins in all of our buildings.

For a full list of what can (and can't) be recycled, take a look at our recycling posters and at our Waste A-Z. Extra steps are necessary for the recycling of specialist waste (such as confidential waste), find more guidance on how to responsibly dispose of specialist waste here (University login required).

Paper

If clean, you can recycle all types of paper in the paper recycling bins, including:

• any white or coloured paper
• shredded paper
• photocopier and computer paper
• leaflets, magazines, journals, newspapers and catalogues
• envelopes, including those with brown paper and/ or windows
• thin card such as cereal packaging and microwave meal sleeves
• books

Please do not put waxed paper, sandwich wrappers or paper cups in the paper bins.

If you're having a clear-out or have a large number of books or journals to recycle, head here for instructions on ordering paper wheelie bins.

Cans and metal

Once properly cleaned, you can recycle cans and metals around the campus, including:

• aerosol cans
• foil
• food tins
• sweet and chocolate tins
• cans
• metal

Plastics

Once properly cleaned, you can recycle some plastics around the campus, including:

• plastic bottles and caps
• yoghurt pots
• margarine tubs
• clear or white plastic trays

Please do not put the following in the plastic recycling bins, as these materials can't be recycled:

• shrink wrap
• cling film
• black plastic
• plastic cutlery
• bubble wrap
• sandwich wrappers
• chocolate wrappers

What happens to recycling

Our recycling waste is removed from campus by a contractor and taken to a local Material Recovery Facility (MRF). At the MRF, the metals, plastics and paper are sorted and graded into different categories. They are then bailed and passed on to processing plants.

It is very important that the recycling stream does not contain food waste or non-recyclables. This can result in large volumes of waste becoming contaminated and no longer suitable for recycling.

There will always be a fraction of our waste that we cannot recycle. That doesn't mean that all of this waste must end up in a landfill. Our contractor takes our non-recyclables and bails it to create a Refuse Derived Fuel. This RDF is then burnt in Energy from Waste plants to generate heat and power.

Skips

If you are having a clear-out or have lots of rubble, scrap or other materials to dispose of, you can order a skip from the University waste contractor. To do this, contact the Sustainability Team.

More information on prices, types of skips, and how skips should be managed can be found here (University login required).
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) must be disposed of more carefully. Guidance for how to properly dispose of WEEE can be found here.

Batteries

You can dispose of domestic batteries (e.g. AAA, AA, C, D and 9V) via designated battery bins around campus. These bins are usually located in building foyers or school receptions.

Please do not put other types of batteries (e.g. mobile phone, laptop, lithium or lead acid batteries etc.) in or around these bins. For disposal of these types of batteries, see our guidance here (University login required) or email us at sustainable-campus@newcastle.ac.uk.

If you see, or need to dispose of, a battery that is damaged or swollen, please contact us in the Sustainability Team.

Please see the Waste A-Z to find out what can be recycled and what should go down other waste streams.

If you need further advice, please contact us at sustainable-campus@newcastle.ac.uk.

Information about how to dispose of specialist waste streams can be found in our waste information for colleagues here (University login required).

We in the Sustainability Team run a mailing list for colleagues across the University called Furniture Reuse. On the list, colleagues can easily advertise unwanted items that might be just the thing that other teams, schools, or departments were looking for. Equally, if a colleague or team are looking for specific items, they can also request any going spare via the list. In this way, Furniture Reuse facilitates and promotes the sustainable sharing and reusing of furniture throughout our university - reducing both spending and waste!

The list is open to all colleagues and postgraduate students, and undergraduate students can also request items through their personal tutor or another member of staff.
To sign up, simply send us in the team an email at sustainable-campus@newcastle.ac.uk.

You can find information about clear outs, skip prices and types, and how to order skips here (University login required).

We often receive requests for bins for very specific/niche waste streams, e.g. for cosmetics, coffee pods, pet food packaging etc.

In order to keep our recycling streams simple and easy to use we only focus on segregating material that the University directly produces. If you have identified a waste stream that the University directly produces that is not currently recycled by the University, please email us at sustainable-campus@newcastle.ac.uk and the team will assess whether the type and volume of waste you produce is sufficient to implement its own scheme, and how feasible this would be.

If you’re unsure about what can and can’t be recycled, see our Waste A-Z. If your item isn’t listed there, please email sustainable-campus@newcastle.ac.uk and we can advise you.

The University now has a donation point for unwanted books right here on campus! We’ve partnered with Better World Books to set up a donation point in the entrance foyer to our Marjorie Robinson Library Rooms. The donation point is convenient and easy to use, but Better World Books do have some rules as to what can and can’t be donated.

The donation box can accept items including:

• Fiction, nonfiction, and monographs
• Rare books
• Children’s books
• Textbooks
• Foreign language books (with ISBN)

Please do not donate the following items via this box:

• Britannica Encyclopaedias
• Procedural Law Books
• Directories and indexes
• More than 20 duplicates of a title
• Unsellable editions of books
• Journals and periodicals
• Non-Latin script books

Additionally, if you’re donating a large quantity of books at once, please email us at sustainable-campus@newcastle.ac.uk for advice.

Compostable items at the University include food waste and manufactured plant-based materials like cups, mugs, trays and cutlery. These two types of waste are disposed of differently. 

Food waste

Both cooked and raw food can be placed in food waste bins. These bins are small, green benchtop caddies and are found in kitchen and common room areas across the University. If you don't have a food waste bin in your local kitchen or common room, please let us know by emailing sustainable-campus@newcastle.ac.uk. 

All food waste items can be put in the bins, including:

• Fruit (and peel)
• Vegetables (and peel)
• Sandwiches
• Meat (raw or cooked)
• Fish (raw or cooked)
• Dairy
• Tea bags and coffee grounds
• Chocolate

Food waste is collected by a contractor and taken to a local anaerobic digestion facility. When the waste arrives at the facility, the plastic bags we put the food waste in are mechanically removed from the material. This small amount of plastic waste is then sent to an Energy from Waste Plant where it is combusted and used to produce energy. The food waste is then transferred to large air-free digestion tanks where the natural biological process of anaerobic digestion takes place. In the tanks, billions of bacteria ‘feed’ on the food waste. As they feed, they produce a methane rich ‘biogas’. The biogas is used for heating and to produce electricity for the National Grid.

Manufactured, compostable materials

Compostable cups, mugs, containers and cutlery must be disposed of in the general waste stream. These bins have black lids and a 'General waste' sticker on them. They cannot be put in the food waste stream using the food waste caddies because they will disrupt the anaerobic digestion process. We do not have a composting waste stream at the University and the UK, in general, does not have a high capacity for industrial composting, which is what is needed to treat these manufactured materials. They cannot be put in the paper waste stream because these products are not made in the same way or from the same things as paper.

Although manufactured compostable materials can't be composted at the University, they are still preferable to plastic alternatives because reducing our single-use plastic usage means we are reducing our reliance on fossil-fuel based products.

However, all single-use items have a high carbon footprint, so we should reduce our usage of single-use compostable materials as well as single-use plastics. You can play your part by using your own reusable bottles, cups, lunchboxes, cutlery and bags, and eating in at EAT@ outlets which use reusable receptacles and cutlery. There are water bottle refill points across campus which are mapped on this Campus Map. EAT@ also offer a discount on every coffee you buy using a reusable cup.