Recycling and Waste management
Reduce the wastes generated across our Campuses as well as divert all general wastes we generate from landfill
We generated 1,588 tonnes of waste across our three main campuses during the 2018/19 academic year, costing a total of £242,538. Recyclable materials represented 33% of the total general waste collected across campuses. The Figure below show that there are opportunities to improve recycling across our campuses.
Figure 13: Recycling Performances across QMUL’s campuses (2018/19)
The graph displays Recycling Performances across the campuses.
We are committed to reducing the amount of waste we produce, and we currently run a Students Union (SU) led re-use campaigns aimed at encouraging our students and staff to donate any unused materials at the end of each semester. 231 kg of materials were recovered during the 2018/19 academic year. These materials would have otherwise been removed as waste with associated economic and environmental impacts.
In addition, as part of our waste re-use campaign we are currently engaging with BetterWorldBooks. Books donated by staff and students are periodically collected by
BetterWorldBooks from our Mile End Campus. During the 2018/19 academic year 14,930 books were donated.
These reused books collecting service is part of our contribution to reducing our environmental impact. The unsalable books that were not suitable for donation by BetterWorldBooks were recycled. The Table below detail the breakdown of the environmental benefits of the books collected from our Mile End Campus.
| End destination of Book | Total | Recycled | Reused |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Books ReUsed or Recycled | 14,766 | 8,575 | 6,191 |
| Books (kg) | 9,166 | 5,323 | 3,843 |
| Trees | 237 | 136 | 101 |
| Water (g) | 130,626 | 49,808 | 80,818 |
| Green-house Gases | 14,265 | 8,178 | 6,087 |
| Landfill space (m3) | 24 | 14 | 10 |
| Electricity kWh | 48,583 | 27,852 | 20,731 |
Commitments: Waste Management
- We will continue to promote the economic and environmental benefits minimising waste and appropriately segregating recyclable materials from general waste across all our premises.
- We will continue to ensure that all general wastes generated from our operations are diverted from landfill sites
- We will continue to implement environmental assurance systems, which ensure that we comply with all relevant waste management regulations and improve our waste segregation performance.
If you would like any further information please email sustainability@qmul.ac.uk