Our waste contractor has a waste facility in the UK that's able to sort and recover all recyclables from mixed office waste, with the exception of food. Materials that aren't recyclable go to a waste-to-energy plant so that all waste is safely disposed of. Recycling saves valuable materials from going to landfill awhile avoiding the extraction and use of virgin raw materials, saving energy and resources.
The University aims to recycle at least 70% of its waste (by weight) with none of it going to landfill. The Library exceeds 80% recycling on average but with your help, we could do even better in future! Most of our bins are dedicated to recycling dry paper, packaging, and empty cups and bottles. Just one cup of unwanted coffee dropped into a bin can contaminate the entire binful, which all then has to go to landfill. Please empty any leftover drink into one of the blue liquid waste bins, and drop any unwanted food and teabags into a black bin section before recycling your empty cups, lids, bottles and packaging. If everyone followed these simple rules, we could recycle and compost 100% of our waste!