The University waste management strategy is based on the UK waste hierarchy; Reduce – Reuse – Recycle – Recovery – Landfill.
The introduction of the University’s two bin scheme pushed up recycling rates to around 75 per cent. However, it is much better to not produce the waste in the first place or reuse items that still have some life left in them.
Here are some of the ways you can reuse items at the University:
WARP-it for free
WARP-it is a reuse system, based on e-bay, where staff can place unwanted University items, such as furniture, for other staff to get them for free. There are now 358 members on WARP-it and the more staff who sign up the better the chances of finding something you need. Ian Wilcox, Design and Print Centre Manager said, “The Warp-It system saved the Print Centre a lot of money. We found a home for some bespoke tables and chairs and have subsequently found out these would have cost us nearly £15,000 to buy new. So we have reused something that was going to do destroyed, saved a lot of money and have really good furniture which should last a long time.”
You can find out about the system here: http://southampton.likn.co/susdev/procurement_and_waste/warpit.html
Halls & British Heart Foundation (BHF) partnership
At the end of year, students throw away a lot of stuff. Over the past couple of years the Halls have teamed up with BHF to find a new home for much of this stuff and raise some cash for the charity at the same time. The successful partnership has seen 1,394 bags donated to the BHF collection bins at halls, generating a total of around £27,880 for BHF Shops. Julie Paffett, BHF Regional Stock Generator, said: “The response from Southampton students has been fantastic. Each BHF Shop needs to receive 400 bags of unwanted items a week and thanks to generous donations from the University’s students and staff we have been able to help our Shops in the Southampton area.”
Swap Shop
On Thursday 5 December the University and the Students’ Union held a clothes swap to encourage staff and students to bring unwanted clothes and swap them for some entirely new free items. Staff and students donated 140kg of clothes, shoes etc and 130 people came along to the event. Over £50 was raised for RAG and leftover items after the event were donated to BHF. The next Swap Shop is planned for the end of March 2014 and you can find out more here: http://southampton.likn.co/sustainabilityaction/experience/swapshop.page
Share equipment to save money
You can also share research facilities and high value equipment by using the University’s innovative database. The database is the first of its kind in the UK and aims to gain the best possible value from our existing facilities and equipment while avoiding needless duplication. You can find out more here: http://southampton.likn.co/research/centres_facilities/facilities_equipment_database.shtml
You can find out more about the University’s environment and sustainability agenda by going to http://southampton.likn.co/sustainability