Improving Efficiency and Minimising Waste

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My organisation has an active sustainability policy and encourages recycling & waste efficiency. I looked at the academic team rooms in the campus for which I am responsible to assess the current recycling and energy efficiency procedures and to identify areas for improvement. The main element of team room waste is paper. Each team room is provided with bins and bags for recycling clean paper waste, in addition to confidential waste bags and general waste bins. It was evident in some cases that the paper recycling bins were very full and as a result, staff were using general waste bins to dispose of excess paper waste. I discussed this with the team administrators and decided that we would be responsible for ensuring that paper recycling is managed correctly within the team rooms. The administration team now follows the following procedures: • Notify the Estates team in good time to ensure that the recycling bins are replaced before they become full • Keep cardboard separately and stack for collection at the end of the day • Maintain a stock of replacement recycling bags • Provide only small general waste bins to discourage staff from filling them with paper waste • Organise confidential waste disposal. Where possible, confidential waste is shredded and used as bedding for animals in the science rooms which enables us to maintain data security whilst recycling Dry mixed recycling has recently been introduced elsewhere in the organisation and this may be rolled out once tested, if positive feedback is received. This will be a useful addition to our current recycling plan. It is also important to consider efficient use of resources when minimising waste. There are several methods which I utilise in my team room to minimise waste: • Reducing printer resources and paper by using electronic filing and email rather than physical documents and

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