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Some materials from UCL’s office and laboratory activities are not recyclable and may contaminate recyclable materials thus reducing their value.
Such materials are treated as non-recyclable waste and include:
- Food (where there is no facility to segregate food waste)
- Food-contaminated packaging
- Polystyrene
Bins for non-recyclable waste are put into offices and kitchens and are denoted by a blue bag. These are removed by the Sodexo cleaners and taken to the building’s waste collection point.
For some buildings the waste is collected in black wheelie bins, while for others the red bags are piled up in the designated point outside the building. The red bags containing residual waste are kept separate from the clear bags containing recyclable materials and are collected each day (Mon-Fri). The bags are usually collected in a truck assigned to collect non-recyclable wastes only.
In exceptional cases, the bags may be collected in the same truck used to collect the recyclable materials, in which case they will be separated at the Bywaters Materials Recovery Facility. The truck takes the non-recyclable waste to the Cory Energy from Waste plant where it is incinerated with energy recovery.
A waste transfer note is completed annually and is available from UCL Estates on request. None of UCL's waste is sent to landfill.