Improving the segregation and collection of waste on campus

The UK Government’s “Simpler Recycling” legalisation aims to standardise and simplify waste collections, and states as a minimum we must have four waste streams: general waste, food waste, paper and card, and all other dry recyclables.

At UCL we already have three core waste streams – general waste (Rubbish), food waste (Just Food), and all other dry recyclables (Only Empty). We are now working to improve our recycling segregation to include a new waste stream for paper and card, and upgrading our waste infrastructure by providing four-stream bins in all UCL buildings.

Further segregating our waste will also help us meet our ambitious sustainability targets of reducing waste per person by 10% from 2018-2019 to 2027 and increasing our recycling rates to 85% by 2034 while demonstrating year-on-year improvements.

Progress and next steps

Since our last update in March, Sodexo our contracted soft services supplier, have carried out an initial survey of the bins we have on campus and their locations, with a view to removing and replacing ageing and non-standard bins that do not meet the requirements of the new legislation.

We currently have 9,117 bins that are emptied daily, 4,975 of which are standalone, non-segregated bins (e.g. under-desk bins) that are not compliant with the new legislation.

Over the next few weeks you may see members of the UCL and Sodexo Facilities Management teams surveying buildings to identify the best locations for new, centralised, four-stream bins. We are working with our fire safety and inclusive environment teams to ensure bins are in spaces that are safe and accessible.

Further information and contacts for queries

We will share a further up update following this survey with details on how we will be removing and replacing any bins not compliant with the new legislation as well as our plans for donating old bins to be repurposed or recycled.

We will ensure we communicate with building users in advance of any changes.

Frequently asked questions

We have published a series of FAQs about the segregation and collection of waste on campus as part of a wider update on our proposed changes to cleaning and waste management services.

> Read the updated FAQs here.

If you have any queries that aren’t covered in the FAQs please contact campusservices@ucl.ac.uk in the first instance.