The MML Faculty is please to support Spotlight on Waste month throughout November. This initiative has been introduced by the University's Environment and Energy Section. 

Spotlight On Waste will see 30 days of focus on one key environmental aspect – the reduction of waste and the correct disposal of rubbish. Our Green Officer, Nan Taplin, is also visiting the Amey Cespa waste and recycling centre near Ely this month to learn how the University’s waste is collected, separated and recycled!

Here are some facts about waste at the University:

• From 2014 to 2015, 2,482 tonnes of waste were collected from bins on University Sites. That’s the weight of the London Eye.

• To give this a Cambridge perspective: if our waste was collected by punts on the Cam, we would need 6,128 punts to collect it all and there would be enough waste to fill King’s College chapel 37 feet deep!

• Fortunately, 903 tonnes of this was recycled. That’s equivalent to the weight of all of the University of Cambridge’s 12,000 undergraduate students put together! (although this figure doesn’t take into account all the pizza they ate at Fresher’s Fair...)

 To bring it even closer to home, we swapped some bins around in the RFB last year, so you should now never be more than a few yards from a recycling point.

As a reminder:
·      paper placed in a green ‘paper-only’ bin will be recycled
·      anything placed in a blue bin will be recycled
·      anything placed in a clear bin bag will go to landfill
·      anything placed in a black bin bag will go to landfill

All the bins should be clearly labelled but if you come across any which are unlabelled or inadequately labelled please let me know. And if you are in any doubt as to what can be recycled, check out the EE section’s A-Z.

And after all that, if you still have questions about waste or recycling please email them to environment@admin.cam.ac.uk and they will feature them in a FAQ in ‘Greenlines’ next month. ‘Greenlines’ is a great way to stay up to date with what is happening in the EE Section. Have a look at their latest edition, where you can find information about how to sign up to receive it regularly.