All change? Plastic rubbish and the Uni of Kent

With China refusing to take European plastics and other waste any more, what does the future hold for us here?

Plastics have barely been out of the news since the beginning of the year. Firstly it was the shock images on Blue Planet 2 which stirred us all to shame; then it was the news that China has decided not to take plastic waste from the West any more; then we heard a suggestion to add a 25p surcharge on drinks served in takeaway cups. So how is this going to impact on the University?

Disposable cups

Firstly, you’ll be pleased to hear that the Environment & Sustainability team have been convening a cross-departmental group to discuss Food Sustainability, covering all sorts of things from FairTrade accreditation to sustainable food sourcing. Disposable cups have been high on the agenda. It’s not quite as easy as it sounds, however.

We can get compostable cups, but they would need to go in a special bin – can you imagine how many we would need to supply across the campuses for this to work? After all, if you take your cup away, having the bin right by the till isn’t going to be much use! Also, the practicalities of having yet more bins for staff and students to navigate through is just going to be a nightmare! And some places don’t even have the space…

You hear ‘compostable’ and think, oh that’s fine, you just chuck it in your compost heap, right? Well… no. In order to get the cup to break down properly, you need to have what’s called ‘accelerated composting’ (sometimes called hot or thermal composting) which means that we can’t just have a big compost heap up at Grounds and pop them all in there (the space we’d need would be phenomenal, if nothing else!). You can find out more about how it all works by reading this great article here.

Great news, though – we can take disposable cups in our normal recycling! But it just all makes more sense to grab yourself a ‘keep cup’ for your coffee on the go. After all, you’re not always on campus, right? If you’re really nice to us, we could even see if we could give you one for free!

The last straw?

Another simple thing you can do is refuse a drinking straw. These have been found all over the place, including up turtle’s noses – how heartbreaking. Many bars ‘auto-straw’ as I call it, so as soon as you order, make sure you tell the bar-tender you don’t want a straw. I like to laugh and say I can manage to get my drink to my face without incident now I’m a grown up, which isn’t always the full truth! At least many places are taking the decision to ban straws altogether, like Miami Beach. Good for them!

Around campus

So you’ve spotted something that you reckon could be improved. Maybe you want to get plastic bags banned? Stop plastic bottles being given out at events? Make sure every lecture theatre has dual bins?

Pretty much all of Kent’s operations are divided between the Estates department and Kent Hospitality, who cover different buildings and have different responsibilities. Both Essentials shops at Canterbury are run by Kent Union, for added confusion! If you’re in any doubt about who to contact, email estates-recycling@kent.ac.uk for advice and we’ll be delighted to point you in the right direction.

Plastics at the Uni of Kent

As we handle requests from all over the Uni for disposing of items, we’re well aware that sometimes things just can’t be stored in anything but plastic. Take some of the chemicals in use at Ingram and Stacey, for example – some of them can’t be stored in glass. However, we also know from experience that the vast majority of plastic waste is preventable – things like single-use drinks bottles, crisp packets, packets of tissues, carrier bags, sandwich or salad bar packaging – all stuff we can eliminate if we try! If you believe the myth of ‘what’s the point of putting it in the recycling, it all gets mixed up anyway’, let’s reassure you on that point immediately – we know for a fact it doesn’t.

Viridor, our waste contractor, can take all of these single-use items in the recycling (bar cling film and that very fine, flimsy plastic you get on the top of things like fruit pots and microwave meals – black bin for those). They are very careful to separate out different types of plastic, which is done almost on our Medway campus’ doorstep at Rochester. We know: we’ve been there.

Despite all this, it may be that we see a downswing in our overall recycling percentage for the academic year 2017-18 as the waste and recycling industry adjusts to not sending plastic waste abroad any more. In 2015-16 we achieved 65% and in 2016-17 that went up to 67% – great achievements, but we’re not convinced we can match that this year.

So what can I do?

Firstly – don’t despair! Remember, anything, no matter how small, is better than nothing at all. Think about doing just one thing to start with, and add things as you feel able. Consider adopting one of the following:

  • Take a ‘keep cup’ with you when you go for a takeaway coffee
  • Ask for a ceramic cup or mug when you drink in
  • Take a canvas shopping bag with you when you go shopping
  • Refuse straws in drinks (make sure you say upfront as many bars automatically put a straw in)
  • Buy canned drinks instead of drinks in plastic bottles – aluminium can be recycled indefinitely
  • Reuse plastic bags, tubs and bottles as much as possible, and
  • Dispose of plastic responsibly – we can take pretty much all plastics in the green recycling bins!

We can all do at least one of these, maybe even two. Report back on successes and failures – and good luck!