The Big Beast of Recycling

One of the first associations with any mention of 'green' behaviour is recycling. Somehow, the third-best option in the triple-R 'reduce, reuse, recycle' mantra has become the action that most people are familiar with.

So if it is at least the action that most people are familiar with, it has to be where we begin towards changing attitudes and patterns of behaviour for ecologically-responsible options....

A single glass bottle that is recycled can save energy to generate a 100watt lightbulb for an hour. And you can recycle glass indefinitely without loss of quality. By recycling, not only do you save the energy that it would take to make a new bottle from scatch, but you also reduce the use of raw materials needed, as well as cutting down on the amount of waste being landfilled. The UK recycles a smaller proportion of its household waste than any other of the big European economies - and EU targets mean that recycling will have to be significantly boosted in the years to come.

If you live in town, you're lucky to have a kerbside collection provided by Ceredigion County Council. And if you live in university accommodation, I can hear your protests that 'there aren't any recycling facilities in my hall', no need to shout. I think a fair assessment of recycling in university-managed accommodation is patchy, and access to recycling will be one of my priorities for the rest of the year. There is a colossal amount of waste that is generated on campus that could be recycled, but currently isn't. I made this point to Jim Wallace (director of residential/hospitality services) last week and will be having a number of follow-up meetings in the next couple of weeks.

The fundamental point is that being green has to be the easy option, the default option. I'm a big fan of choice editing, and recycling has to be shaped in a way to make it the default option for students, to really cut down on the amount of waste for landfill - and ultimately the costs of disposal for the university. If recycling is also that basic measure of environmental commitment, and students don't see that the university is trying to help them be greener, there's no incentive to take some initiative yourself. It really is a vicious cycle. I don't blame students who don't recycle because they'd have to trudge from Penbryn to the bottle bank in the Cwrt Mawr car park dragging a big bag of glass bottles, and do it every week because there isn't space in the kitchen to keep them there for any longer. When you have a simple kerbside collection arrangement like in PJM, it becomes so much easier, just like that.

What particularly exercises me is paper - a university almost by definition is going to generate huge amounts of paper, but the opportunities for students to recycle this is pretty much minimal - or at least it is not made very obvious at all.

What you can do (besides recycle, obviously): Email your residence manager and ask why there aren't better recycling facilities in your hall. The more students complain, the more likely action is going to be taken on it. It'll take all of five minutes to type and send - and it will help to make my job easier too!

Whether in Aber or at home, type in your postcode on the RecycleNow website to bring up a map of recycling bring-sites in your area.

You can also find a map of points on campus where you can recycle here. Do also check out CRAFT - the local organisation that not only will come to your house to pick up bulky things, but will recycle practically anything (electronics, bikes, furniture and so forth) and make second-hand goods out of them - check out their display room at the Aber train station.

What is also important is to try and buy products that are made out of recycled material - from Remarkable notebooks (covers made of old tyres) to glasses (old Grolsch bottles turned into goblets - re-used rather than recycled even).