In 2024, Maastricht University produced 247,586 kilos of general waste. It is sent straight to an incinerator, so it is a shame if it includes materials that could easily be recycled, such as paper or plastic.
Electronics, in particular, are a real waste, says sustainability adviser Rabbe Dormans, surrounded by students and staff in orange vests tearing open bags of rubbish and separating it correctly. “They contain valuable precious metals.” He admits that the options for disposing of electronics are very limited at the university at the moment. “Members of staff have to submit a request and then the internal disposal teams come and pick it up. I can imagine that seems like a lot of effort to go to for one broken mouse. We are working on improving that and have recently installed an electronics deposit at UNS 50.”
14,000 kg of food waste
There is also lots of food waste, which can be thrown away as general waste, but since September of last year, is also collected separately and fermented. “There are bins in ‘hot spots’, busy places where people often eat, such as the cafeteria. Between January and the end of October of this year, we have already collected over 14,000 kg of food waste, compared to just 6200 kg the year before, when most of the food waste came from the university restaurant kitchens.”
The reverse is actually also an issue: people throwing away things that can’t be recycled in recycling bins. Sometimes with the best of intentions, says Dormans. “For example, a concierge who fishes blocks of polystyrene out of the bin and throws them away in the plastic bin. But polystyrene doesn’t belong in the plastic recycling bin as those little pieces break off and get mixed up in everything. That’s a nightmare for the recycling process.”
Complicated
Old paper is often contaminated with pizza boxes (not allowed because they’re too greasy), disposable cups with a thin plastic coating (can’t be recycled), and paper towels. Those could be wet and cause mould, which damages the paper fibres. If there is too much of the ‘wrong’ rubbish mixed in, then the load is rejected by the processor and it is sent to an incinerator after all.
Sometimes sorting rubbish is so complicated, sighs Dormans. As was proved occasionally on Thursday, too. “Folks, those do belong in general waste,” he calls to a few students carrying handfuls of disposable gloves, that are not suitable for recycling, to the plastic pile. “Oops, thanks for catching that!” UM wants to be a completely circular institution by 2035, meaning most of its rubbish is reused or recycled. “We’ve got a long way to go.”