The Green Impact blog is being handed over to the ACS teams this week! This post is by Cally Williams from the Accommodation Office. If you or your team would like to contribute to the blog, email greenimpact@sheffield.ac.uk.
Photo credit: Bobby Doherty
Here in the Accommodation Office, between the 1st February and the 29th February, we all undertook the Zero Waste Challenge. This is something that every department can try! The Zero Waste challenge means that, during the month of February, we aimed to recycle anything that could possibly be recycled. Anything that could not we put into a glass jar, so that it was possible to represent how little waste created when we commit to recycling.
During this time, any food waste was placed in our green food waste bins and the main bins in the kitchens were no longer used for general waste. Our personal bins were used to hold any waste that could be recycled, which was then correctly sorted (into piles of e.g. paper/card, plastics etc.) and deposited in our main recycling bins outside the building. We also minimised the amount of tissue paper we used, using cloths instead where possible. We all had to get used to thinking about what we could do with the items we usually just throw in the bin without further thought.
This task is certainly a challenge. However, it is a great opportunity for you to get a good idea of the kinds of waste we each produce on a regular basis. The idea of collecting any general waste that cannot be recycled into a small jar allows us all to see exactly how much of our waste can be recycled and how we can really cut down our waste by a considerable amount through simply following the steps above and ensuring that we all work together to help the environment. At the end of the task you will all be to take a look at the glass jar and see how well you’ve done!
Why not have a go yourselves and see how little waste you can produce!