Thursday, 23 January: Blue tarpaulin with separate sections for organic (food) waste, paper, Plastic/Cans/Tetrapacks (Acronym PMD is used in Dutch) and non-recyclable waste. SUEZ, the waste collector was ready to inspect the waste bins of UT. UToday (Dutch article) and UT staff gave a hand.
When waste is separately properly, it can be re-used. Plastic waste is used to make benches, birdfood holders, baby prams and lots more.
Waste analyses
Vrijhof
It is exam period. You notice the number of sweet wrappers. A piece of cardboard ended up in the residual waste: “cardboard can added to the paper bin, no need to put it with the residual waste".
SUEZ weighs every bag before sorting. Afterwards all four waste streams are weighed. In a few weeks they will provide UT with a detailed analysis. 
During sorting questions are posed: “where do we put paper cups and bowls?” When it is not clear if the coating is soluble , unfortunately they have to be added to the non-recyclable waste. Has paper become dirty, then it could disturb the processing of the clean paper and should be put with the non-recyclable waste.
Spiegel
Due to exam time, there are no students in Spiegel. The office staff on the ground floor are separating their waste well.
Waaier
In Waaier we open a residual waste bin to find lots of material that can be re-used.
Also food containers that have the recycling symbol can go in the PMD plastic container.
We find plastic cutlery, the ones made from fossil fuels can go in the PMD. The biodegradable brown cutlery cannot be processed through that waste stream. It also does not compost as quickly as food waste, so unfortunately can also not go in organic waste either – at the moment. It is residual waste.
So you can see quite a bit of pollution in the PMD bin.
Horst
In Horst we collected a bag from a study association. “Yes, we just changed board. Normally we do separate waste”.
A lot of tea drinkers. A small container to keep this separate (which can be emptied in the UT bins around the corner) would be a good idea. One of their waste bins can be a designated PMD bin where all packaging from plastic, cans or tetrapack can be collected. The paper cups? When unknown if the coating is soluble, they cannot be processed with paper and are seen as residual waste.
It is also not always easy..
Two tea bags
The left one can be composted. The one on the right is made from plastic and cannot. Important to consider this when buying the tea!
Would you like to know more about sustainability at UT?
Website: https://www.utwente.nl/sustainability
Email: sustainability@utwente.nl
Join the UT sustainability community: https://www.utwente.nl/register-sustainability
