Monitoring recycling performance in the education sector

Estimated reading time: 3 min

There are a number of things you can do to work out how successful your recycling efforts are. These include:

Check the bins

Arguably the simplest way is simply to check the recycling bins regularly, looking at what’s being put in them and how full they are. You could assign monitoring duties to particular staff (such as cleaners), or to a Student Environment Group, who can also let you know if you have the right type and number of bins and whether they’ve noticed any .

Complete a review waste audit

Regular waste audits give you a snapshot of your recycling efforts across each different type of waste. You can compare the results of a review audit with the audit you did initially, in Step 2, to see the progress you’ve made. This is particularly important if the types of waste your educational setting produces have changed; this could happen if you begin using new products, introduce new systems or if you’re affected by seasonal factors such as holidays (which may mean your waste volumes decrease) or the end of the academic year (which may mean waste volumes increase).

Best practice case study
Bristol Big Give is an annual campaign organised by the Bristol Student Community Partnership (University of Bristol, University of Bristol Students’ Union, the University of West England and the University of the West of England Students’ Union) to enable reusable goods to be donated to charity across the city during the end of summer term, targeting 40,000 students. Donations are collected by and directly support their partner charity, the British Heart Foundation (BHF). Read more here.

It’s important to remember that a review audit differs slightly from the initial audit you completed in Step 2. The initial audit is an overall study to see all the waste and recycling your educational setting is producing, helping you plan the service you need. A review audit should measure how much you’re recycling, contamination in your recycling, and what’s left in the waste bins that could have been recycled. This will help you decide whether you need a different service or need to communicate with or train your staff and students.

Use waste transfer notes and/or tonnage information

and tonnage information provided by your waste are a quick way to see how much your organisation is now recycling. You can compare these with information from your general waste provider before you began recycling.

Compare the before and after costs

Recycling should save you money, so by comparing the costs of your old waste management service and your new service you should see whether you’ve reduced your costs.