The percentage of residual waste out of the total amount of bulk material that leaves the TU/e site in special garbage trucks that press the waste, appears to be decreasing. According to Mark Meijer, employee Waste management and Logistics, the evacuation of the Pavilion building ('Paviljoen') can be seen in the infographic above. In the 2018 bar you can see a big gray section that shows the kilos of residual waste from the Pavilion. That concerns all the material that was not allowed to be transferred to Atlas, like file folders, plant pots, promotional gifts, et cetera.

“Emptying the Pavilion was a difficult job for the employees. There was hardly any time and manpower to separate waste properly. We were already happy that the paper was disposed of separately,” Meijer says. In general, the amount of paper waste has decreased, Meijer noticed. "The paper-free office has been promoted for years at the TU/e, which we see reflected in the waste."

But the amount of residual waste must decrease considerably. To know what can be improved, the TU/e carried out a waste scan at the end of October. "Look at what you see between the residual waste, try to find out what goes right and what goes wrong and come up with a way to reduce this waste flow," was the objective. Cursor was allowed to join and made the video report below.

Renewi is the waste processing company that collects the waste from companies in the region with garbage trucks from Acht and other places. Driver Geert-Jan Wijnands comes to the campus three times a week and each time he has a car for one type of waste; one day for paper, the other one for plastics, et cetera. "Renewi does have cars with several separate compartments, but they are not used here," he says, while eating his lunch in the canteen of the BBC Residual Center on campus.

"We know each other well," says Meijer of TU/e’s Residual Center. Renewi drivers come here five days a week, sometimes three times a day. Wijnands emphasizes the importance of proper waste separation by the customer - the TU/e in this case. “If I see polystyrene in a container for plastic, I don't take it because it shouldn’t be in there and it will contaminate the plastic. I call my colleagues and later a residual-waste truck will come to collect it. I recently picked up a contaminated paper container with such a truck.”

Wijnands experienced himself on campus three years ago that proper waste separation is very important: “I saw smoke coming from my truck. And no smoke without fire. The risk of fire is increasing because people are increasingly throwing lithium-ion batteries into the gray bin. Those batteries can ignite spontaneously. It was half past six in the morning and I called 112 to ask if I should close the lid of the truck or not. After consultation, I unloaded the contents of the truck in a parking lot where the fire brigade came to extinguish them. But please note that batteries must be returned separately. That is also better for the environment." Meijer adds: "In every building, the reception staff knows where a chemo box for batteries is located."

Not only the coffee cups, but also the coffee grounds are collected separately. Since 2016, coffee machine company Maas has been doing this at the request of the TU/e. Used coffee grounds now enter the waste stream of organic material. It is cheaper to process and therefore costs the TU/e less. The collected cups go to the paper-processing industry, which turns them into toilet paper.

Quiz

What should go where? A Tulip is a simple system. When in doubt, throw your junk in the gray box: the residual waste. Where do you throw your wooden stirrers, the sugar packet, the creamer stick? Do you know where the white compostable cutlery should go? A nylon tea bag or candy wrapper? Check your answers here.

Despite the fact that in recent years we have managed to produce less residual waste, there is also still much to gain, according to Simone Vonken, policy officer at Internal Affairs. “For example, the TU/e, together with its cleaning partners, can focus on stricter management of waste disposal. Here it appears that the most profit can be made for now. Many employees and students of the TU/e often already separate the waste well at the source.”

Do you have discussions about waste items that are not clear where to be discarded? Ask your question here, we will try to figure it out for you. Also for large specific quantities of waste the employees of Waste Management & Logistics can be consulted for advice. For example, banners can be collected separately and certain materials can be reused.