We are all trying to do more to reduce, reuse and recycle the waste that we produce in our daily lives.
We currently recycle a third of our waste on campus – help us get this closer to 50% by the end of 2025.
Recycling is a good way to ensure that the materials in the item can be used again to make something new.
We are looking for ways to increase our recycling rates to save energy and precious natural resources. Here’s a reminder of what you can recycle on campus:
Recycling in offices and schools
At the moment, you can only recycle these types of materials in the mixed recycling bins in our schools and offices:
- plastic bottles
- cardboard and paper
- cans and tins
- glass bottles and jars.
Our A-Z of recycling at Sussex tells you everything else you need to know about recycling everything from unused deodorants to laptops.
Recycling around the campus
All staff and students can help boost our recycling rates by separating your waste when you’re out and about on campus, where you'll find a number of mixed recycling bins and even some food waste bins.
We’re taking steps to make this easier, like introducing the new recycling banks at Eat Central where you can separate out your food waste and your disposable coffee cups.
We are working on ways to recycle these disposable cups. But we also want to reduce the amount we use, which is why we have launched a new returnable cup scheme. It’s available in Arts Piazza Cafe, Eat Central, ACCA Café, Botanical Café, the Library Café and the Veg Bowl @ Dhaba. Joining the scheme costs just £3.95 plus your first coffee is FREE.
It will save you money in the long term and it’s much more convenient than carrying your empty cup around – plus it will save thousands of cups from going in the bin.
Why do we want to recycle more?
Creating new items from recycled material means less energy and resources are used than if it was made from raw material. There are dedicated bins for everything from vapes and batteries to Tetrapaks around our campus.For some materials, you can recycle them in other ways here on campus – take a look at our A-Z of recycling at Sussex which covers everything from unused deodorants to laptops.
Sometimes people try to be sustainable by putting certain items in with the recycling. But this ‘wish-cycling’ contaminates the recycling, and the whole bin of recyclable material may not be recycled.
If in doubt, leave it out!
And remember that it’s even better to reuse than recycle, so check out these organisations if you have items to give away:
You can also use food sharing apps Olio and TooGoodToGo to pick up cheap, or even free, food to stop it going to waste.