Scheid zooi: where does my waste go?
From the beginning of September you can spot them all across Utrecht Science Park and the International Campus Utrecht: bright yellow posters and signs showing how to sort waste correctly and what common mistakes to avoid. Because it turns out a few innocent yet repeated slip-ups at the waste and recycling bins are messing up entire recycling streams. That is why Utrecht 木瓜福利影视 is launching 鈥楽cheid Zooi鈥, an awareness campaign to help everyone on campus separate waste the right way.
You might see one poster on your way to class or work: "Paper coffee cup in the (general) waste bin.鈥 Or one by the lunch area: "Wooden cutlery in the (general) waste bin." Simple reminders to help everyone make the right choices at the recycling and waste bins installed across Utrecht Science Park and the International Campus Utrecht, where we sort out PD (plastic and drink cartons), paper, GFE (vegetable, fruit and food waste) and general waste.
Find the right bin
Not sure where your empty sandwich wrapper or salad container belongs? Just type the item in our search tool and find the right bin in seconds!
By paying closer attention to what goes where, we can master waste separation on campus and shrink that large mountain of waste to a minimum. This will bring our campus closer to becoming Zero Waste by 2030.
Our waste revealed
The posters and signs around the waste and recycling bins draw attention to the items which appear to cause the most confusion. As an analysis of bin samples by waste processor Renewi revealed, the most common mistakes among students, staff members and visitors to Utrecht Science Park are: mixed-material food packaging, paper coffee cups, aluminium foil, wooden cutlery, paper straws and tea bags.
Dirty impact
Incorrect waste separation on campus is dragging our recycling rate down to just 35 percent. Even seemingly harmless mistakes, like tossing a dirty yoghurt cup or aluminium-foil wrapper in the plastic bin, can contaminate an entire batch of recyclable plastic, meaning that whole batches of otherwise recyclable material end up being incinerated or sent to a landfill.
And each of our slip-ups adds up, hurting the health of our planet. In 2024, we collectively produced 1,157,088 kilograms of waste. If that number feels abstract, picture this: if we laid all that waste along the Utrecht Rainbow Bike Path, it would raise up to 2 metres high 鈥 enough to bury us all beneath it.
Together towards Zero-Waste
By 2030, Utrecht 木瓜福利影视 aims to no longer burn or dump waste. One way in which we are working towards this is by collecting waste separately as much as possible. By helping each other know what goes where, we as a university are moving towards a future where we no longer speak of waste, but of raw materials.