For 3.5 years, staff and students diligently threw plastic and residual waste into designated bins. This turned out to be pointless, as it all ended up in the same place. As a result, a single shared trash bin will now be introduced.
Initially, the idea was that residual waste and plastic would be separated at the waste processor after collection—known as pre-sorting. This would produce better sorted and therefore more recyclable waste. Consequently, hundreds of bins for plastic (orange) and residual waste (grey) were placed throughout the university.
Post-sorting
However, the University of Groningen (UG) is letting go of this idea, says Sander Dijkstra from the university’s occupational health and safety service. ‘We now see that plastic and residual waste can be separated just as effectively afterward, at least as well as with pre-sorting’, he explains.
This renders separate bins unnecessary. At the Anda Kerkhoven Centre, the new education building near UMCG, combined residual and plastic waste bins with a grey-orange sticker are already in use. ‘This will likely be the case in other UG buildings in the future’, Dijkstra adds.
New stickers
There’s no need for new trash bins, according to waste management contract manager Yonne Klein Kranenburg . ‘We’ll probably just put new stickers on the bins.’
When this will happen is still uncertain. One possibility is February 2026, when a new waste management contract period begins. Separate collection will continue for organic waste and paper. ‘These streams are better separated up front,’ says Dijkstra.
Waste reduction
The focus for the coming years is waste reduction. The UG aims to separate at least 95 percent of all university waste by the end of 2025 and to produce 15 percent less waste than in 2019.
Whether the 95 percent target will be achieved is uncertain. The separation rate has hovered around 70 percent for several years, according to the latest figures. However, the 15 percent waste reduction goal has been met: last year, UG members threw away about three fewer kilograms per person compared to 2019.
To support these efforts, special scanners have been installed in some bins to photograph each piece of waste for a week. Using AI, the waste is categorised (e.g., paper, plastic, or other) and counted. Results from this experiment are expected in early 2025.