King's College London

The bins across King’s campuses have been getting a new look and feel, with updated guidance and graphics about what can be thrown away in each bin.

These changes reflect updates to processes by King’s waste contractor, Biffa, as well as updates to government guidelines.

Some of the key updates include:

• It is essential that all items you put in the recycling bin are clean and dry to avoid contaminating the contents – this includes making sure there are no liquids left in plastic bottles, even with the lid on.
• Food waste can no longer go into the general waste bin, and must instead be placed in the dark green food waste bins. This includes used tea bags and coffee cups, but not packaging, cutlery or tissues.
  
  If something is labelled as compostable or biodegradable, they should be placed in the general waste bins and not food waste as they actually require specific industrial conditions for these processes to be possible. At King’s, our food waste goes to anaerobic digestion, which cannot break these items down.
• Some of the updated signage on the special coffee cup bins makes the process clearer to use.
  
  It’s a simple three steps: 1) Take off the lid and put that (clean and dry) into the recycling. 2) Pour any leftover liquid into the hole in the middle. 3) Put the cup into one of the outer rings.
  
  However, coffee cups from King’s Food need to be put in the general waste as recycling facilities don't have the ability to distinguish the cups & they will be viewed as contaminating.
  
  
• Glass items such as bottles and jars can’t be put into mixed recycling. There are special bins for glass around campuses.
  
  However, it is important to note that this might be different where you live, so keep an eye on your local recycling guidelines to make sure your glass waste is disposed of correctly.
  
  
• Only paper with sensitive information on it should be put into the confidential waste bins. The contents of these bins are shredded using a more emissions-heavy process, so unless there is information that needs to be kept confidential on the paper, regular mixed recycling bins will do to keep emissions down.

If in doubt, put your item in the general waste to avoid accidentally contaminating the bins. You can also check the updated Waste A-Z on the King’s Climate & Sustainability website for more information about how to dispose of your waste correctly.

If you have any questions about the new signage or waste disposal at King’s, contact sustainability@kcl.ac.uk.

The signage was updated as a key activity within King’s two-year waste campaign, No Time to Waste, which seeks to create a cleaner, healthier community through reducing waste and improving recycling rates.

The campaign comprises operational and community-based activities, including events and learning opportunities for the community.