Recycle Week 2024 – ‘Rescue Me. Recycle.’

Posted on: 11 October 2024 in Issue 8

Now in its 21st year, Recycle Week is the flagship annual event organized by Recycle Now. It’s a national celebration aimed at encouraging people to recycle more of the right items, more often.

Recycle Week 2024 runs from October 14th to 20th, with this year’s theme – ‘Rescue Me. Recycle.’ The focus is on saving everyday recyclable items that often end up in the rubbish bin when they could have been recycled. While recycling is widely practiced across the UK, there’s still much more we can do to ensure we’re recycling the right materials more frequently.

No time to waste

Over the past 12 months, the University has made significant progress in reducing waste and boosting recycling efforts. We've successfully introduced food waste recycling in all accommodation buildings and catering outlets, recycling over 54 tonnes last academic year. We’ve also ramped up recycling of glass, wood, metal, and green waste across campus. You may have noticed some changes to the internal recycling bins in your building. To make recycling simpler for everyone, we’ve converted all can and plastic bottle bins into mixed recycling bins. These now accept cans, plastic bottles, paper, and cardboard in one place, making recycling clearer and more straightforward for staff, students, and visitors alike. This will help keep recyclables out of general waste and reduce contamination of dry mixed recyclables.

Get involved

To mark Recycle Week 2024, we have organised a variety of activities aimed at raising awareness about recycling and sustainability. So, get involved, learn, and make a positive environmental impact.  

  • Suez on campus: On Tuesday, October 15th, from 11:00 – 14:00, Suez will be on Guild Walkway to talk about what happens to the university’s recycling after it leaves campus. There will also be an interactive game with the chance to win an Amazon Fire tablet.
  • Queen of Greens Bus: On Wednesday morning, the Queen of Greens bus will be outside Sydney Jones Library from 09:45 for 30 minutes, offering fresh, nutritious produce. Don’t forget to bring your reusable bag or container.
  • Paper-Making workshop: The Guild of Students are hosting a Paper-Making Workshop on Friday, October 18th. This fun, hands-on event will teach you how to create eco-friendly paper from old newspapers, wrapping paper, and other recyclables. For more details, visit Halls' Exclusive: Paper-Making Workshop.

But the recycling initiatives don’t stop at the end of the week. November’s Halls Sustainability Programme will focus on Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, promoting positive recycling habits throughout the month. In addition, the first Recycling Audit of the year will take place on November 12th, led by the Guild of Students and Accommodation teams. Keep an eye on the Guild website for details on how you can participate.

Find out more

To learn more about the university’s waste reduction efforts and recycling guidelines, contact Sam Hay at s.hay@liverpool.ac.uk. For more information on sustainability initiatives, reach out to the Sustainability team at sustainability@liverpool.ac.uk.