University Residences Recycling Project

The University Residences Recycling Project (URRP) which ran from September 2004 just over a year enabled Bristol and Bath universities to be some of the first to develop recycling systems for their students in halls of residence. Over 4,000 students recycled over 110,044kg of waste thanks to Envolve's innovative recycling project.

This project has now finished and a final report will be posted here shortly. In the meantime, if you want to find out about the project, click here for more information.

Little or no focus has been given to the domestic waste arising from university accommodation; a difficult but large proportion of the waste stream arising from a university. Local authorities and universities have worked together to implement recycling services and promotion, but participation and the volume of material collected for recycling has been low.

This project aimed to provide recycling facilities for over 4,000 students at Bath and Bristol Universities to enable an increase in student participation in recycling and the amount of waste diverted from landfill. The project was a partnership between the University of Bristol, University of Bath, Bath and North East Somerset District Council, Bristol City Council. Envolve Partnerships for Sustainability managed the project.

Both universities had similar overall participation rates of 24kg per student. They recycled the equivalent of 10,209 newspapers, 4,732 cans of lager and 73,942 bottles of wine. An interesting insight into modern student life perhaps.

The project was funded by the Big Lottery Fund, Bath & North East Somerset Council, Bristol City Council, University of Bath, and the University of Bristol.