QUT students and staff have recycled 32,422 bottles and cans through the 10c Containers for Change program in its debut year on campus, as part of wider sustainability initiatives across Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove.
The container program’s success isn’t just helping the environment.
Money raised from the 10c refunds goes to the QUT Learning Potential Fund, which provides scholarships and support for disadvantaged students.
This week – November 11 to 17 – is National Recycling Week.
QUT Facilities Services Manager Naomie Buttini said Containers for Change was one of several recycling and sustainability programs at Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove campuses.
“We are also part of the Simply Cups coffee cup recycling program, with collection points located next to coffee shops on both campuses,” she said.
“And we have partnered with Mallow Sustainability, a local composting company to collect food waste from our retail food outlets and staff kitchens. This includes things like food scraps, coffee grinds and paper towel.”
QUT has 173 Containers for Change collection bins across its two campuses – 80 at Gardens Point and 93 at Kelvin Grove.
The major collection points are in food courts located at P Block and V Podium at Gardens Point and C Block at Kelvin Grove.
“We’ve placed the collection bins in strategic areas alongside our general waste and recycle bins, so that people don’t have to go searching for them,” Ms Buttini said.
“I think that has really helped with our collection rate.
“People do also put cans and bottles in the yellow-topped mixed recycling bins.
“But the advantage of making sure you drop them into the Containers for Change bins is that you know your waste is going to a tailored recycling stream – and that the money raised will go to student scholarships through our Learning Potential Fund.”
QUT was the first university to join Closed Loop’s Simply Cups recycling program, which provides a dedicated recycling avenue for disposable coffee cups – most of which aren’t suitable for yellow-topped bins because of their waxy lining.
Since the original 2018 trial at Gardens Point, 486,126 cups have been collected via the Simply Cups recycling stations at the food courts on both campuses.
In the same six years, 945 tonnes of organic waste has been diverted from landfill thanks to composting company Mallow Sustainability collecting food waste and coffee grinds from QUT’s retail food outlets and staff kitchens.
QUT also has recycling stations for electrical, battery and printing products in the Kelvin Grove Library (R Block, Level 2) and Gardens Point Library (V Block, Level 2) which collect:
- Batteries
- small e-waste
- mobile phones
- CDs/disks
- household cables
- toners/cartridges.
QUT Sustainability Manager Leigh Burgess said QUT also prioritised renewable energy use on campus, with 50 per cent of its energy sourced from a solar farm in Columboola.
The university also has nine solar PV arrays on buildings across Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove campuses and the Banyo Pilot Plant Precinct, with a total capacity of 1MW.
All solar energy produced is consumed on site, reducing the need for grid electricity and reducing associated costs and carbon emissions.
Ms Burgess said QUT’s sustainability programs also encouraged staff and students to help with sustainability initiatives on campus, such as the popular Clothes for Careers pop-up shops that provided free pre-loved clothes to help students with interviews and work placements.
Anyone interested in volunteering and/or becoming a ‘Green Champion’ at QUT can email sustainability@qut.edu.au.
Main photo at top: QUT staff members Bree Jeffers, Tania Campbell and Atiq Khan (all from the Faculty of Business and Law) are among the QUT staff members who have supported the Containers for Change recycling program while at work.
QUT Media contacts:
- Mechelle McMahon, media@qut.edu.au
- After hours, 0407 585 901 or media@qut.edu.au
