Monash University > Facilities and Services > Environmental Sustainability > Environmental Issues > Recycling at Monash

Recycling at Monash

Recycling diverts waste from landfill and conserves resources, energy and water during production processes. In short, recycling makes good environmental and economic sense!  The types of things you can recycle are:

Recycling Facilities at Campuses:

Batteries

Batteries contain a range of heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium and lead that are toxic to people, animals and plants. Monash University therefore aims to reduce the number of batteries that it discards.

The Office of Environmental Sustainability now has a device that can recharge commonly used alkaline batteries that were previously considered unrechargeable. Alkaline batteries are those labelled as being AA, AAA, C, D or 9 volt. The recharging device the Office of Environmental Sustainability uses is called the REZAP Battery Doctor, and it can recharge undamaged alkaline batteries up to 15 times before they must be discarded.

If your workplace uses alkaline batteries, we encourage you to collect your flat batteries and then send them to us for recharging. We will then return them to your workplace. Just follow this three-step process:

1. Send an email to environment@adm.monash.edu.au to request a small battery bin to collect the batteries (the bin is a small white bucket and it's yours to keep). Include your internal mail address in your email and we'll send the bucket to you

2. Collect your workplace's exhausted alkaline batteries in the battery bucket and send them to us in the battery bucket, addressed accordingly:

Attention: Green Program Coordinator
The Office of Environmental Sustainability
Room S609
Building 11
Clayton Campus

3. We will then recharge the batteries and send them back to you. Any batteries that cannot be recharged will be disposed of safely.

Alternatively, your workplace could buy its own REZAP Battery Doctor and manage the process itself (as the Department of Materials Engineering has recently chosen to do). The Rezap Battery Doctor costs anywhere from $70 to over $100 depending on the model. See the REZAP website for stockists: http://www.rezap.com.au/

Bottles and cans (co-mingled)

Bottles, cans and carton recycling (commingled) facilities are available at all Monash campuses, both within buildings and around our grounds. Often these black bins with red lids or stickers are located in our recycling stations or within loading bays along with paper recycling bins and cardboard cages. In staff areas, commingled bins are often found in kitchen areas and might be white slide-top bins with labels. These bins are then emptied by our cleaning staff.

A variety of products can be placed in these bins for recycling, and these include:

  • Plastic containers with codes: 1 to 7
  • Cartons
  • Glass bottles and jars
  • Aluminium cans

Cardboard

Cardboard recycling facilities are available at all Monash campuses. Please make sure to flatten all boxes before putting them in recycling receptacles. Often these receptacles are located in a pickup bay adjacent to paper and bottles and cans recycling.

The following items can also be placed in the cardboard receptacles: yellow pages, newspaper, non-contaminated handtowels, magazines and cardboard.

Did you know?

Cardboard recycling is lower grade than paper recycling as the cardboard end-product is brown, not clean and white like paper. This is why it is possible to place paper products in cardboard recycling that cannot be placed in paper recycling.

Computer and electronic equipment (E-waste)

There are a range of options available at Monash for electronic waste recycling: please consider the five Rs:

  • Rethink (do I really need to replace this piece of equipment?)
  • Refuse (I don't need to replace this equipment so I won't)
  • Reduce (maybe I only need to replace some of this equipment)
  • Reuse (there might be someone that could use this equipment even though it is not what I need any more) and then
  • Recycle (now I will send it off to be recycled, because that is all it is good for or all other avenues have been considered).

Reuse

Working computers and electronic equipment of good standards can be donated to the Engineers Without Borders Computer Co-op. The Computer Co-op group is made up of students in conjunction with the MSA Welfare Department. These students repair and restore computers and donate them to students in need.

Printers, photocopiers and other office equipment,from departments only, can be advertised in the Monash Equipment Recycling Bulletin for sale to other departments and individuals. Go to the Corporate Finance Division assets forms and use the form 'Assets: Equipment for Sale - advertising.' Please ask your departmental administrative staff, requisition officer or purchasing officer to submit this form to Corporate Finance on your behalf.

If you are unable to resell it may also be possible to donate these items to another charity. Some suggested organizations are The Salvation Army, Brotherhood of St. Laurence and St. Vincent de Paul.

On-Sell

For students or staff interested in selling personal items, please use Monash Marketplace to post your goods.

Clearhouse Technologies offer a service where all electronic equipment can be collected from your workplace. A fee is charged, however this may be more than reimbursed through a rebate paid by Clearhouse for working equipment. Advantages of using this process include time saving and OHS benefits.

Recycling

If all other options have been examined, Monash University offers a recycling service for all general use electronic equipment (except TVs) through Beyond Waste in Seaford Vic. Beyond Waste http://electronics.exchangesystem.net/trade/aa992610.html is a volunteer organisation that works in conjunction with the Frankston city council to reuse all electronic equipment possible and then to recycle anything that is not able to be reused or repaired. All PCs, laptops, monitors, computer parts and accessories, printers, scanners, cables, DVDs VCRs, phones, vacuums and non contaminated laboratory equipment can be placed in the electronic waste ("E-Waste")skip located at the Clayton campus, near the boiler house. To place items in this locked skip, please go to the reception desk in Facilities and Services building 40 at Clayton or contact the zone Environmental Officer or the Office of Environmental Sustainability environment@monash.edu.au. Please see the Recycling map for more details.

Fluorescent Tubes

Fluorescent tubes contain mercury, a substance toxic to people and wildlife. When sent to landfill, there is a risk of this mercury being released into the environment. Recycling for fluorescent tubes is available at all campuses, please contact Facilities and Services.

Mobile Phones

Mobile phone donation and recycling points are available at each of our campuses and can usually be found at the Facilities and Services areas or at areas shown on our recycling map. The phones we donate or recycle are sent onto ARP (Ausie Recycling Program) where phones and accessories are reused, repaired or rebuilt and all left over items are recycled. More information about ARP can be found at arp.net.au.
Items that can be recycled include:

  • mobile phones (all components),
  • chargers,
  • holders and
  • phone batteries.

Any personal information contained within the pone is wiped securely by ARP. We remind people to remove their personal sim cards before disposal. If you need more information or would like a collection box in your area, please Contact us.

Office Furniture and Stationery

Furniture from departments only can be advertised in the Monash Equipment Recycling Bulletin for sale to other departments and individuals. Go to Corporate Finance Division assets forms and use the form 'Assets: Equipment for Sale - advertising.' Please ask your departmental administrative staff, requisition officer or purchasing officer to submit this form to Corporate Finance on your behalf.

If you are unable to resell furniture and stationery through this system, please contact Green Collect. Green Collect is a not-for-profit organization that recycles, collects and redistributes "niche waste," which includes office equipment, furniture, stationery, corks, CDs, DVDs, mobile phones, toner cartridges, bottle tops, screw tops, etc.

Ex-Office Furniture also purchase and sell second-hand furniture. Take a digital photo of the items available and e-mail to dale@preowned.com.au, with your name and contact details. If the furniture is useful to them, a staff member will come to evaluate the items. Similarly, buying furniture second-hand is a good way to 'close the loop'.

If the above options do not work, please consider donating these items to charity. Three organizations are The Salvation Army, Brotherhood of St. Laurence and St. Vincent de Paul.

Organic Waste

Recycling organic materials is now possible in an office environment thanks to Bokashi buckets, an innovative system currently used by OHSE at Clayton.

To learn more about Bokashi systems, please visit Eco Organics, or please contact us.


Spotlight on Monash Halls of Residence

The Mess Hall at Clayton Residential recycles its organic food waste through K&S Environmental. Food scraps are taken from the kitchen and transported to a composting facility for use in market gardens.

Paper

Paper recycling facilities have been standardised across the University in all buildings, offices, teaching spaces and Residential Services at Monash campuses. Amcor is working with Monash to provide this service.

The aim of the office paper recycling program is to channel used office paper back into the production of good quality recycled content office paper.

Office recycling is carried out through a system of under-desk boxes and larger Amcor boxes located alongside photocopiers and printers, which staff empty into blue wheelie bins as needed. Often these blue bins are located in work areas or a pickup bay adjacent to bottle and can recycling bins and cardboard cages. This process is supported by cleaning staff in limited locations.

Items that we want to receive in office paper recycling include: Clean office paper, envelopes and shredded paper. We prefer that magazines, newspapers and manila folders are placed in the cardboard recycling skips and cages to ensure the office paper recycling is maintained at a high standard of recyclable product.

Please also consider the opportunities to reuse paper that is only printed on one side. This paper can be reused for printing or for note paper in the office.

Office paper recycling is generally only offered in internal or well sheltered sites to limit contamination from weather. Blue wheelie bins will often need to be taken by staff to a location for emptying. Please consult with your campus Facilities and Services department for details.

Did you know¦?

 

 

  • Paper with staples and small amounts of plastic (i.e. envelopes with windows) can be recycled.
  • Disposable paper coffee cups cannot be recycled because they are food-contaminated and are waxed in order to be waterproof.
  • Shredded paper can also be used by animal services as bedding. To arrange collection of shredded paper, please e-mail animal.services@adm.monash.edu.au with contact details and pick-up location.

Polystyrene

All polystyrene should be collected and stored temporarily until a reasonable amount accumulates. All campuses, other than Clayton, can call their Facilities and Services department to arrange pickup and delivery to the Styrofoam skip located at the Clayton campus, near the boiler house. For Styrofoam recycling at the Clayton campus, please contact the Zone Environmental Officer, or the OHSE department to obtain the key to place items in this locked skip.

Please see the Polystyrene and E-waste Recycling map for more details.

Printer, fax cartridges and toner bottles

Recycling facilities for cartridges and bottles should be found in all offices at all Monash campuses. Use of these facilities ensures that these materials are not wastefully disposed of in landfills. Instead, they can be remanufactured or granulated to make things such as park benches, rulers, post boxes and office furniture.

To arrange delivery of a printer cartridge recycling box, or to arrange collection of these boxes once full, visit the Cartridge Rescue website and enter your details into the online Delivery and Collection form, or contact Cartridge Rescue directly on 1800 628 854.

Did you know?

Every year, 1.8 million cartridges end up as landfill where they will take 500-1000 years to decompose.


Transparencies

To arrange collection of overhead transparency sheets for recycling, please contact us.

Monash waste audits

Monash University is Australia's first university to conduct waste audits, and is leading the way in its waste reduction strategy. In 2006, all Monash campuses' office waste was audited. The finding showed that on average 40% of waste to landfill is recyclable material.

If you are interested in utilising the waste audit team for waste audits at your workplace, please contact us.