Single use plastic
The plastic issue is a complicated one. The answer is not as simple as plastic = bad. If plastic products are made to last and are reused repeatedly, and then recycled at the end of their usefulness, they can be a sustainable option. Also some single-use “disposable” plastic items are harder to eliminate – for example SUP's used in medical or laboratory settings are needed to avoid contamination.
The problem is in our now prolific use of avoidable single use plastic items. This means things like plastic drinking straws, plastic drinks stirrers, and disposable coffee cups and lids. These are all examples of items that (if made of plastic) are used on average for around 20 minutes, but can take over 400 years to degrade.
Along with other universities and colleges in Greater Manchester, the University of Salford is working to eradicate avoidable single-use plastics (SUP's) from catering, labs and stationery. The pledge is in support of PlasticFreeGM, the first city-region plan to drive down avoidable SUP's. They support refill projects in schools, promote reusable cup schemes, amongst others.
Our Plan of Action
Our plan is to work with a wide range of departments and teams to encourage moving away from SUP's. Below is the hierarchy of actions we need to consider:
- Identify - auditing our departments and areas to identify SUP's
- Avoid - consider whether they have an integral function to operations
- Substitute - identifying more sustainable alternatives where possible
- Recycle - ensuring we choose products that are recyclable on campus
Plastic Free Community
To guide our action plan we joined the Plastic Free Communities campaign. It is a national scheme ran by marine conservation charity, Surfers Against Sewage. We need to work with at least 20 allies and 6 business champions, as well as getting the University Council to commit to action on removing avoidable SUP's.
To keep up to date with the progress and opportunities to get involved in, you can sign up to our monthly Sustainability Newsletter.
The campaign is open to all staff and students - get in touch at eps-sustainability@salford.ac.uk if you'd like to take an active part, or if you have any questions. And if you see any single use plastics on campus which could potentially be avoided or replaced - please let us know. We are a small team so we welcome and encourage all suggestions and ideas.
For more details, you can watch the recording from the Plastic Free relaunch event.
Our progress so far
Our Eat and Drink on Campus Team have:
- replaced plastic straws with paper straws
- replaced takeaway boxes with crockery for eat-in customers at Maxwell canteen
- replaced all plastic cutlery with wooden cutlery
- offer a discount for using a reusable cup
- do not sell any plastic bottles
- use refillable water bottles for event catering
- minimise use of cling film by using reusable tubs to store food
Our Maker Space and New Adelphi workshop recycle 3D printing waste, a traditionally hard to recycle waste.
The Art Collection Team have worked with a supplier to change the plastic bags used on deliveries to an eco-friendly alternative, and the business is rolling that out across the board!
The Library Team requested that their paper supplier send shipments in cardboard boxes and remove shrink wrap.
Within Estates, the Cleaning Team dispense products into refillable/reusable bottles, where that option is possible. There are mains-fed (as opposed to bottle fed) water refill points across campus and we do not provide any cups for them.
Be part of the solution
- We’d like to know if your team or department has taken action on plastic on campus, or know of any innovative solutions. This could include removing plastic cups from water dispensers or eliminating plastic packaging from your publications. Any action will help us increase our total number of pieces of plastic removed and share best practices across the university. Let us know by emailing the Sustainability Team at eps-sustainablity@salford.ac.uk.
- Support the Plastic Free UoS campaign on social media.
- Check out our waste reduction page to find out how else to reduce single use plastic on campus.
- Reduce the number of single use plastics you purchase.
Zero waste in Greater Manchester
Zero waste is a simple concept that focuses on re-using items as much as possible to reduce the amount of waste that we create. Waste has become a huge problem that has a very damaging impact on the environment. Plastic pollution especially has gained attention as one of worst types of waste we create, due to how it breaks down into microplastics a process that can take centuries it breaks down into. While some plastics can be recycled, a lot of the plastics we use every day cannot. These are single use plastics and are destined to end up in landfills, the ocean or polluting our local environment.
Zero waste stores help combat plastic waste by avoiding using products packaged with single use plastics and instead use refillable containers made from materials such as glass, allowing customers to repeatedly re-use containers for a range of products like dry foods such as cereal, rice and flour as well cleaning products such as detergent and conditioner. Another benefit of zero waste shopping is that you only pay for the amount you need instead of in pre-determined sizes helping reduce other problems such as food waste and saving you money.
Greater Manchester has a range of great stores that have committed to being zero waste fully or to some degree - you can view them on the map below.