In May, the “Getting Organic Waste Right” campaign visited the Complutense, as this university is located in one of the 12 districts with organic waste collection, the Moncloa-Aravaca district.
To this end, in conjunction with the Environmental Unit of the Chancellor’s Office for Diversity and the Environment of the UCM, the campaign team paid a series of visits to each of the University schools to explain organic waste separation and answer any questions about types of waste and waste management/collection in general.
Meetings were held during these visits with the management of each school*, together with the staff responsible for the cafeterias and kitchens.
The issue with waste is different in each school, although they all share the fight against outdoor drinking sessions and the large accumulation of waste these leave in the green areas on campus, especially at weekends. They are working on this issue from various angles to try to solve the problem, with university awareness campaigns. For example, the Campus and Environment unit has created a guide to good environmental practices.
As regards organic waste, we have found that, although most schools already have a brown-lidded bin, they don’t always use it correctly.
For this reason, during these visits all the staff involved with university waste management have been given materials and information about how to correctly separate all types of waste, especially organic waste. Advice was also provided on how to implement this new separation system in the kitchens and cafeterias, offering practical tips on where to place the bins.
Thanks to all this, the University is ever closer to getting organic waste right.
And we are also celebrating that the UCM recently joined the student movement in the fight for the climate which has recently mobilised students from around the world. You can follow all their activities via their Twitter profile @UCMxclima.
For this reason, we encourage all those who form part of the UCM world to find out about the organic waste separation being introduced into the university at aciertaconlaorganica.es.
*Schools in which this awareness activity has been carried out, in addition to the Chancellor’s office and the Halls of Residence of the UCM: Education, Information Sciences, Fine Arts, Odontology, Medicine, Pharmacy, Veterinary Science, Statistics, Philosophy- Philology, Geography-History, IT Studies, Law, Sports Facilities, Biology-Geology, Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry.