Better signage leads to better source separation

Teresa Sigurdsson, administrator at Campus Management, Ångström Laboratory, is working with two projects to improve source separation through better signage in her role as environmental representative. The projects are being run in cooperation with the cleaning service.

Custodial technicians and Campus Management had noted that source separation worked better at sorting stations where the students had to pull out the right drawer to deposit waste, compared to top-loader stations where waste could be thrown directly into the bin from the top.

Signage for top-loader source separation

Consequently, Campus Management in cooperation with the Environmental group at Uppsala Union of Engineering and Science Students decided to develop clearer and larger signs that were put up above a number of top-loader recycling stations.

“When the signs were up, waste was properly sorted, just like in our recycling stations where you need to pull out a drawer. The signs have been up for almost a year now and their positive impact has not waned,” says Teresa Sigurdsson, administrator at Campus Management, Ångström Laboratory.

The experiment has now been expanded to include a series of signs designed to better match Ångström's other signs. They are monitoring how the new sign design affects sorting.

“It’s too early to say yet what the outcome will be from these new signs,” she says.

One of the new signs poses the question: Does your rubbish belong here?

“It’s been shown that it’s a good idea to use questions in this context if you want to get people to change their behaviour,” says Teresa.

To evaluate which signs work best, there are now top-loader stations with a range of different signs, along with stations with only their original marking with small adhesive labels.

“We’ll be putting up signs at more recycling stations in the future, but first we want to evaluate which signs work best,” she adds.

Signs in the recycling room

In addition to the project to improve source separation in public spaces, Ångström Laboratory is also conducting a project to improve source separation among staff.

Moving on from the public student spaces in the Ångström Laboratory, we come to the recycling rooms. The recycling rooms are where staff sort their waste and there are significantly more waste fractions to keep track of here.

In the recycling rooms, Campus Management is using signs to improve and facilitate source separation. Ragn-Sells collects the waste from Ångström Laboratory, and Teresa Sigurdsson makes the signs herself in dialogue with Ragn-Sells. The signs harmonise with Ragn-Sells’ system and there are QR codes that go to Ragn-Sells’ information about each waste faction.

Along with the signs, Campus Management is working actively to sort as many fractions of waste at source as possible. Besides plastic packaging, for example, two types of plastic are sorted: shrink and stretch film, and polypropylene (marked with number 5 in the recycling triangle).

“We collect these two plastic fractions because Ragn-Sells has established separate recycling flows for these two types in addition to plastic packaging,” explains Teresa.

Spray cans are another example. There are currently two fractions: isocyanates and flammable.

Toner cartridges is another fraction collected. In this case, it is not Ragn-Sells that collects the used toner cartridges; they are instead sent back to the manufacturer, Ricoh.

Better work environment

Campus Management are also aiming to improve the work environment by trying out different solutions to make it easier to open the lids on the bins. The lids need to be closed as standard to reduce the risk of unpleasant odours and pests.

“We want the lids to close properly which makes them heavy to lift, especially when you have recyclables in your hands,” says Teresa.

Now they are going to try lids for the large containers that have smaller lids fitted so that you don't have to open the whole lid.

“We’re testing this concept with just a few bins first. Hopefully this solution will work, then we can introduce it for all the bigger bins,” says Teresa Sigurdsson.

Open to collaboration

Both of these projects are being carried out in collaboration with other actors and in Teresa Sigurdsson’s view, the benefits from collaborations to deal with these types of issues have generally been great.

“These collaborations are within and between campuses. Readers are welcome to contact me if they would like to hear more about our approaches, or if they want to use the signs I’ve made. When you work together, everything becomes so much more enjoyable and easier,” concludes Teresa Sigurdsson.

Anders Berndt