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'Bin there, done that'

14 December 2005

Vice-Chancellor Professor Richard Larkins relinquished his waste bin last week in line with the university's commitment to a sustainable environment.

Ms Kat Lavers with Professor Larkins.

The Vice-Chancellor's office has been added to a growing list of waste-bin-free zones at the university that to date includes Occupational Health, Safety and Environment, Facilities and Services (Clayton and Peninsula), the Monash Health Research Precinct, Monash Medical Centre and the ITS Web Resources and Development team.

'Bin there, done that' is the latest initiative of the Monash Green Office Program, which promotes sustainable practice in offices throughout the university.

Under the scheme, individual waste bins under desks are replaced by individual paper recycling boxes, and all participating areas have recycling stations and landfill bins installed at easily accessible and central locations.

Green Office coordinator Ms Kat Lavers said Monash had been a member of EcoRecycle's Waste Wise business program since 2001.

"The university has worked to develop systems to recycle paper, cardboard, bottles, cans, printer cartridges, batteries, furniture and fluorescent tubes," Ms Lavers said.

"Our experience has shown that individual waste bins are becoming redundant. The range of materials that can be recycled is always increasing, and the convenience of having a bin under each desk provides no incentive to use these recycling systems appropriately."

In 2003, about 79 per cent of the 348 tonnes of waste Monash sent to landfill was reusable or recyclable, a figure that reduced to 58 per cent in 2004.

Ms Lavers said the 'Bin there, done that' scheme avoided unnecessary environmental and economic costs while allowing cleaners to focus on other tasks. It also promoted staff activity and awareness of environmental issues.

Staff interested in implementing the scheme in their offices should contact Ms Lavers on +61 3 9905 9060 or email kat.lavers@adm.monash.edu.au.