Waste and Recycling

Andrew Hawke
Mobile: 0410 623 148
Email: a.hawke@uws.edu.au

Office Paper Recycling Program

Capital Works and Facilities have expanded the current UWS-wide Office Paper Recycling Program in collaboration with VISY Recycling. UWS, as a member of the NSW Government's School Communities Recycling All Paper (SCRAP) Scheme, receives a free paper recycling service, which includes supply of recycled cardboard collection bins, 120 and 240 litre dedicated recycling Sulo bins and a weekly collection service.
Contamination of paper recycling bins will result in the valuable renewable resource being diverted to landfill.
Click here for further information on our paper recycling program.

Some excellent reasons to recycle your office paper

Recycling paper saves natural resources

One tonne of recycled paper or cardboard saves:

• Approximately 13 Trees
• 2.5 Barrels of Oil
• 4100 KWH of Electricity
• 4 Cubic Meters of Landfill
• 31,780 Litres of Water

Recycling paper saves money

• Recycling office paper reduces the waste disposal collections and therefore reduces costs
• 70% of office waste is office paper (Planet Ark)
• Recycling reduces the amount of renewable resources going to landfill.

Tips to reduce your office paper consumption

APPLY THE THREE R’s

• REDUCE: use email and electronic archiving instead of printing where possible use double sided printing facility on printers and photocopiers
  print (where possible) in single line spacing format

• REUSE: all paper for notes etc

• RECYCLE: Office paper in office recycling bins

Collection and Disposal

What to recycle in paper recycling desk and floor boxes:

NOTE:
Please remove all staples and paperclips.
Instructions are also on the side of the box
Unwaxed cardboard boxes can also be placed in the 120 and 240 litre VISY blue recycling Sulo bins
Please flatten all cardboard waste before placing in bins

Collection Timetable

The large blue VISY paper and cardboard recycling bins with the red lids are taken out by the cleaners on a weekly basis

Weekly Collection Days for VISY Recycling Paper and Cardboard Bins are:

The red locked SITA Data Destruction bins are taken to the nominated collection points by our cleaning staff on a fortnightly basis.

Fortnightly Collection Days for Red SITA Data Destruction Bins are:

Classified Waste

Capital Works and Facilities currently supply some office areas with locked confidential destruction bins. These bins should be used with caution. All documents created by staff as part of their duties are covered by the State Records Act, 1998 (NSW). Under the Act the State Records Authority has issued strict rules on the destruction of records. These include the following requirements:

• there are minimum periods for which records/documents MUST be kept before they can be destroyed
• some records need to be kept permanently and MUST NEVER be destroyed
• destruction of original records should be recorded and approved by an appropriate person.

Breaches of the part of the State Records Act dealing with disposal of records can result in a personal fine of $5,500. There are extensive guidelines available relating to disposal of records. For more information, please contact Records and Archives Management Services (RAMS).

At the moment there is no guarantee that records placed in locked bins will be shredded. If other rubbish such as food scraps are placed in the bins then the contents may not be recycled and could end up in landfill (which could also constitute a breach of the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act, 1998 (NSW)). This is also true of the blue recycle bins.

For these reasons the following rules of thumb should be applied to records placed in the locked bins:

• if the records contain sensitive information (even if the documents are duplicate copies or drafts) you should contact RAMS regarding destruction
• the bins should never be used for the destruction of registered files (i.e. in a numbered UWS file cover) – RAMS should be contacted regarding destruction of these
• general paper for recycling should be placed in the blue recycle bins (this should not include any original documents or sensitive material)
• destruction of original records/documents should be recorded and appropriately approved
• duplicate copies and minor drafts can generally be safely placed in the bins (as long as they don't contain sensitive information).

RAMS can arrange confidential destruction of records where the records are shredded and pulped and a certificate of destruction is received from the contractor. RAMS uses GRR for these services which is part of the State Records Authority. There is no charge to your unit for these services.

If you have any doubts or questions relating to the disposal of records/documents, please contact RAMS for advice or assistance.

For removal of classified waste on your campus, please contact the Cleaning Supervisor.

You may also need to fill out a work request form:

» PDF to fill out by hand
» Word doc to fill in electronically