Dealing with waste on Campus.

Little is known about the waste management scheme on campus by the University students except for one thing - it doesn’t work!!

This is a blog on the information that Greenhouse has gathered over its 1 year on Campus on the waste management of public area waste at University.

The three bin tripod system which we have grown accustomed to does not work. It simply does not entice students to start seperating waste in public spaces and the stories published in the past by Insite show the insignificance of this system. It’s not a simple task to pinpoint who is responsible for the lack of a proper system of waste separation.

So how have things developed?

Firstly one must note that the colour code of the bins was one drawn from an Italian model which was replicated using the University resources. By now the story has dragged on for 2 years as Joseph Camilleri from Precincts Office explained. A year ago, while Greenhouse was in its infancy, there was a common consensus among its members that if it were to start any projects this ought to be waste management. Therefore, we moved on to contact Precincts Office which gave us the go ahead to contact Wasteserv and set out a plan of proposals on how the waste scheme on campus ought to function. Wasteserv were interested to work with us and introduce a system at University, but KSU was already in contact with them to try get things sorted out. The responsibility was entrusted to Andrew Busuttil (‘il-Buzu’) - the educational commissioner of the then KSU executive , who for some reason or another always procrastinated on this issue. One can only guess that the furore over the negotiations between the government and UMASA in the now infamous lecturer strike re-directed KSU’s and the commissioner’s efforts away from this issue of a proper waste system and thus this never materialized.

After last summer’s holidays, Greenhouse - having closely monitored the electoral manifestos of both parties running for office - approached Vivenne Bajada as she referred to the waste management separation scheme in the run-up to the elections in one of her messages. After she accepted the proposal, Greenhouse contacted Wasteserv immediately and a meeting was set up between the three stakeholders together with GreenMT a private entity which sought to provide the service.

During the meeting it was decided that KSU, which has Students’ House under its jurisdiction, will take care of the waste separation scheme there. On the other hand GreenMT had to contact the Precincts Office since it is responsible for the outdoor areas. After some correspondence between the Precincts Office and GreenMT, the latter offered a deal to supply the bins. Since then the ball has been in the Univeristy’s court and more pressure is being put on the administration which presently finds itself overloaded with other projects.

Therefore now it’s hopefully only a matter of time until the system is in place. Once that is ready we hope all will be supportive of the new system and would start managing our waste responsibly.

Furthermore we ought not to keep on waiting for somebody else to take the initiative! If you have an idea share it with us! A few days of work is all it takes to see things change around you.

All recommendations on waste management and facilities will be forwarded to the Precincts Office for further consideration. So please do take note of what’s happening around you and if you wish to see some changes, share with us your ideas!!

References

Insight: SDM campaign Video: 'SDM in KSU would rebuild Students' Hut and would press for waste recycling at the University.'

Inisght: How Green is our Univeristy?: 'While waste separation never took off, it is evident that more can, and should, be done for our only university to become greener.'