Waste sorting at recycling stations

Here you can dispose of:

• Newspapers and advertisement
• Magazines
• Drink cartons and other cartons for saus, pudding etc.
• Envelopes
• Food cartons for cereal etc. 
• Writing paper

Do not throw this here:

• Cartons and pizzaboxes must be delivered to your building's waste disposal room
• Cups and plates made of cardboard
• Wet cardboard
• Cartons for eggs
• Gift wrapping
• Napkins and paper towels
• Hardback books
• Recipts
• Containers for soup and spices with aluminium foil on the inside of the container.

What happens to the waste after it leaves UiB?

Cardboard, paper, and cartons are sold to paper manufacturers who use them to produce new cardboard and packaging. This type of waste is a valuable resource that achieves nearly 100% material recycling.

Here you can dispose of:

• Packaging in clean plastic that has been used food and other consumer products (for example, ketchup, sour cream, shampoo, soap etc.)
• Plastic bags and plastic wrap
• Bubble wrap

Do not throw this here:

• Plastic that is not packaging
• Dirty plastic packaging
• Plastic packaging with paper or aluminium on the inside
• Straps
• Bags for firewood
• Polystyrene

What happens to the waste after it leaves UiB?

The plastic is collected by the waste management company and compressed into large bales that are sent for further sorting.

Today, about 32% of the plastic is recycled, while the remaining is sent for energy recovery (incineration).

Here you can dispose of:

• Cans
• Metal bottle caps and other metal lids
• Aluminium containers
• Drinking cans
• Glass bottles
• Empty perfume bottles etc
• Empty medicine bottles

Do not throw this here:

• Glass and metal that is not packaging sust as pots, scissors, and drinking glass
• Chips bags etc.
• Ceramics
• Mirrors and window glass
• Spray bottles
• Light bulbs
• Casseroles
• Empty drinking cans and bottles marked with the Norwegian "pant" symbol.

What happens to the waste after it leaves UiB?

The materials are sold to manufacturers of glass and metal, and become new products.

It is about 10 times more energy-intensive to produce metal from scratch than to melt down existing metal. Metal and glass are therefore very suitable for reuse and are an attractive type of waste for manufacturers of new products.

Here you can dispose of:

• Fruit and vegetables
• Bread and similar products
• Bones and skin from fish
• Other forms of food waste not in its packaging
• Shell from eggs and nuts
• Coffee filters
• Solid fat

Do not throw this here:

• Food that is still in any type of packaging
• Thin soups and sauses
• Waste from gardening such as earth and flowers
• Diapers
• Cat sand and similar
• Te bags
• Food oil

What happens to the waste after it leaves UiB?

The food waste from UiB is transported to a facility in Jæren, where bio-gas and bio-fertilizers are produced. Bio-gas is used, among other things, as environmentally friendly fuel, and bio-fertilizers add important nutrients to the soil, which then re-enter the food production circle. Energy and nutrients are optimally utilized!

BIR is currently building a facility for food waste in Voss, where the food waste from UiB will be sent as soon as the facility is completed. The residual waste after the process will be used as fertilizers, reducing the need for imported artificial fertilizers. The bio-gas is used, among other things, as fuel for the vehicles that collect waste from UiB.

Here are some of the thing you can dispose of in the residual waste:

• Diapers
• Cups and plates made of cardboard
• Gift wrapping
• Polystyrene
• Mixed packaging
• Plastic products that are not packaging
• Broken cups and glass
• Bags for vacuum cleaners

What happens to the waste after it leaves UiB?

Residual waste is sent for incineration, and the heat from the incineration plant produces district heating and electricity for, among other things, UiB's buildings.

Remember that once the waste is incinerated, the resources cannot be used again, so it is important to sort out all valuable parts of the waste (such as cardboard/paper, glass/metal, etc.) before it goes to incineration.

Here you can dispose of:

• Empty drinking cans and bottles with marked with the Norwegian "pant" symbol.

Do not throw this here:

• Drinking cans and bottles not marked with the Norwegian "pant" symbol.

Everything made of cardboard must be placed in this recycling arrangement (boxes, cartons, partitions, inserts, etc.).

All cartons and boxes should be flat-packed and/or cut down.

In some buildings, the cleaning staff will take care of cardboard; if not, users themselves must take care of the waste.

Cartons must be placed in containers with a blue lid, marked “Papp” (“Cardboard”). Mixing cardboard and paper is bad economics!

Electrical and electronic (EE) waste is regulated by the “Regulations relating to the recycling and processing of waste (the Waste Regulations), Chapter 1. Discarded electrical and electronic products.” This type of waste may contain several types of hazardous waste, which are sorted at the place of reception. EE waste consists of various types of waste:

• Fluorescent tubes. All lengths and thicknesses of straight fluorescent tubes
• Other light sources. Economy bulbs, incandescent lamps, light bulbs, vapour lamps, fluorescent tubes that are not straight (e.g. “kringles”), ultraviolet and infrared lamps, etc.
• Cables and wires. All types of cables and wires
• Small units. Hand tools, PC equipment, small instruments, fittings, lamps, coffee makers, kettles, electric radiators, etc.
• Larger units. Pumps, tool machinery, large instruments, electrical motors, machine sets, hot water containers, industrial machines, etc.

The UiB has set up its own arrangements for the return of fluorescent tubes and other light sources. See under “Fluorescent tubes”.

The UiB has entered into an agreement for the collection and delivery of small units, with wire netting cages deployed in a number of buildings for collection. Individual units are responsible for making use of the recycling arrangements.

When large units or large quantities of EE waste are to be delivered, a container must be provided. Whenever an EE product is purchased or imported, an environmental charge has already been paid that will cover the processing of the waste, though shipment and rental of the container must still be paid. It is extremely important to ensure that the container contains only EE waste and that this has not been mixed with other waste so that the container needs to be handled as unsorted waste. The cost of unsorted waste is very much higher.

The unit must contact the operations manager, who will arrange each collection with the collector. All costs will be charged to the unit.

• Regulations relating to the recycling and processing of waste (the Waste Regulations), Chapter 1. Discarded electrical and electronic products (NO)

Toner cartridges from Hewlett-Packard (HP) printers

HP offers a free return arrangement for used and unused toner cartridges for HP printers. These are sent for recycling. However, not all HP cartridges can be recycled. List of those that cannot be recycled (NO) .

Use the HP website to order return boxes and arrange freight (NO). It is also possible to send in individual cartridges. This is done by printing out a return label for individual toner cartridges from the same website.The UiBs organisation no. is 874789542

Toner cartridges from Ricoh

Empty toner cartridges from Ricoh machines can be returned with service personnel when they visit.

Toner cartridges can also be disposed of as residual waste.

There are separate return arrangements for fluorescent tubes, economy bulbs and light bulbs. Fluorescent tubes and economy bulbs contain mercury vapour (Hg vapour) and tubes must therefore be emptied of vapour so that they do not harm the environment. Light bulbs contain elemental lead (Pb), which must be handled in a safe manner.

The operations staff at the Estate and Facilities Management Division manage any change of fluorescent tubes and most economy bulbs. If you have any light bulbs or economy bulbs, contact the Estate and Facilities Management Division by e-mail for clarification of delivery.

We are trying to reuse IT equipment internally at UiB. For equipment we can no longer use, UiB has an agreement with the company 3stepIT, which accepts it for reuse or recycling.

Electronic waste is the world's fastest-growing waste stream. By using the equipment as long as possible and returning outdated equipment, we contribute to it being handled in a way that is:

1. Environmentally sustainable. Equipment that can be used is reused. Equipment that cannot be used is sent for material recycling.UiB gets a full overview of how 'our' equipment is managed.
2. Economically beneficial: Reimbursement for usable/sellable equipment helps cover the costs of transportation and processing.
3. Secure: All data on submitted devices is deleted so it cannot be recovered.

Examples of IT equipment: Laptops and desktop PCs, monitors, mobile phones, tablets, AV equipment, servers, cash registers, printers, network equipment, cables, mice, keyboards. Anything not reused through 3stepIT, they ensure it is recycled.

For more information, please refer to the IT department's information on how to return used IT-equipment.

Certain buildings that receive large amounts of plastic wrapped merchandise have arranged for recycling of plastic wrapping.

Certain buildings have arrangements for recycling large amounts of glass bottles, jars etc.

Empty medicine bottles and chemical bottles made of glass must be disposed of as problematic waste.

Single-use batteries must be put in red waste disposal boxes when they are spent. All units at UiB have at least one box available in their premesis. The image below shows what these boxes look like. Remember to put tape on the battery poles of 9-volt batteries (the battery type in the photo).

Rechargable batteries (for example litium, Li-ion and NiMH) must be delivered as special waste to special waste rooms. These batteries should never be put in the red waste disposal boxes.

Photo:

Steinar Sundberg