UnEarth Magazine.

Words by Amy Manvell, Art by Madeline Sully

Thinking about waste – how much we create, how we dispose of it, what goes unseen, and how unavoidable it seems – can feel bleak. A circular economy is (in my humble opinion) increasingly necessary. Within the University of St Andrews, progress is being made to circularise the system, although there is still a lot to be done. As the Circular Economy Intern for the Environment Team this summer, I delved into the University’s ‘rubbish’ activities, predominantly within halls of residence. So, let’s consider: what do we really mean when we talk about a ‘circular economy’, what is the University doing to achieve one in its residential capacity, and what can we, as students, do? 

Loosely, we can define a circular and sharing economy as a model of production and consumption in which we perceive ‘waste’ as ‘resources’ instead, where absolute priority is given to sharing, repairing, recycling, and retaining such resources. This requires a “fundamental systemic shift” from our current linear system of extraction, production, short-term consumption, and unrecoverable disposal. Grappling the implications of degrowth in some circular economy definitions with sustainable economic development is complex to navigate globally as the 2030 deadline for the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals draws closer and the IPCC confirms the likelihood of exceeding global warming of 1.5°C this century. 

The University of St Andrews aims to be a net-zero emitter by 2035, which means that operations will not emit any more emissions into the atmosphere than the amount which can be captured or reduced, arising from energy, travel, construction, food, and procurement. This entails the lifecycle of emissions for all products used within the University, meaning continuous repair and reuse through a circular economy are vital to achieve emission reductions. The University’s Environmental Sustainability Strategy to accomplish net-zero contains circular targets, including refining purchasing, reducing waste, and engaging student action to minimise environmental impacts. 

In my six weeks’ work, I interviewed various members of residential, catering, and external university staff members, aiming to discover how resource consumption and management in halls is occurring and how these could be improved. 

Each hall of residence has individual processes for managing waste and leftover resources. I found that the majority of the decision-making, challenges, and improvements towards a circular economy within student accommodation revolve around certain constraints: time, culture, finance, and capacity/storage. Time-based decisions at the end of term, such as using a skip or clearing an area rather than sorting it for reusable items, are often due to the incredibly tight turnaround window (3-7 days, depending on the hall) to prepare halls for summer rentals. The degrowth implications of a circular economy – such as waiting for broken items to be assessed, sent off, repaired, and returned – take far longer than ordering a replacement. Some halls, especially DRA, have a lack of space and staff capacity to sort and store resources left behind by the previous student cohort. Unfortunately, financial considerations impede the likelihood that the most sustainable decisions about waste are always chosen. We also cannot ignore that halls’ student cultures are in flux, as each year is full of new hall committees and levels of commitment to sustainable efforts. All these factors mean consistency and collective efforts towards circularity can feel hard to achieve. 

However, good things are happening. Remanufacturing services are being increasingly used at the University. Several sofas from halls have been successfully reupholstered at no extra cost to buying new, and this is to be expanded to more comprehensively serve accommodations and academic schools. The success of the StAndReuse partnership project saw over 700 students attend the annual Big Give Away in Fresher’s Week. Transition’s pilot project Sustainable Bedding Bundles, through which locally laundered bedding that was previously donated to StAndReuse through summer clear-outs is now in use by 60 students in St Andrews accommodation. Food waste has also been successfully reduced through removing trays and self-service. Efforts such as these contribute to the University’s goal of reducing total waste by at least 15% (2011 baseline). Training is also key: Hall Committee Representatives are being given environmental training, and it is hoped that introducing effective staff training can soon ensure students have direction towards active efforts to reduce and rethink waste. My report recommended that those assisting in the summer clear-outs be appropriately trained on sorting resources and utilising an efficient system to prevent items from being considered ‘waste’. Such training could also encourage a cultural shift away from using skips, with the potential to meet an ambitious skip reduction target. 

Fundamentally, consolidation and coordination of procurement across halls, alongside prioritising repair and refurbishment, are the primary changes needed. Eventually, this should entail that residential resources (especially large, bulky, and electrical items) will only be bought as a last resort from approved suppliers and that take-back schemes with residential suppliers are assured so that they remove and responsibly manage obsolete furniture from halls. 

Ultimately, I found that, as students (especially those living in university accommodation) of a top institution, we are key to lasting change. We have a responsibility to be mindful of our resource use and rethink buying where we can avoid it. StAndReuse is valuable but does not have the capacity to be the solution to overconsumption. We need to leave less behind so that resources do not needlessly pile on the workload of overstretched staff or volunteers. 

Hall committees are essential for engaging student behaviour and attitudes regarding sustainable resource management, so I am ending this with a call to action: use your position! Push for donations and for them to be retained in halls at the end of the year. Encourage staff to maintain and fix items rather than replacing them. Carry out food and waste monitoring and provide feedback at Residential Experience Meetings. Avoid buying single-use decorations or costumes for events and holidays – utilise Transition St Andrews, the St Andrews Environmental Network, Sustainable Style, and charity shops instead. Ask the Environment Subcommittee for help and advice! 

If you asked me to describe how ‘round’ St Andrews is on a circular economy scale of fracking for oil to a picture-perfect sharing circle of sustainability, I would say that there are a lot of jagged edges, but slowly getting smoother. We all just have to keep buffing the sides, so the circle gets small enough to avoid the hammers swinging towards the edges.