The Carbon Trust has certified Swansea University with its prestigious Zero Waste to Landfill certification, as the university has diverted 63% of all waste into energy recovery - for uses including anaerobic digestion.
Swansea University is the first Welsh university to achieve the certification, which recognises organisations that demonstrate leadership in waste management.
Swansea had previously achieved the Carbon Trust Standard for year-on-year reduction of total waste and now this new success comes after a rigorous six-month auditing process and independent verification.
The university is a research-heavy institute and, as its waste streams include hazardous wastes, this is a significant achievement, it said.
To achieve the accreditation, it has worked with suppliers to ensure no waste goes to landfill, looked to reduce single-use items through sustainable procurement and fulfilled the goals set out in its Sustainability and Climate Emergency Strategy 2021-25.
Figures for the 2021-22 academic year showed no waste went to landfill and the university diverted more than 63% of all waste into energy recovery by focusing on reuse and recycling, composting and sending food waste for anaerobic digestion.
Fiona Wheatley, waste & recycling officer at Swansea University, said the accreditation was the culmination of a hard work and collaboration: “Working with the Carbon Trust and our waste management supplier Mitie to achieve this certification has been an excellent exercise in evaluating the journey of all our waste streams.
“We can now confidently state we are a Zero Waste to Landfill university. Given we have more than 40 waste streams, due to the breadth of our research, this accreditation has been a significant undertaking, and we are thrilled with the outcome.”
