Why are we doing this?
We need to reduce UiO's amount of residual waste. In 2024 the University produced 1,278 tonnes of waste. 66 per cent of this was sorted for material recycling.
The University of Oslo purchases roughly 61 tonnes of paper hand towels each year. This is over 14 per cent of our residual waste. Recycling used hand towels into new paper will significantly reduce the residual waste. In addition, the greenhouse gas emissions from this type of recycling are lower than from incinerating paper waste together with residual waste.
If the pilot goes as we hope and the waste separation rate increases, we will extend the initiative to additional buildings.
What do you need to do?
The new procedure is that residual waste must be disposed of separately, in the small white bins with lids that have been installed these last weeks. Paper hand towels should actually be disposed of in the same bins as before. Both bins will be labelled with stickers already used in the University of Oslo’s waste?sorting system.
Why only in the toilets?
The paper hand towels used in UiO's kitchens are of a different quality. When used to wipe off food from plates and containers, they should be recycled as food waste.
How are the paper hand towles recycled?
- The cleaners empty the sack of used paper hand towels into a designated baler.
- Our waste contractor collects the bundles of compressed paper hand towels and transports them to a fossil?free factory just outside Gothenburg (essity.se) (page in Norwegian).
- In the factory, the used paper hand towels are compressed, cleaned and processed into new paper products, for example new paper hand towels.