Mendel University has purchased a total of 334 new waste bins for plastic, paper, glass, and mixed waste. The new bins will be available throughout the university campus in Černá Pole, the Botanical Garden and Arboretum, and the Faculty of Horticulture campus in Lednice. Their aim is to significantly reduce the distance waste has to be carried, thus facilitating waste sorting in the day-to-day operation of university buildings. The university purchased the waste bins thanks in part to funding from the NPO Green Deal project.

Experience from operation confirms that students want to sort waste, but often encounter barriers in the form of a lack of bins on floors, unclear labeling, or the need to take waste to distant collection points. The new bins will help remove these obstacles. The Moje MENDELU app will also serve to improve the clarity and record-keeping of waste collection points on campus. “Student interest in waste sorting at MENDELU has been high for a long time. However, practice has shown that the conditions for responsible sorting were often lacking, in particular a sufficient number of bins for sorted waste and their appropriate placement in buildings. The university is now responding to these suggestions, which have been repeatedly raised by the student senate and members of the MENDELU Sustainability team, with concrete steps,” explained Zuzana Židová, head of the Strategy and Analysis Department.

The bins are metal and have removable lids, with each container having a capacity of 100 liters. Their placement is individual, but they will be available in all university buildings. “The placement of the bins was consulted with a safety technician to ensure compliance with escape routes and fire safety. We have always tried to cover the areas with the highest concentration of students and employees,” said Židová.

The purchase of new bins for sorted waste is an important step towards improving waste management at MENDELU and fulfilling the principles of sustainability in the university’s daily operations. However, the purchase of bins alone is not the only prerequisite for success. “A long-term problem remains the lack of information about waste sorting rules. In practice, recyclable waste components still appear in black containers, or undecomposed cardboard boxes in paper bins. Therefore, each color-coded bin will feature clear pictograms and short, understandable texts. In addition, other forms of internal communication will also be used for educational purposes,” Židová explained.