EPFL – the Swiss champion for aluminum recycling
© 2014 EPFL
With 642.4 tons of household trash (2013 figures) and 14000 employees spread across around 70 buildings, trash collection isn’t just a question of cosmetics on the EPFL campus. The team of janitors has been presented with the IGORA award for the collection and careful sorting of metals.
Whereas the aim of EPFL is to clean out in space with the support of CleanSpace One(!), it still requires on the campus the team of thirteen janitors, who look after both the sorting and recycling of trash, as well as implementing initiatives designed to increase awareness of those who use these areas about environmental issues. This year, EPFL was rewarded for its good management in collecting no less than 1.3 tons of aluminum (of which 1.27 tons of drink cans and about 14 tons of steel food cans). “Ecological initiatives are very important at EPFL,” emphasizes Denis Monney, who is responsible for the janitors’ group. The collection and recycling of those materials that can be re-used is naturally part of this: everything is recycled, from aluminum to toner via lightbulbs, as well as a lot of special materials.
Recycled aluminum is above all composed of drink cans that are dropped in around 100 collection points that are made available to the employees and students. This enables efficient sorting, easily accessible to those using the areas. “We strive to put in place an infrastructure that is integrated with the needs of the EPFL community,” notes Stephen Poplineau, who is responsible for the recycling dump of the School. “The ways in which the various elements – boxes, can-crushers and trash cans – are positioned in the areas crossed daily by the users is a determining factor in our getting them to use these facilities. We also have to bear in mind that without their active cooperation we would not be able to achieve such satisfying results.”
The food cans made of pressed steel and household aluminum – such as coffee capsules, tubes and take-away food containers (from kitchens and canteens) – as well as recyclable materials, are taken to a recycling company in the region: “We also take a lot of care in the selection of our recycling partners,” adds Stephen Poplineau.
Recycling at EPFL in 2013:
Household trash, called industrial urban waste: 642.4 tons – collected and recycled by the town of Lausanne (heating and electricity)
Computing materials, broken down according to the OREA standards: 52.5 tons
PET: 332.55 m3, that’s almost 15 tons (estimate)
Special materials by-product of research work, treated according to the Ordinance on Movements of Waste: 193.5 tons
Toner tubes and ink cartridges: 4.1 T, recycled by an EPI
Neons lights: 14 m3, that’s almost 2.7 tons
Batteries: 0.7 tons
About IGORA
IGORA was founded in 1989 as a cooperative, with its headquarters in Zurich, by companies in the beverage, food, pet food and aluminum, as well as commercial companies. In all, 12000 tons of household aluminum are collected each year. Since 2013, IGORA has also guaranteed the management of the FERRO Recycling secretariat. This institution is responsible for collecting and recycling tin cans : 12800 tons, or 86% of this waste are recycled each day.
