Implementation of Recycling at Copenhagen Business School
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The mission of oikos Impact is to raise awareness about sustainable decisions among students and to create a sustainable, green and liveable campus.
Project Duration: 2018-2021
Project Owner: Copenhagen Business School
Funding: Copenhagen Business School
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2018-19: Frederikke Kistrup Strand, Giulia Carmicino, Gloria Moscatelli, Julia Köhler (Project Manager), Levke Kooistra, Simon Kooke
2019-20: Melissa Kälin (Project Manager), Nicola Dottoini, Nina Böntgen, Pavlina Blanarikova, Thor Jørgensen Binderup,
2020-21: David Revez da Silva (Project Manager), Isabel Dolp, Luise Lotte Odenthal, Melissa Møller, Niklas Ludvigsen, Sophie Lampert, Sören Hellmonds
2021-22: Alejandro Trujillo, David Revez da Silva (Project Manager), Helena Musk, Jana Derr, Marta Carpaneto, Paula Belen Fernandez Perez, Zuzana Malinkovičová (Marketing Lead)
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Tore Klitgaard, Rene Steffensen, Kristjan Jespersen, Karoline Bang Thøfner
Written by: Melissa Kälin
COPYRIGHT: oikos Copenhagen
SETTING NEW STANDARDS FOR COLLABORATION BETWEEN STUDENTS AND UNIVERSITY
Since its early beginning at CBS in 2002, oikos Copenhagen (hf. oikos) has focused on sustainability in various ways. The campus is one of the most important components of the university environment for students and professors alike.In 2018, our members were baffled: How come we are expected to recycle at home, but not in our public institutions? This question inspired the next leap of student involvement at our institution, setting an example and paving the way for how our institution collaborates with its community.
oikos Copenhagen approached CBS Campus Services about the feasibility of implementing recycling at Copenhagen Business School. In collaboration, Campus Services and oikos Copenhagen initiated a pilot project with the canteen provider. CBS conveyed that previous similar initiatives had been unsuccessful, due to a lack of understanding from the users’ side on how to recycle. The collaboration was supposed to address the challenges with recycling and through the shared initiative, the project pioneered a new form of collaboration between students and their institution:
“It’s the first time that students and Campus Service have worked together on a project like this. I really like [oikos Copenhagen’s] approach, as they’re pushing for a movement at CBS as well as taking ownership of the project, so it’s not just Campus Services initiating these kinds of projects.”
– Tore Klitgaard, Former Program Manager
With the implementation of recycling throughout campus in October 2021, CBS is one year ahead of the Danish government’s waste sorting policy.
PROJECT TIMELINE: THIS IS HOW WE DID IT
COPYRIGHT: oikos Copenhagen
PHASE 1. IDEATION AND APPROACHING CBS
In 2018, the Impact Team identified the biggest sustainability gap on campus where a sizeable impact was achievable: Recycling.
The Team approached CBS Campus Services with the proposal to implement recycling. The idea was greeted by Tore Klitgård, former Sustainable Design Developer at CBS, and together with Kristjan Jespersen, Associate Professor, a plan was devised on how to include oikos in the creation and implementation of CBS’ Sustainability Strategy.
PHASE 2. LAYING THE GROUNDWORK AND INCLUDING STAKEHOLDERS
The plan was to roll out a pilot project, which if proven successful could be rolled out over all of campus. Planning the pilot project, the team gathered information and held meetings with all relevant actors that would need to be included: Among others the Municipality of Frederiksberg, CBS, the canteen provider, cleaning services, and the utility company who would be handling the waste.
PHASE 3. THE PILOT PROJECT
The three-month pilot project was run at the canteen at Solbjerg Plads. oikos Copenhagen and the utility company were tasked with monitoring the stations, and measuring if the sorting into correct waste fractions improved. Due to their contracts, the cleaning personnel was not able to dispose of the trash, so oikos volunteers would take the trash to a separate monitoring area.
The waste fractions during the projects were divided into biowaste, general waste, paper, hard plastic, and soft plastic.
SOURCE: CBS WIRE, via YouTube
don’t be trashy. #sortitout
The pilot project was accompanied by a marketing campaign at Solbjerg Plads campus. The campaign was orchestrated to raise awareness about the ongoing project and to encourage the proper use of the recycling station. A ceremony was held to kick off the project and oikos members would volunteer to answer questions and inform at the recycling stations.
SOURCE: RUSH, 2018
PHASE 4. THE GREEN BUSINESS CASE FOR RECYCLING AND BROADENING THE SCOPE
For recycling to be implemented again at CBS, oikos needed to prove that recycling would improve over time. After the three-months of monitoring, the results were collected. These are the findings and results:
Over time, less waste needed to be reassigned to general waste due to sorting errors
The general waste proportion decreased over time. More than 50% of waste was sorted into other fractions at the end of the pilot project.
The separation of hard- and soft plastic was the biggest challenge.
Users understand the need and practicalities of recycling
COPYRIGHT: Copenhagen Business School, oikos Copenhagen
Based on the results, oikos wrote a green business case, pitching the value of recycling to CBS. The Green Campus Committee would then decide if the project to spread recycling to all of campus should be funded.
oikos also presented the results of the Pilot project at a CBS SDG Taskforce meeting and pitched a continuation of the project to include the departments and office spaces. The idea found resonance within the CBS faculty and the initiative was taken on by faculty members of the SDG Taskforce and Campus Services.
PHASE 5. INITIAL ROLLOUT TO ALL CBS CANTEENS
The rollout of the recycling stations across campus started by installing the recycling bins at all CBS canteens. Volunteers from oikos helped prepare the stations, taking them out of boxes and installing waste fraction stickers. The rollout was to be celebrated and marketed at CBS Green Week, but due to corona, the activities on campus needed to be paused.
COPYRIGHT: oikos Copenhagen (Nicola Dottorini)
PHASE 6. PLANNING RECYCLING ACROSS CAMPUS
Efforts to spread recycling across all of campus continued, as oikos collaborated with Campus Services to identify the placement of the recycling stations.
PHASE 7. FINAL ROLLOUT AND “DON’T BE TRASHY CAMPAIGN 2.0”
In October 2021, the recycling bins were finally rolled out across campus. Campus users are now able to find them in every building at CBS and at Station – Student & Innovation House.
With the rollout, the challenge of getting campus visitors to use the system returned. For many, recycling at home has become second nature. Yet, the challenge will be to get people to recycle in a new environment. Therefore, oikos, Campus Services and CBS Climate Club partnered up to relaunch our #SORTITOUT campaign for the final rollout. Marketing efforts were led by oikos. As a token of appreciation for initiating and driving the project, the oikos Copenhagen logo is continuously featured in the illustrations and mentioned in relevant CBS marketing material.
CBS will monitor the progress on an ongoing basis and oikos will keep raising awareness about recycling and waste-reducing behaviour on campus.
COPYRIGHT: Copenhagen Business School
RECYCLING IS NOT RADICAL AND IT IS NOT THE GOLDEN SOLUTION TO MAKE CBS A GREEN FRONTRUNNER
Luckily, CBS agrees with this and green grassroots initiatives find resonance and support in the departments. In oikos Copenhagen, our vision for CBS is to achieve a close to zero waste reality and full circularity. Therefore, we will continue to collaborate with CBS on waste reduction, circularity, and sustainable procurement initiatives, as well as other areas of sustainability.
COPYRIGHT: oikos Copenhagen
WANT TO KNOW MORE OR EAGER TO START A GREEN INITIATIVE?
Our organisation goes all the way back to 2002 and we have picked up some helpful knowledge and have built a supportive network along the way. Send an email to contact@oikos-copenhagen.org for potential collaborations, sponsorships, information or sparring –– and follow us on social media to keep up to date with our ongoing initiatives.
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