Reduce means taking steps to lower the amount of waste that we produce. For example, you could avoid ordering large amounts of excess stock for your campus. Waste that is not created in the first place does not need to be reused, recycled or disposed of. Therefore reducing or preventing generation of waste is the most efficient and cost-effective way to deal with your campus waste.

There are a number of ways you can reduce your campus waste including:

• Only printing documents when necessary
• Double sided printing of documents
• Reduce packaging by buying in bulk and using bulk storage where possible
• Reusing items such as containers and drums
• If involved in a manufacturing process, try to use your raw materials as efficiently as possible. If you use hazardous materials, this could include considering alternatives that can reduce the hazardous nature of your waste

There are a number of organisations that can assist your campus with waste minimisation. Visit the Links section to find out more about organisations operating in your area.

There are a number of organisations that can assist your campus with waste minimisation and resource efficiency, such as the Business Environment Partnership (BEP), Envirowise and Abertay Centre for the Environment (ACE). Visit the Links section to find out more about organisations operating in your area. Alternatively, the Netregs website provides a useful waste minimisation guide for businesses.

The Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations 1998 require that producers are responsible for ensuring that packaging is minimised, that it can be recovered and recycled and that it contains restricted amounts of certain hazardous substances. Your local authority Trading Standards or Consumer Protection Department enforces these regulations. If you feel that a product uses an excessive amount of packaging, you can discuss this with your supplier, or if this is unsuccessful, you can contact your local authority to report this.

Reuse involves the multiple use of an item in its original form, for its original purpose or for an alternative, with or without reconditioning. In many cases waste that cannot be prevented can be reused instead of buying new products. For example, you can have printer cartridges refilled and reuse them to avoid waste. This helps to ensure that we get the most out of our waste and saves valuable natural resources. You can visit the Campus Recycling Directory to find out more about reuse services for campus waste in your area.

Your business may be able to reuse a number of items. This can include simple steps such as:

• Reusing single sided printing paper for scrap paper or notepads
• Having your printer cartridges refilled instead of buying new ones
• Use glasses and mugs for drinks instead of disposable cups

The Campus Recycling Directory lists a number of reuse and refurbishment services for a variety of materials, including furniture and IT equipment.

Visit the Campus Recycling Directory to access information regarding local and national reuse services for your campus waste.

Many universities and campuses have either a second-hand bookshop or a bookshop that will buy back your text books for resale. You can find your nearest Secondhand Bookshop at the Sort It website. Remember you can also go one better by reducing the number of books that you buy in the first place by using you university or college library.

Some universities and campuses have an on-site or visiting bike retailer. If yours doesn't, you can find your nearest Secondhand Bike shop at the Sort It website.

Recycle means using waste materials to manufacture other products. Recycling materials like cans, glass, paper and cardboard recovers the valuable resources in waste to make new products. For example, you can have your glass bottles and jars collected by a local recycling service provider and they will be cleaned, crushed and recycled into new bottles and jars. You can visit the Campus Recycling Directory for more information on how you can recycle your waste locally.

Recycling collections for your campus can be easy to set up, with a number of service providers offering flexible collection options to suit your needs.

Your waste collection and disposal bills could be reduced by introducing reuse and recycling facilities for your campus. These savings will increase as the cost of disposing of waste to landfill continues to rise.

Many households now have access to recycling facilities and you can promote a positive and responsible image to your students and staff by implementing recycling practices for your campus.

In many cases your waste collection and disposal bills could be reduced by introducing reuse and recycling facilities for your campus. These savings will increase as the cost of disposing of waste to landfill continues to rise.

Visit the Campus Recycling Directory to find out what local and national recycling services operate in your area.

Some local authorities allow campuses to take their recyclates (materials that can be recycled) to local recycling centres to be uplifted for sorting, bailing and reprocessing.

A recycling centre/waste disposal site is a manned site with a collection of points for depositing recyclates and other materials that may still need to be landfilled. Recycling centres usually accept a wide range of waste materials. Some local authorities operate charging schemes for campuses that use recycling centres. You should confirm details of this with your local authority before delivering your waste to the site.

Companies offering a recycling collection will collect your materials for recycling from your campus or a designated collection point. A recycling service may require that you deliver materials to a company's premises. For example, some community organisations may recycle items of campus waste, but they may require that you deliver materials to their depot or premises.

Recycling service providers may place specific requirements on their customers regarding the quality of the material they will accept. You should confirm this with the company when you discuss service arrangements with them.

A transfer station is a facility where businesses can deposit materials for recycling. Local authorities or private waste management contractors can operate them. The materials are sorted and bulked up into bales at the transfer station before being delivered to reprocessors who recycle the materials.

Visit the Campus Recycling Directory to find out about local and national recycling services in your area.

There may be services operating in nearby local authority areas that you may be able to access. You can search for services in a number of local authority areas using the advanced search facility in the Campus Recycling Directory by selecting more than one area. Some areas may not have recycling collections or services due to their remote location or lack of demand for a service. In these cases you may find that you are unfortunately unable to recycle your campus waste.

There are a number of recycling companies and organisations listed in the Campus Recycling Directory who specialise in providing flexible collection options to suit the needs of small campuses that may only generate small amounts of waste for recycling.

There are a number of service providers who can offer flexible collection options to suit your needs. This could be through allowing all recyclable materials to be collected in a single container, or providing on-demand collections that prevent your business from having to store large volumes of materials for recycling before they can be collected. The Campus Recycling Directory provides information regarding the types of containers and collection frequencies for the services listed.

The value of recyclable materials fluctuates constantly and does not outweigh the costs of collection incurred by the recycling company. Recycling companies therefore have to charge for recycling services in order to cover their own costs, such as transportation of materials and payment of collection staff.

You may find that recycling collections for your campus are cheaper in the long-term, as you reduce the overall amount of waste you are sending to landfill. These savings will increase as the cost of disposing of waste to landfill continues to rise.

Write or arrange to speak to the person who is responsible for waste on your campus. It may help you to present a convincing case if you can demonstrate what other campuses have achieved. You can find such examples in the Case Studies section. If you are unsuccessful you may like to consider running a campaign. You can find out how to get involved in campaigning in the Campaigning section. Your local environmental interest group may be able to help you with your campaign. You can find your local group in the Links section.

At present, there are no specific targets for recycling of waste from campuses. However 75% of the total waste generated in Scotland is from commercial and industrial sources. Therefore reducing the amounts of this type of waste sent to landfill will have benefits for campuses and the environment.

Landfill tax is currently £21 per tonne, with a £3 annual increase at the start of each tax year, until it reaches £35 per tonne. Gate fees for landfill are also increasing. As these costs continue to rise, alternatives to disposal, such as recycling services, will become more cost-effective options.

By recycling your campus waste you are helping to save the earth's natural resources, save energy and reduce the risk of global warming. Campuses can also promote a positive and responsible image by implementing recycling practices.

Campuses who dump waste illegally are committing a criminal offence and can be prosecuted. You can report flytipping by calling the Dumb Dumpers Stop Line on 0845 2 30 40 90 or reporting the incident online at www.dumbdumpers.org

The Netregs website aims to help small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK to understand the environmental regulations that can affect them. It is free to use and is regularly updated. The site provides guidance on how to comply with environmental law as well as advice on good environmental practice.

There are a number of organisations that can assist your campus with waste minimisation and resource efficiency, such as the Business Environment Partnership (BEP), Envirowise and Abertay Centre for the Environment (ACE). Visit the Links section to find out more about organisations operating in your area. Alternatively, the Netregs website provides a useful waste minimisation guide for businesses.

The cost of disposing of waste to landfill includes landfill tax in addition to a disposal fee. The disposal fee can also be referred to as a gate fee. The disposal/gate fee can vary between landfill sites. Landfill operators determine their own disposal/gate fee in order to recover their operational costs.

Transfer station charges for recyclable waste include a gate fee. The gate fee can vary between transfer stations. Site operators determine their own gate fee in order to recover their operational costs.

The Work Experience section lists a number of organisations that can either offer you relevant work experience or help you to find it. You can read about the range of careers in waste management in the Career Profiles section.

You can read about the range of careers in waste management in the Career Profiles section. The Work Experience section lists a number of organisations that can either offer you relevant work experience or help you to find it.

You can find details of your local environmental interest group in the Links section.

The Case Studies section provides examples of what other campuses have done to reduce, reuse and recycle their waste.

The guide ‘How to raise awareness of new recycling and waste prevention systems’ outlines the basic principles for communicating with staff and students and provides information about the resources that Waste Aware Campus can provide you with to assist with this process.