Circular economy

The University is moving from a linear to a circular waste management system, which means that we are reducing what we buy, reusing what we have, and recycling what we can no longer use. Adopting a circular waste economy aligns with the Scottish Government’s targets and is key to becoming a carbon net-zero university by 2035.

What you can do

A circular economy requires behaviour change. You can help secure a sustainable future by:

  • Donating unwanted items to the British Heart Foundation
  • Buying second-hand items from St AndReuse, which offers clothes, kitchen items, books, furniture and much more for people in St Andrews: close to 1000 individuals are engaged in St AndReuse, preventing 5000kg of items going to landfill every year
  • Shopping for groceries without packaging from The Tree, a student cooperative providing this service
  • Taking your own cup when going for coffee: reusable cups are a part of the KeepCup campaign and give you a discount when buying hot beverages at the University cafés
  • Using a refillable water bottle: the University provides free still and sparkling water through Brita water fountains
  • Only printing when you absolutely must and printing double-sided when you need a paper copy
  • Using Toolshare and Skillshare to share, fix and mend, which saves money and stops waste from going to landfill.
  • Donating your items when you are moving house instead of sending them to landfill

What we are doing

Minimise waste

We are taking small and effective steps to minimising waste:

  • We hold some furniture and office equipment in store to reduce unnecessary purchases. Staff can request an item by emailing estates@st-andrews.ac.uk.
  • Together with 70 businesses, the University is a part of a town-wide plastic-free campaign. We avoid plastic straws, single-use cutlery, and packaging. The campaign also raises awareness of the impact of litter on the marine environment.
  • Students and staff can get involved with regular beach cleans run through our partners at the St Andrews Environment Network and Transition.
  • Our IT Services use contracted providers who do not use polystyrene packaging and minimise carboard usage. During classroom PC replacement, our contracted provider removes all packaging for recycling as part of the installation process, reducing University waste.

Internal reuse 

We work with several initiatives to increase reuse within the University.

Whether you are a student, staff member, or community member, we can make reusing easier through:

  • UniGreen Scheme, which collects electronic lab equipment still functioning but no longer of use for the University. Email environment@st-andrews.ac.uk to arrange a collection.
  • Skillshare, a Transition initiative that extends the lifecycle of your items. The initiative also offers lessons on how to mend clothes, patch furniture, and revive broken or damaged items.
  • Toolshare works like a library where you can find the tools you need and borrow them through a loan scheme so you can get your home DIY projects started. Tool Share is available to anyone and everyone. Memberships cost £15 per year.
  • Staff laptops or desktops which are no longer performing as expected, at approximately four to six years old, depending on type, will be placed into our short loan laptop pool or held as support stock for exams, matriculation and advising for many years thereafter. IT retain used staff monitors, issuing them to hybrid workers as their ‘home’ equipment.

If you are a staff member looking to give away an unwanted item, email the Environment team at environment@st-andrews.ac.uk.

External reuse

We work with the British Heart Foundation, Skillshare and remanufacturing companies to increase external reuse:

  • The 17 British Heart Foundation donation banks spread throughout St Andrews take donations of clothes, shoes, books, electrical items and homeware that would have gone to landfill and use them to raise money for life-saving research.
  • We collaborate with Recycle Scotland to remanufacture and reupholster items that cannot be reused. The remanufactured products, like old school desks, are then reused within the University.
  • IT Services are partnered with the charity, ReusingIT, where we donate our end of life IT/AV equipment. This charity supports the University’s Project Zambia through the provision of mobile phones, desktop PCs and laptops, as well as local and international causes with a range of recycled IT and AV equipment.