Investigation of waste characteristics and recycling behaviour at educational institutes

• Published in: Waste management (Elmsford) 2024-05, Vol.180, p.115-124
• Main Authors: Sena Sağlam, Betül, Aydın, Nesli
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Capture rates; Correlation analyses; Educational institutes; Recycling activities; Waste characterisation
• ISSN: 0956-053X; 1879-2456
• DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2024.03.036

•Waste production from schools changes depending on the level of institutions.•High rate of positive answers but unsuccessful sorting indicate lack of practice.•Recycling capture rates do not differ significantly between school types.•There is a strong positive correlation between capture rates of some recyclables.•The success of recycling is higher if it is is supported with specific programmes. In this study, the waste generation at the educational institutes chosen from four different levels (kindergartens, primary, secondary and high schools) in Istanbul was measured on-site and the contents of the waste thrown into the recycling bins were determined to specify capture rates. Separation and weighing processes were performed at 16 spots in high schools, 12 spots in secondary schools, 7 spots in primary schools and 7 spots in kindergartens. A survey was conducted to determine the students’ awareness of recycling in these schools. It was revealed that the wastes produced from educational institutes are organics (36.4 %), paper (24 %), plastics (14.4 %), glass (8.1 %), metals (4.8 %) and miscellaneous (12.3 %). The survey results indicate that 93 % of the participants think recycling is important, 71 % of them throw their waste into suitable waste bins and 59 % of them know the location of the recycling bins. At the primary school level, a very high rate of paper waste (92.3 %) was reported in plastic bins while plastic waste collected in these bins remained only 5.7 %. It was also seen that glass waste captured in glass bins and metal waste in metal bins remain very low rates (20.9 % and 29.2 %, respectively) at the secondary school level. At the high school level, it was determined that the most commonly captured wastes in glass, plastics and paper bins are glass (47.5 %), plastic (43.2 %) and paper (32.5 %), respectively. Correlation analyses indicated a high positive correlation (p