2021 Volume 12 Issue 1 Pages 11-20
Universities are expected to play a role to contribute to realization of the material-cycle and decarbonized society through their advanced activities, as well as to fulfill their responsibility as waste generators. In this study, we conducted a composition survey of waste plastics discharged from the Hongo Campus of the University of Tokyo, and discussed challenges towards advancing the cyclical use of waste plastics. We found that general plastic waste collected from the liberal arts departments include more alien substances in comparison with general plastic waste collected from the science and engineering departments. In addition, a significant amount of plastics is contained in combustible waste in the liberal arts departments. These results indicate the need for enhancing awareness of the members for waste separation and recycling. On the other hand, polyolefinic plastics accounted for a large fraction of waste plastics discharged from laboratories, which indicated the possibility of efficient cyclical use of the laboratory plastic waste by excluding rubber gloves and ensuring the complete removal of adhering substances from the plastic waste category.
