Bury College nearly doubles recycling while reducing waste

Since February 2024, SUEZ recycling and recovery UK has worked with Bury College to deliver a comprehensive waste management overhaul across four campuses. The first year of the contract delivered clear, measurable results, and with the College becoming fully aligned with Simpler Recycling requirements.

The mission

To increase recycling rates while cutting waste tonnage, along with service standardisation and legislative compliance

At contract start, the College’s recycling rate was just 20.2% (Q2 2024). With multiple campus layouts and growing activity levels, waste volumes were expected to increase.

In a nutshell, the aim was to:

• Increase recycling rates year-on-year
• Reduce general waste tonnage
• Create consistent, clear waste systems across all sites
• Ensure the campus was ready for the new Simpler Recycling legislation

Our solution

A comprehensive, flexible collection system with an optimised and continuous data analysis service

We restructured on-site infrastructure, replacing large roll-on/roll-off containers with a tailored mix of front-end loaders and euro bins, which provides the campus the flexibility to handle multiple waste streams. Key service enhancements included:

• Expanding dry mixed recycling (DMR) collections to all campuses
• Rolling out food waste bins across all sites
• Regularly analysing waste weights to identify trends and make real-time adjustments to bin capacity and collection frequency
• Aligning all internal bin systems with Bury town centre’s public recycling layout for consistent messaging

The College supported the changes with a rollout of new internal bins in staff rooms and teaching spaces, ensuring waste separation at the source. Staff engagement and clear signage supported strong participation.

The results

Increased recycling, decrease in waste tonnage. By the end of 2024, Bury College saw a significant increase in recycling rate from 20.2% to 33.4%, increasing further to 38.2% second quarter of 2025, with recycling tonnage growing from 6.5 tonnes to 10.8 tonnes. At the same time, residual waste fell by 11.8%, from 32.1 tonnes to 28.3 tonnes, which was achieved during a period of increased campus activity.

The Millennium Campus delivered the standout performance, with recycling jumping from 16.2% to 46.2%. Waste volumes at this site fell by 3.9 tonnes, from 18.5 tonnes to 14.6 tonnes, demonstrating the combined impact of targeted infrastructure changes, aligned bin systems and sustained staff engagement. These results show measurable environmental benefits, reduced disposal costs and the potential to roll this approach out across other multi-site education settings.

• 2% (up from 20.2%) recycling rate after 12 months
• 2% (up from 16.2%) Millennium Campus recycling rate
• 8% - Reduction in total waste tonnage

Michael Bromley, Head of Estates and Health & Safety said “Working with SUEZ has had a positive impact on our college. Since the start of our partnership, they’ve taken the time to understand unique business and operational needs and provided valuable guidance. As a result, we've seen improvements in our recycling rates and achieved notable cost savings. This collaboration highlights our shared focus on sustainability and efficiency, and we are proud of the meaningful impact we have achieved together."