Aix Marseille university, also called AMU,
is the biggest French speaking university in the world.
It was created on the first of January 2012
when the “université de Provence”,
the “université de la méditéranée”
and the “université Paul Cézanne” merged.
It is composed of seventy  two thousand students
and of seven thousand and five hundred staff members
on five campuses:
Marseille étoile, Marseille Centre,
Marseille Timone, Luminy,
and Aix-en-Provence.
The site of Marseille Etoile is composed of:
St jérôme campus,
St jérome’s University Institute of Technology
and of the engineering school polytech
Château Gombert.
It is the smallest campus with four thousand
and three hundred students.
this campus, which has a lot of science students
and offers some master’s degrees in
environmental studies,
produces a lot of paper waste like other campuses.
But what happens to the paper waste?
Is the merger a solution to the problem
of paper waste at the University?
Let’s see...
Hello, I’m at the University Institute of Technology
of Saint Jérome,
let’s see what students think about paper waste management here.
Where do you throw away your waste?
When I find a bin, into a bin.
Otherwise into plastic bags or pokets.
Into classic bins.
Into normal bins.
Before the merger, the marketing techniques department
had their own waste management policy.
It was a department policy only, not a general one.
Since the merger, there haven’t been any modifications.
But people are aware of the need to protect
the environment.
We must designate a person in charge
of sustainable development for the UIT.
We don’t have a specific budget for waste management
but we organize actions which don’t need money,
like paper reuse and energy saving.
Two years ago, the Green marketing department project
was organized by students.
The opinion poll was done to know
what the student habits about the environment are,
to improve them.
Now let’s listen to Gérald who is
at Aix Marseille university of St Jérôme.
Hi Marine, I’m at St Jérôme.
Let’s see what students think about
paper waste management here.
Where do you throw away your waste?
Generally at the University into the first one I find.
Generally into bins.
I throw it away when I go out of the amphitheater.
Into one of the few bins there are.
At the University I look for some bins close to me.
There are bins everywhere.
Into normal Bins.
Into the bins which are outside the classrooms
or into one bin here.
Because of the EOP regulation which means
Establishment Open to Public regulation,
there are no recycling bins inside buildings.
To avoid fires, we cannot have paper spot
with a high calorific value.
So it's the initiative of each service
to do sorting and bring paper outside
to the recycling bins.
Outside, the recycling bins mustn't interfere with firemen,
security or emergency access.
Inside buildings, they should not be in the way
or block emergency exits.
We cannot place them in classrooms or amphitheaters.
For me, a communication campaign for recycling will be
a thing to do
on the campus de l'étoile.
Indeed there are only a few recycling points here.
Moreover the idea of recycling waste is not
very natural
and used by the staff or students.
We should do a communication campaign
on the location of the recycling bins
which make people aware of recycling issues.
But other people think differently...
I would love to have a container in my department!
Because of the safety laws,
it’s not possible
but I have six hundred kilos of paper in my office.
A blue container will never weigh more
and it’s not more flammable than my papers pallet.
A day it is hard to say
but we can use one hundred thousand
pieces of paper in a week
and about two hundred thousand in one month.
The collecting company, MPM company
gave us for free 4 recycling bins:
two for papers and the two others for plastics and cans.
That was at the beginning and
if we were good pupils,
they wanted to give us others...
Since the merger,we haven't been able
to take this initiative anymore.
Now, it’s the sustainable development office who decides.
Do you think there is enough bins at the University?
Close to our department I believe there are enough.
If we could have more bins everywhere
it would be better.
Because bins are too distant,
there aren't enough bins.
There should be bins everywhere,
Yes, but not everywhere.
Yes, relatively.
Do you think there is enough bins at the University?
Not specially.
There are bins.
Not really. We could use some more!
Inside corridors yes there are some.
But inside amphitheaters we could use more.
And outside it's not missing.
I think there are enough,
there are well spread out.
No, and there are too small!
Thank you Gérald!
And now let’s do a test!
Who will be the first to find a recycling bin.
you’re in?
yes! Let’s go!
Sorry Gérald I  won, I'm the best!
However at Chateau gombert this test is useless
because a collection system has been put in place.
Let's go and see ...
Now the students are not aware of paper recycling.
where i worked in Nancy, they were.
A specific paper waste collection was put in place
by the University of Nancy.
The problem comes motsly from teachers.
Two times a year, they move out of their office
and mix up the papers.
I have already given them bags
and i have asked them
to select their paper namely to take out
all the plastics
because Beaver can't collect when we have paper
and plastics together.
I also asked them to take out paper clips.
We work for Aix-Marseille University.
This idea of collecting paper waste was initiated
by president Yvon Berland
when he was the president of the Université de la Méditérranée.
We collect paper waste at the school of pharmacy,
the school of Médecine,
the school of physics, Luminy and UNIMECA.
There we have put recycling bins.
Since the beginning we have wanted to extend this project
to the entire university.
I don’t know if making one decision
for all sites is good.
That will certainly be done in stages.
I’m not sure that everything can be done at once.
In any case Beaver is ready.
We have also prepared cost reduction for sites like yours
because we are now a TCG (Temporary Company Group).
Processing daily paper will cost approximately
€0.6 per kilogram
and the treatment of paper archives will cost
around € 0.4 per kilogram.
Do you know if there is a waste management policy?
I really don't know!
I'm not aware of it.
No, I don't know.
No, we don't know. I don't think so.
I'm not aware of it.
I really don't know!
No, I really don't know!
Not at all! No idea.
WHere ? No, I'm not aware of that.
Here, I don't think so.
No / No idea / I don't think so.
No, I don't think so.
Let's interview the person in charge
of collecting process.
Until now, it was the good will and motivation
of some people on the various sites of AMU
who managed or not the paper waste collection.
Today, paper waste is managed only on a few sites.
We must expand this to all the university,
with the clearest and available proceedings
for all people.
There is a budget for the collection of paper waste
but it is being negotiated
and I will not tell you the amount.
But I can tell you there is a budget
of one hundred and twenty thousand euros negotiated
for paper waste collection at AMU.
The definition of paper waste depends
on the collecting company.
It can be only paper or more generally
cardboard, paper, newspapers.
So there should be more communication
about waste sorting with students AND Staff.
For example Amu should put some signs
to show where recycling bins are,
but this implies a bigger budget.
The recycling bins should be more accessible,
however the legislation is too strict.
In addition, as the merger is recent,
there is still a lot to do.
Luckily as we have seen,
some things have already been done on various sites.
Let's hope that is only the beginning
and that Amu will not only be the biggest
but also the greenest French speaking university
in the world.
