Scheid zooi campaign
Scheid Zooi is an awareness campaign to improve waste separation across campus. The name is a cheeky Dutch wordplay on “schijtzooi” (“shitty mess”): scheid (“separate”) and zooi (“stuff” or “junk”), together meaning “separate your junk”. It is direct, a bit bold and exactly how we want to talk about waste sorting: clear, direct and hard to forget.
Why this and why now?
At Utrecht Science Park and the International Campus Utrecht, we already have bins to sort out PD (plastic and drink cartons), paper, GFE (vegetable, fruit and food waste) and general waste. Yet, waste audits show a large share of recyclable materials still ends up in the wrong bin, contaminating entire streams and sending them to incineration or landfill instead of recycling. With thousands of people on campus each day, the impact is significant: 65 percent of our waste cannot be recycled.
With this campaign, Utrecht University wants to empower students, employees and visitors to make the right choices at the waste and recycling bins. That’s an important step towards becoming a zero waste university we can all be proud of.
The campaign in phases
The campaign runs from September 2025 to August 2026 and follows three phases, based on three principles of behaviour change: awareness building, habit formation, and behaviour reinforcement. One year after, in 2027, we will evaluate the results and consider next steps.
What you can expect to see
The campaign uses clear, consistent messages both offline and online, such as:
Posters and signs
Dozens of posters will appear across university buildings at Utrecht Science Park and the International Campus Utrecht, highlighting the correct bin for the most commonly misplaced items. Signs with the same reminders will be placed directly at waste stations. All of these link to an online search tool to help everyone find the right bin for every product.
Screens and lock screens
Teasers of the campaign will also be shown on narrowcasting displays and computer lock screens.
Instagram series
An interactive social media series with UU students will make waste separation accessible and relatable.
Art installation: 'Where I belong'
To help our university community remember what goes in each waste and recycling bin and what doesn't, Utrecht University is exhibiting some of the most common troublemakers in large glass containers the shape of oversized light bulbs at four locations on Utrecht Science Park: Madame Jeanette (Veterinary Medicine), the restaurant in the Educatorium, and the Minnaert and Vening Meinesz buildings.
Each container in the exhibition highlights one frequently misplaced item: blue latex gloves mixed with recyclable plastics; a greasy pizza box among clean paper; aluminum-coated packaging beside transparent plastic; and drink cans among plastic exempt from deposit.
By making repeated mistakes stand out on a visual display, the installation serves as a memory aid. We hope that passersby can recall what they’ve seen and dispose of these items correctly.
Sustainability at the core
We have tried to the best of our abilities to follow sustainable printing and production practices to ensure our awareness efforts don’t create unnecessary waste themselves. The boards at the waste and recycling bins, for example, are made of reusable materials.
The four glass balls that make up the art installation were glass reactors at the Androclusgebouw used to condition water for lab experiments and heating. They were no longer in use and have therefore been repurposed for this campaign. Old laboratory tables have also been given a second life as display boards. The frame that holds the glass balls can be taken apart and reused for other, future applications.