Over the past few years, the environmental impact of accommodation has become increasingly important to students, particularly in shaping perceptions of value for money. This shift in student attitudes prompted us to examine more closely what students want from their accommodation in terms of the environment and sustainability.
To understand what students actually want, we analysed more than 24,000 free‑text comments from the 2025 Q4 wave of the GSL Index responding to the question: “What could be done to improve the environmental impact (including recycling) of your accommodation?” The findings are surprisingly consistent. Students are not asking for ambitious net‑zero strategies or glossy sustainability campaigns. They want the basics to work – bins that don’t overflow, systems that make sense, and visible evidence that their efforts matter.
Across the dataset, one message comes through clearly: students have good intentions, but the systems around them often make sustainable behaviour harder than it needs to be. As one student put it, “The recycling area does not have labels, so we don’t know what goes into what…”
Below are the strongest themes – and what they mean for operators.
- Recycling is the number one concern – but students want it to be effortless
Recycling is by far the most frequently mentioned improvement area: over half of all comments referenced recycling, bins, or sorting. Students’ comments focus on three recurring fixes
- Increased capacity and better placement. Overflowing or distant bin stores discourage effort.
“We have recycling bins, but they get full and spill over very often… more recycling bins… would help a lot!”
“We only have one large bin… for mixed recycling, which tends to overflow.”
- Lack of separation at source – especially in kitchens. Many students report having a single kitchen bin that sends everything to general waste, or, conversely, separate recycling bins in the kitchen but only a general waste bin to empty them into.
“When going to throw the rubbish away, they should separate the rubbish like the bins we have in our kitchen, with the labels, otherwise it is just pointless.”
- Confusing or absent labelling. Students frequently say they’re willing to sort – they just can’t confidently tell what goes where.
“The recycling area does not have labels, so we don’t know what goes into what…”
“We have three small bins… that are not labelled… Plus [they’re] too small for 8 people.”
An important sub-theme is trust. Students notice when back-of-house practices contradict front-of-house messaging. Several comments describe cleaners or residents combining streams, or confusion between “mixed” and “sorted” recycling.
“We are provided with multiple separate bins… but in the communal disposal area, there are only mixed recycling bins.”
“In our kitchens, we do have different forms of recycling bins – so mixed recycling and then food waste. While this is extremely positive, when it comes to disposing of it, it all goes into the same bin. So, the environmental impact is somewhat reduced by putting stuff into different bins at the end of the day, but it doesn’t really make a difference when we put it all in the same bin.”
“When the cleaner comes, she puts all the dry recycling and glass in the same bin bag.”
The insight here is as much reputational as operational: once residents believe recycling is “performative”, trust is diminished.
2. Energy waste is the second major pain point
Students are quick to call out what feels obviously wasteful: overheated corridors, lights left on, and limited control over temperature.
“The hallways are too hot. I think it’s an unnecessary waste of energy.”
“Let us control the heating, our window is constantly open because it’s too hot.”
Some students also propose behavioural nudges and feedback tools, such as consumption dashboards or reminders to turn off lights
“I think it could involve small, friendly reminders to unplug chargers and turn off lights when leaving the room, and also some water-saving initiatives from the students. … Timer reminders in communal bathrooms could help save water, especially during peak times, and also, along with that, small meters tracking consumption and providing residents with easy-to-view dashboards of their flats about the energy usage could incentivise friendly competition to reduce the consumption of energy and along.
Energy inefficiency is both a cost issue and a credibility issue. Students equate visible waste with poor management, and poor value for money.
3. Need for clearer communication at multiple levels
Even when infrastructure exists, students often feel they lack support to use it correctly. Many move between cities or countries with different recycling rules, and want simple, visual guidance around rules and expectations:
“We were given barcodes about the heating system, which led to a video explaining how the system worked… if we had this with… the recycling system, it would be a lot easier…”
“There are no clear instructions on how to sort trash, which can be confusing if you’re from another country where this is done differently.”
“Teach students how to recycle. I live in a flat with international students who don’t speak English very well and don’t recycle much. If there were some demonstration or lesson on how to recycle, I feel more people would be inclined to do so.”
“Sometimes I feel like students don’t recycle because it’s confusing. I think if they added clear instructions and colour-coded signs on the bins, it would make a big, big difference.”
Students consistently ask for:
- bin-top signapge
- colour-coded labels
- onboarding at move-in
- brief demonstrations or videos
Confusion is friction – and friction kills sustainable behaviour. Clear, consistent communication is one of the cheapest, highest‑impact investments in sustainability that providers can make.
- Food waste and composting are a growing expectation, but are often missing or inconvenient
Food waste separation appears less frequently than recycling, but the comments are pointed. Students describe systems that are unavailable, inconvenient, or poorly designed.
“The food waste bins have to be requested… [it] should be mandatory.”
Student comments highlight that food waste is becoming a baseline expectation, not a niche feature. Treating it as an optional add‑on signals that sustainability is not taken seriously.
- Incentives and accountability matter – but students want fairness rather than punishment
A smaller portion of comments for incentives, campaigns, or enforcement to reduce contamination and waste. Some propose rewards for good practice; others ask for clearer rules and follow-through where recycling is being ignored.
“We have… bins but nothing is actually done to enforce they are being used properly.”
Students aren’t asking for strict policing. They simply want shared standards so that individual effort doesn’t feel pointless
Looking ahead
Across all themes, the blueprint for improvement is remarkably consistent. Students want sustainability to be:
- Visible
- Credible
- Easy
- Aligned between front- and back-of-house
In practice, this means:
- Standardising bin types, colours and labels
- Ensuring adequate capacity and convenient placement
- Designing kitchens for sorting (at a minimum: general and recycling)
- Aligning disposal practices with resident-facing messaging
- Using lightweight, visual communication at move-in and throughout the year
The data shows that students aren’t looking for grand environmental pledges. They want functioning systems – “recycling that actually gets recycled” and heating that doesn’t require opening a window to cool down. When these basics are in place, sustainability becomes what students increasingly expect it to be – a standard part of good accommodation rather than a separate agenda requiring special effort.
