uOttawa Composting 101

Look, I know composting isn’t always easy, I sympathize as I have a hard time doing it myself, but the campus is trying to make it easier on you and all of us to do our part. Having an institution like uOttawa that has initiatives and programs in place saves a lot of organic matter from going to waste.

Let’s start by talking about the rules/guidelines. What uOttawa does is extremely similar to the city of Ottawa’s guidelines, so they are very strong. They are so similar because we send our compost to the same facility as them. You’re likely recycling or throwing out numerous things that can actually go to compost! Here are all the things you should put in compost:

• All food scraps (fruits and vegetables, snack foods, nuts and shells, eggs, breads, meat and fish – including bones, salad dressing and sauces);
• Coffee grounds and tea bags;
• Disposable paper coffee cups (NO lids);
• Pizza boxes and other soiled paper-based take-out containers;
• Paper towels and tissues;
• Pet and human hair.

Please don’t put wet or dirty paper like paper towels or pizza boxes in the Paper recycling- it ruins it!

Why does this matter?

When we don’t compost, our food waste goes to the landfill to decompose and then turns into methane… which is not great for the environment. It’s a harmful greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than CO2 and it is a huge contributor to climate change.

uOttawa makes a campus-wide effort to compost food production scraps. This redirects tonnes of organic matter from landfills to be turned into soil instead. Compost can help soil health as it contains nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, and can be extremely useful for everything from backyard gardens to large-scale agricultural systems.

Here are the ways the campus is composting that you should know about:

1) Compost collection

In our 350 recycling stations on campus, most of them have a compost option. Just having the option there to put our food waste in a compost bin instead of the garbage already makes this a lot easier and convenient. We also have compost options in all of our residences (located on the first floor or the kitchens), making it easier for many students to compost at home.

2) Zero Waste Dining Hall

The Dining Hall was designed to be zero-waste, it reduces take-out packaging by nearly a million items per year. In fact, it was Canada’s first 3-star Certified Green University Dining Hall since 2018. Our Dining Hall composts over 100 tonnes of organic waste per year. Composting is the only option for students other than the bins to put their reusable dishware. This is an awesome achievement! But you can still do your part and reduce how much compost you actually create. Try taking smaller portions to reduce food waste – this helps if you don’t end up liking something or if you’re full. It’s a buffet, so you can get up to get more food as many times as you would like! Go back two, three, seven more times!

3) Cooking oil biofuel

Cooking oil is a staple in our Dining Hall as it is in any restaurant, but all that grease shouldn’t just go to waste. Instead, it is sent to be converted into biofuel, which is used as a replacement for petroleum diesel. It works just as well, it’s less expensive, renewable, and a more clean-burning fuel.

4) Animal Bedding

A lesser-known form of composting is animal bedding. It’s not just food that qualifies as compost. Animal waste, including cat litter, cage liners and animal bedding can all be easily composted. Each year on average, our medical research labs compost 60 tonnes of animal bedding. If you have a pet at home, you can do the same!

5) Green Reps

Finally, the Office of Campus Sustainability has created the Green Reps, a program designed for students to become more involved in activities that make the campus more environmentally sustainable. Green Reps teaches and informs other students how to live a sustainable lifestyle with a certain focus on reducing waste and the importance of recycling and composting. All students are welcome to join – we’re accepting new volunteers for Fall 2023, you can register on the Community Engagement Navigator, placement #110.

So really, anyone at uOttawa - student, professor, or staff, can all play a role do their part to compost on campus. When throwing out your food, make sure it goes in the compost bin and stay informed on what qualifies as compost. We’ll take care of the rest!

~ mélanie plante, co-op student