We want to start the year off by offering you a fresh twist on the big sustainability stories from uOttawa from 2025. Instead of condensing the stories into a tight list and trendy infographic, we want to "unwrap" these stories to tell you about the impact to the uOttawa campus.
It's the start of a new semester and I am sure that last thing you want to do is scroll through yet another "wrapped" list for last year. Sure, these wrapped lists have become really popular over the years with Spotify leading the way; offering you a look back at your personal music consumption over the previous 12 months. This was quickly adopted by every company in the world, offering not so much a personal experience of the year's events, but more of an self ingratiating celebration of their own accomplishments. Essentially, they took the "year in review" concept, relabeled it with the trendier "wrapped" title, and hoped no one would notice.
Well, we noticed and decided that it would be inauthentic to try to squish all the big sustainability stories into one bite-sized piece of content. Not to mention the fact that contorting information in this way really is against the point of trying to share these stories. We want you to take something away from each story and maybe think about how you can help us make a better world.
So here is our list of some of the big sustainability stories coming out of uOttawa in 2025!
LEED Platinum certification for the win
Although the FHS Building (Faculty of Health Sciences) opened a few years ago, the review of the LEED certification happened this year in October, with the building receiving a Platinum rating. This was the highest level of certification ever achieved at uOttawa, and is in fact the highest level of certification that a building can achieve.
LEED certification is important at uOttawa for many reasons, including the fact that these buildings use less resources and produce better indoor environments for the occupants. The accomplishment was marked by a ceremony and a permanent interpretive panel will be installed explaining the sustainability features of the building.
Solar panels on FHS
Even though this mention is closely attached to the LEED certification of the FHS, we thought it deserved its own shout out. In 2025, we had our first full year of solar production on the new FHS building. The system was delayed for various reasons (some in our control and some out of our control) but in 2025, the 54 kilowatt system was in full swing.
So how much energy does this represent? Well it is roughly enough to power 15 homes which is good, but the plan is to octuple that in the next few years. The real importance of this system is that it showed uOttawa that we can have solar on campus and it helped us understand some of the things we need to know as responsible operators. This system is the gateway to more solar panels on campus.
A Tiny Forest finds a home at uOttawa
What's a tiny forest? Well it isn't a patch of six trees that you pretend is a forest, and it isn't a miniature replica of a forest either. Tiny forests are a new trend that have been popping up in cities around the world. They are concentrated forests whereby hundreds of trees and shrubs are planted together in a tight space to encourage faster growth and greater biodiversity.
In 2025, the first tiny forest was planted on campus, with over 400 trees and shrubs. This forest will sequester CO2 and create homes for our feathered and fury friends. It will take a few years to see if the forest takes root and grows as quickly as we hope, but in the meantime it will act as a living laboratory for others to study.
Pollinator gardens are the new buzz on campus
Pollinator gardens are not new and have been growing steadily in popularity. This year, two more pollinator gardens were introduced on campus thanks to external grants. What's nice about these gardens is that they obviously help pollinators thrive, but they are also less environmentally damaging than basic grass plots. There are no fertilizers, they don't require a gas-powered lawnmower to maintain them, and once established, they will need very little water.
One of the gardens we planted this year was in honour of two professors from the Faculty of Arts who recently passed away. Since both taught in environmental studies, we hope that the Transformation garden at Simard is a meaningful tribute to their memories.
HydroOttawa EcoHome Installation
In November of 2025, HydroOttawa mounted an installation in the Desmarais building demonstrating the future of smart home technology. The installation highlighted some of the many ways that people's homes are becoming integrated energy hubs, from PEVs to PVs.
This kind of an installation is important because it helps connect people to the near future and shows us how a greener future is possible. Hopefully we can engage more groups to come on campus and share their ideas for a brighter future.
The Period Project goes big
Another program reaching new heights in 2025 was the Period Project, which gained new sponsorship and has expanded into residences. The Period Project, for those who are unaware, is a program that brings free, environmentally-friendly menstrual products to students on campus. To date, those products have come from local companies, helping support Canadian companies.
The program not only services emergency menstrual products in washrooms, but it also includes workshops around women's menstrual health, and free reusable menstrual products for students to try. By the way, the average Canadian woman will spend over $8,000 in their lifetime on menstrual products.
Lost and Found reaches new heights
It might seem a little strange to see a Lost and Found on this list but our office is super proud of the progress we have been able to make over the past year. Our office took over the Lost and Found for the University a few years ago and have been able to make significant improvements. Where once only about a dozen items were returned every semester, we are now able to sometimes return over a dozen items a day.
What does this have to do with sustainability, you ask? Well, we look at the Lost and Found as an extension of the campus waste management program. If we can reunite someone with their lost item, that means that a new item doesn't need to be purchased and you save your money.
Friendlier program
Maybe you know about this and maybe you don't but the University of Ottawa uses Friendlier containers to help reduce plastics going to landfill. The way the program works is actually pretty simple. It is deposit system on your container; so when you buy food you are also paying for the container. And when you return the container at any of the drop-off bins on campus, you get your deposit back through an e-transfer.
Friendlier, for their part, cleans the containers so that they can be used again. Lucky for us, Friendlier has a facility in Ottawa that cleans the containers so there isn't very much fuel spent to move the containers back and forth.
But the important part of all this is that in 2025, uOttawa was able to reuse 14,858 containers and keep them out of the landfill. Make sure to keep your eyes out for the blue containers on campus!
Bike Month
Yeah yeah, biking instead of driving, got it. Nothing to see here right? WRONG!
Bike Month is actually a huge thing in Ottawa. It is spearheaded by EnviroCentre and gets people from around the City to go from four tires to two. There are workshops and prizes and lots of opportunities to learn about getting around the City.
One of the fun things about the month is that the participants can create their own teams. uOttawa has a team every year (uOVelo) and this year was record breaking for the University, with 6,006 km logged representing 769 kilograms of CO2 avoided by these trips. Building a community of cyclists is critical if we are going to reduce our dependency of cars. Other events, like the NCC's Night Bike, also help bring some much needed love to the cycling community.
Green Reps
The Green Reps is a partnership program between the Office of Campus Sustainability and the UOSU Sustainability Centre. It is an opportunity for students to delve deeper into sustainability topics and gain some insight about how the campus works. Students are encouraged to do some hands on learning and are offered the chance to help direct their learning activities.
This isn't the first year that the program has been up and running. It isn't even the second, or third. But what makes this year so important is that the Sustainability Centre has been able to have a dedicated coordinator for the program for 5 years in a row. Thanks to their leadership, the Green Reps program has now grown to a place where over 80 students volunteered and contributed more than 1,700 hours last year.
Furniture Reuse
Not a lot of people know about the Surplus Reuse Program (we call it the Furniture Reuse Program because honestly, the word surplus isn't as descriptive) because the program is limited to Faculties and Services. But there is a part of the program that benefits everyone on campus and it is a program that you might not have noticed even though you see it every day you're on campus. That program is known as the public space infrastructure renewal program (also not a catchy name) better known as the reupholstering program.
Free Food Alert
2025 marked the first full year of the Free Food Alert on campus, and it was a strong success. The initiative grew to more than 4,400 subscribers, helping students and staff stay informed about free food opportunities across campus. Over 125 giveaways were shared throughout the year, reducing food waste while supporting food access. The Free Food Alert has become a simple, effective tool for building community and promoting campus wellbeing.
Volunteers
And of course the biggest story of the year was the volunteers that made all these activities possible. With 1,536 hours donated to us by volunteers, we were able to do quite a bit! Everything from community gardens to pop up Free Store events, are all powered by volunteers. Sadly the contributions of volunteers are undervalued in society in general. The love and passion of people in the community is what actually makes a community and so we are very honoured to have so many people helping shape the uOttawa sustainability landscape.
Hopefully we can create as amazing a list for 2026!
~jonathan rausseo - campus sustainability manager
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