This semester, as part of the Green Reps, I learned a lot about waste, recycling, and compost. As part of the program, I participated in a composting campaign and audit in the Dining Hall. This will be a two part blog, where I first talk about the problems of food waste, and then I'll share my experience volunteering in uOttawa's Dining Hall.  To start off, when I talk about food waste, I mean what is edible food that is not eaten, but instead is discarded into the compost or landfill. I am not talking about the smaller percentage of items that is inedible such as bones or banana peels.  How Bad is Food Waste Really? Food waste is one of the top contributors of greenhouses gasses and a huge source of emissions causing climate change. When food is wasted, it releases a gas called methane as it decomposes. This gas is extremely harmful to the atmosphere and has a large impact on the environment as well as the food supply chain, cost of food, and food security (Sanders, 2021). Wo...

Dans le vaste monde de la conscience environnementale, le concept d'écoblanchiment émerge comme une ombre menaçante qui nécessite l'attention de chacun. L'écoblanchiment ou verdissage survient lorsque des organisations prétendent adopter des pratiques plus respectueuses de l'environnement qu'elles ne le font réellement. Dans ce blog, explorons de près quelques-unes des stratégies d'écoblanchiment les plus courantes et apprenons à les déceler. Étiquetage trompeur L'une des tactiques d'écoblanchiment les plus utilisées est le fait d’apposer des étiquettes trompeuses sur des produits. Les entreprises ont recours à des étiquettes attrayantes, ornées d'images idylliques de forêts; des expressions écrites en vert; des symboles qui illustrent le développement durable etc. Ces visuels captivants créent délibérément une fausse impression d'écoresponsabilité, faisant croire aux consommateurs que le produit en question a été conçu de manière écologique. Pou...

In the vast world of environmental awareness, the concept of greenwashing is emerging as a menacing shadow that demands everyone's attention. Greenwashing occurs when organizations claim to adopt more environmentally-friendly practices than they actually do. In this blog, we take a closer look at some of the most common greenwashing strategies and learn how to spot them. Misleading labelling One of the most common greenwashing tactics is the use of misleading labels on products. Companies use attractive labels, often decorated with idyllic images of forests; phrases written in green; symbols that illustrate sustainable development and so on. These captivating visuals deliberately create a false impression of eco-responsibility, leading consumers to believe that the product in question has been designed to be environmentally friendly. Yet behind this visual façade often lies the real environmental impact of the product or its manufacturing process. Vague and ambiguous claims Anot...

Working at the Office of Campus Sustainability, well it’s doing a lot of things, discovering the campus and meeting people passionate about environment and sustainability. In January, when I started working here, I met the uOttawa Green Reps, a program created to make residences more environmentally sustainable. In our first meeting, they had the idea of doing an audit of waste infrastructures in the uOttawa residences. The purpose of this audit was to recognize some of the problems with recycling in residences and to find solutions in order to improve recycling. We got together with the University's waste coordinator to make this audit happen and on March 4th we explored the waste infrastructures of every uOttawa residences. If you were one of those people in residences who saw us taking notes and photos of bins and you were wondering why, now you have your answer. We walked from residences to residences and took the stairs to audit every kitchen and every lounge of every ...

"Knock knock" "Who's there?" "Green rep" "Green Rep who?" "No seriously dude, turn off the light when you go to bed. You're wasting energy. And while you're at it, milk cartons go into the plastics recycling bin... not the paper one." They say that university is one of the big turning points in life. While in university you will likely pick up a lot of the habits and skills that you will carry with for the rest of your life. Fact checking and proper sourcing for sure, but what about those habits that will help our society become more sustainable? There are a tonne of environmental issues out there. I could dedicate the rest of this blog post to them and you wouldn't finish reading until early tomorrow morning. But I can sum up the majority of them with two simple words, 'resource consumption'. The more stuff you use, the more stuff we need to make, the more resources get drained, etc. But did you k...

"We are all part of the same compost heap." Let’s face it; Tyler Durden knew his shit- or compost rather. The importance of composting lies at the root of waste diversion (ah ha ha - root, compost = I’m hilarious). We are able to recycle the basics - paper, metal, glass and plastics but the bulk of what is left in most people’s trash is compostable items. I know this because I had the pleasure of sorting through dumpsters and residence rooms after students moved out at the end of April. The main components of student’s (and in all probability the average person’s) trash was compostable (in the form of rotting foods, yum). This surprised me as the campus has a great composting system in place; a campus vermi-composter located near the portables and an off campus mechanical composter, named Oscar, at 200 Lees. This combination of systems allows for 200 tonnes of composting a year. For students in apartment style residences, it is as simple as contacting your residence ...