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 a...

During the pandemic, a group of students working on a project for Ventures and the Office of Campus Sustainability came up with an idea to give away environmentally friendly menstrual products for free at uOttawa. Giving away free menstrual products is not a new idea, but it is new to uOttawa, and targeting environmentally friendly, local products is entirely novel. The students created an  Instagram account and got some funding from uOttawa's Student Life Services, UOSU, and Facilities Service. The Office of Campus Sustainability and Sanitary Services created a working committee with student representatives and got to work installing dispensers and spreading the news. It has been over a year since the project kicked-off and the Office of Campus Sustainability has completed the first Impact Report for the Period Project . And so far, the numbers look very promising. Bottom line, 13,149 menstrual products have been distributed through the distribution machines and at partner loc...