I have just finished the waste numbers for the month of May; which is usually a very wasteful month due to campus move outs and various spring clean-ups. It turns out that campus residences produced 37% of our total campus waste – four of the seven residences are currently empty. This is mostly due to campus move-out; which is the most wasteful event on campus – total chaos! Everyone is in a hurry; parents want to get the (cough!) off campus, people are fighting for the two elevators servicing an entire building, students haven’t finished packing until the very moment their parents arrive, staff only have a few hours to make a residence hotel-worthy, carts are missing, people are missing, people are losing patience, getting angry, yelling….HECTIC! (Scenario looks a little like this) But wait! What about my recycling bin? It hasn’t been emptied yet…and the stuff which doesn’t fit in the car? (Honk!) “Get out of the way! It’s my turn to park!” Well, I guess I will just throw it all out ...

Photo Credit: storyofstuff.com RecycleMania approacheth! Placing as Canada’s top university last year, with a total recycling rate of 52.78%, University of Ottawa is preparing for another successful year. The competition begins on January 15th and ends on March 27th, the first two weeks being “trial” weeks. Keep an eye out for events running around campus and get involved! Challenge a friend, roommate or even a residence floor in a waste-reduction and recycling contest. Take the winner(s) out for a beer (just make sure the bottle is recycled). RecycleMania provides competition as a motivation to reduce waste and increase recycling efforts across campus and hopefully into student’s homes. It may be emphasized especially for this one part of the year but the habits should be practiced beyond the competition. Conspicuous consumption is an obvious problem during the holiday season; malls are filled with people who cannot wait to spend money and buy gifts. And now that the joyous season is ...