In my previous post, I explained what NOT to bring to residence and gave the advice to be as much of a minimalist as possible. Now, I will explain what you should think of when considering what to bring to residence. Going into residence, one thing to remember is, as much as possible, to buy used items. After all, things break or get lost in the transition of moving between residences. Or maybe your roommate might even leave with your oven mitts (that might be my own personal experiences talking there). Instead of wasting your money on buying a bunch of items that will be lost by the time you graduate, buy second hand items - it's much cheaper and better for the environment! I've seen a lot of great, affordable items on Facebook Marketplace, furniture, décor, kitchenware, rugs, you name it, you can probably find it there for at least half the price of what you would pay in store. Better yet, go through your house and look through items with your family to see what they no longe...

So, you’re moving into residence and wondering what you should bring. Well, this is your lucky day as I, someone who has lived in residence for two years, am going to tell you what NOT to bother bringing to campus. First tip to keep in mind when packing is that you need to limit how much you should bring of everything because you are working with a small space and limited storage. Here are the most important things not to bring: Too Many Clothes I know, it seems silly! You can never have too many clothes, but it just means that students need to be conscientious of what they bring. If you’re like me, you’ll probably end up shopping at the Rideau Centre more than once and leave with more clothes than you planned, trying to make it fit in the small closet. Clothes you shouldn’t bother bringing from home are ones for special occasions like fancy dresses (how often do resident students go to fancy events?) or clothes that don’t match. These will just take space in your closet that ...

  C'est une vieille histoire... vous arrivez sur le campus pour la première fois et vous ne savez pas quoi apporter avec vous. N'inquiétez pas, nous avons une liste pratique des choses que vous ne devriez pas apporter avec vous lorsque vous venez sur le campus. Cela vous permettra d'économiser de l'espace dans vos valises et vos sacs, rendant ainsi votre vie sur le campus un peu plus facile. Bien que cette liste ne soit pas exhaustive, nous avons répertorié certaines des choses les plus importantes. Et bien sûr, si vous n'êtes pas sûr d'un élément particulier, n'hésitez pas à nous contacter pour plus d'informations. Imprimante Il peut être très tentant de penser que transporter cette grosse imprimante depuis la maison est une bonne idée... croyez-moi, ce n'est pas le cas. Il est très rare que vous ayez besoin d'imprimer l'un de vos travaux, la plupart sont soumis par voie électronique. Et si vous avez besoin d'imprimer quelque chose, il y...

It's a tale as old as time... you're coming to campus for the first time and you aren't sure what to bring with you. Well fear not, we have a handy dandy list of the things that you might not want to bring with you when you come to campus. This will save you a bunch of space in your suitcases and bags, making your life on campus a little bit easier. Although this is not as exhaustive list, we have some of the big things listed here. And of course if you aren't sure about a particular item, feel free to reach out to us for more info. Printer It can be very tempting to think that lugging that big printer  from home is a good idea... trust me it isn't. It's very rare that you will actually need to print any of your assignments, most are submitted electronically. And if you do need to print something, there are hundreds of printers on campus that you can use almost 24/7. Board games / video games I am not saying don't play board games and video games, what I am...

INSTRUCTIONS TO VOLUNTEERS BEFORE THE DUMP AND RUN So listen closely, because I am only going to say this once. We have some rules to go before you get started and my job is to make sure that you are all safe and that we collect as much stuff as possible. First things first, thank you all for coming out and agreeing to help us for the 207 Dump and Run. You volunteers represent the last line of defense between us and the landfill. If we don't collect this stuff today, it will certainly be garbage tomorrow. We are systematically going to go around to each and every residence and collect all the donations, old food, and unwanted things. The majority of the stuff you collect will be left on the donation tables in the main lobby of every building. But we won't stop there. We will move into every common room, every shared kitchen, every washroom, and collect all the stuff left behind. If you run into other cleaning staff or Housing staff, do what they say. We have partnere...

As much as it pains me to say it, summer is finally coming to an end with the start of school right around the corner.  For many people including myself, this means moving time. For those of you not familiar with moving time, it can be defined as: That last minute scramble trying to figure what you have, what you don’t and how you’re going to fit it into a tiny SUV to transport it to your new home.  It’s a stressful and exciting time all at once but we at the Free Store have a few suggestions to make your experience a little less daunting. Understand your living arrangements. I know it may sound obvious but think carefully about where you’re living and with whom. If you’re living in a traditional residence such as Thompson, Stanton or Marchand you probably won’t need any kitchen supplies as you’ll be spending a lot of your time in the dining hall especially during the first few weeks. Even if you’re an avid baker and want to show off your culinary prowess you probabl...

It’s happened… I have fallen down the waste reduction rabbit hole. I am not necessarily proud of this but digging through my household trash has become a nightly routine, a mission to properly sort any and all misplaced recycling and compost! I’ve seen and smelled it all, yet I continue to do it because, in my heart of hearts I know that although I am just one person, my waste has a large environmental impact. The average Canadian produces 2.7 kg of waste every day! To me, that represents a whole lot of stuff that doesn’t necessarily have to end up in a landfill. This year, as part of Recylemania, a group of brave crusaders will set out on a clandestine operation to properly sort waste on campus! A year ago, had you told me that burrowing through bags of trash would be an eye opening experience; I would not have believed you. Having performed waste audits I can tell you that digging through garbage is FASCINATING! Not only have I learned how to properly dispose of my items (an...

It's the end of the summer and you know what that means? MOVING TIME!!!!!! Yes, the moment has come for that time-honoured tradition whereby thousands of students flock to the University of Ottawa and hunker down for 8 months of intense working, studying, and partying. And for about 3,000 students who will be living in residences, this will be their first trip to Ottawa. Now being the helpful people we are here at the Office of Campus Sustainability, we thought that we would share our top 5 tips for ensuring a green move-in here on campus. In fact, even if it isn't your first year, this list could really help you out. Don't bring your entire closet with you! I know it is tempting to make sure that you have hundreds of clothing / accessory options available to you when you arrive on campus, but take it from us, traveling light is the way to go. There are tonnes of free shirts available at virtually every major festival on campus and let's face it, after your f...

There are two realities for students that call the University of Ottawa there campus. On one side there are tens of thousands of students that scurry in and out of the classrooms, lounges, sports facilities, etc. And on the other side there are thousands of students that call the university more than just there campus... it is there home. Here at the UofO there are 2885 residence beds spread out over seven residence buildings on campus. In addition, there are some residence houses in the Sandy Hill community and a few students that stay over at the St. Paul residence. So in the end, we are talking about 10% of the community that lives on campus. So imagine our reaction here at the Office of Campus Sustainability when the idea of a model room in residences started floating around.With such a huge number of the campus community living in residences, it would be a gigantic win for us if we could get students to practice sustainable living habits. So here is what we are proposin...

Do you hear that future inhabitants of Thompson Residence? It is a call to arms, a call to mobilize your waste and make a better world one recyclable at a time. Sorry for the touch of over-dramaticism but this is something that has bugged me since I arrived at the University of Ottawa... the lack of recycling in residences. The recycling system in the uOttawa residences is not the same as the rest of the campus. There are a couple of reasons why this is the case (different cleaning contracts, less infrastructure, etc) but the primary reason is the nature of the waste that exists in residences. Think about, the people in residences live there so they generate a whole bunch of waste that you just don't when you are on campus for only a couple of hours a day. When is the last time you had to throw out a razor or dental floss or an old t-shirt on campus? Probably never if you didn't live in one of the University's residences. So you can easily see the challenges of recy...

A lot of things have been happening at uOttawa over the past month in the world of Recycling. I thought I would give you a quick update. The Dump and Run has finally come to a close. All the donations have been collected, weighed, and sent to the the Free Store for storage. A good chunk of the donations were sent off to local charities to help replenish their shelves (over 1,500 kilograms actually). We are hoping to finish this year with 4,000 kilograms of stuff collected from the residences. This year was a tremendous success for the Dump and Run thanks in large part to our wonderful volunteers. Over 50 people came out to volunteer and work with us. Without their help cleaning, sorting, weighing, moving, packaging, and singing, I am not sure we would have been able to accomplish even a fraction of what we got done. Bravo volunteers, you have turned this pile of dirt into a garden. Of course the focus will now be shifted over to the Free Store , which is closed during the sum...

"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 ...

It’s that time of year again, the time we all dread as students, where our days are filled with the sounds of turning pages, scribbling notes, slurping coffee, and punctuated by breaks for mowing down food. If you are anything like I was in first year while living in rez, you haven’t even started thinking about packing to go home because you have been so stressed with exams. If so, great! This means that when you are last-minute throwing your stuff together that hopefully you will have read this and rather than tossing unloved possessions into a big black garbage bag that instead you will put them aside for the Dump n’ Run. The things you leave behind could include clothes, electronics, kitchenware, office stuff, books, non-perishable food, or anything that is not too large (no big pieces of furniture, Jon’s back is bad as it is) that we will be able to donate to local charities. Last year we managed to pick up 3.18 tonnes of stuff and we hope to surpass that this year in terms of...

If you have ever wondered where all the waste comes form on campus (who am I kidding, I am sure you probably haven't) ask no longer, the answer is essentially the UCU. Our long awaited Campus Sustainability Annual Report is ready to be posted, the final details are just being ironed out. A couple of months ago I said that I would keep you posted about the development of this year's report. We took a new approach this time and crammed out report full of interesting infographics for your visual consumption. Today I would like to highlight one of our waste infographics? This graphic actually tells us a lot about the production of waste on campus. First, let me say that the information represented here focuses mainly on the typical commercial waste on campus (the kind of things you would find in recycling centres and small garbage bins - not things like refrigerators or large pieces of furniture). Each square corresponds to the quantity of waste...

Creating a greener campus takes a lot of work, and for the University of Ottawa, that has meant a lot of green campaigns. With elections coming back, it’s time to take a look back at previous green campaigns—and who's been helping push them through. The bike co-op came into effect after passing through a referendum in February 2010, creating a space on campus for bike enthusiasts to hang out, swap stories, and help each other with repairs, and also encourages and helps new cyclists. The U-Pass, a not-uncontroversial issue, has passed through two referendums to offer cheaper bus fare on OC Transpo to students, getting a few more cars off the roads and helping make travel more affordable for students living in the city. The Green Fund, another referendum measure, added a $2 fee to each student’s tuition in order to create a financing source for green projects on campus. The money helped set up the Sustainability Centre, and supports green initiatives in campus clubs and o...