Photo from re-char.com Whether or not you’re a fan of free market capitalism, there are a few basic assumptions you are following on a regular basis. You know that money makes the world go ‘round and that the economy is a sometimes volatile but very necessary force in our current system. You don’t have to agree with this. I’m going to try not to give an economics lesson (without my economics texts I’ll probably fudge something ) but I think we can work off a few simple concepts that relate to the environment and how it can react to an economic system that seems, pretty plainly, not to care about it.When a corporation acts, it acts in the interest of capital, and almost never in the interest of the environment. This idea will become a more detailed blog post later. So the title of this entry is Carbon Offsetting. Let’s talk about that. Apparently, this whole economy talk is where things like carbon offsetting come in. As we know, carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas which contributes ...

Little by little things do change, even on campus. Indeed the day is coming when there will no longer be any cars on campus at all. The University of Ottawa is slowly but surely becoming a pedestrian campus. You may have noticed that there have been a few new additions to the campus lately, in the form of large square concrete flower beds. The first instinct is to assume that these concrete containers are part of an initiative to keep the campus beautiful, and undeniably you would be right. The planters are filled with wonderfully colourful plants that do serve to beautify the campus... but there is more to them. Emboldened by his new post as University Ground Keeper, Benoit has been working hard to keep the campus beautiful. And one of the ways to accomplish this is to impede the ruin of grass and plants by eliminating the flow of cars that continuously trample them. The concrete planters have been strategically deployed on campus to reduce the movement of cars on campus in pl...

So as we bring this little journey about recycling bins comes to an end it would be foolish of me to not mention all the hidden green elements of our bins. I often find that people respect things more when they know a little something about it. Aside from the basic elements that I discussed about our bins, I want to share some fun tidbits. I called this entry green to the core for a reason. When the bins were being designed my supervisor asked, “What are the bins going to be made out of?” He thought that it was important that if we try to be greener than we should really be greener. The design team agreed and so we specified FSC wood. We also specified that all the glues used be non-toxic. We actually toyed around with the idea of using recycled ceramics for the counter-tops except... it would have added hundreds of dollars to the price of the bins. While designing the bins we asked the good people of sanitary services how we could make these bins so that they would be more helpfully f...

Vous avez sûrement remarqué, lorsque vous faites votre épicerie, les nombreux produits à emballage de couleurs nature avec les noms « vert », « organique » et « biologique ». Il semble que c’est de plus en plus populaire de nos jours. Évidemment, les entreprises ont toujours connus à bien s’adapter aux besoins des consommateurs et les gens ressentent le besoin de protéger leur santé, leur famille et l’environnement. Certains croient pouvoir réaliser ceci en achetant toute une gamme de ces produits « verts ». Cependant, pouvons-nous avoir confiance dans nos achats? TerraChoice a fait une étude fascinante pour identifier les produits qui sont victimes de « lavage vert » ( http://sinsofgreenwashing.org/ ). Selon cette firme de marketing environnementale d’Ottawa, le « lavage vert » est « le fait de tromper les consommateurs à propos des pratiques environnementales d’une entreprise ou des avantages environnementaux d’un produit ou service. » Ainsi, comment pouvons –nous distinguer le bon ...

For this next instalment I am going to focus on yet another form of convenience, one size fits all. The concept of one-stop shopping is nothing new. Why wouldn’t you want to concentrate as many activities as possible into a single functional space? That was the driving principle behind the new recycling centers; one stop shopping for recycling on campus. We really wanted to do this for many reasons; mostly for efficiency of resources and the ability to increase the amount of waste captured. So the goal was to create the most multi-purposed recycling station in one location. This meant that the first thing that we had to do was marry the waste and recycling systems. Two different disposal locations means too many mitigating factors. What if the recycling bin is a little further than the waste bin? What if one of the waste bin gets moved away? Well… people are likely going to put the wrong things in the wrong bins. Now if we squish all the bins into one station, not only do we eliminate ...

L’activité « Déposez et dégagez » est un programme en résidence, où, à la fin de l’année, nous procédons à la collecte d’articles non-voulus des étudiants. Ces articles sont par la suite triés, et envoyés à des organismes en manque de biens matériaux particuliers. Cette année, grâce à l’activité « Déposez et dégagez » nous avons évité de jeter et de gaspiller 1,7 tonnes de vêtements, d’articles de cuisine, de livres, de fournitures de bureau, etc. (objets donnés à des organismes ainsi qu’à la communauté universitaire). Ce chiffre correspond à tout l’acide citrique produit sur la Terre l’année dernière, ou au poids d’un tracteur mini-CAT ! Merci à tous ceux et celles qui nous ont aidés, soit par leur temps, en prêtant de l’espace, ou par un don. Ce ne serait pas possible sans vous ! The “Dump and Run” is a program where, at the end of the year, we collect items that students in residences no longer want. These are then sorted, and donated to specific charities in need of specific items....

I mentioned in a previous post that recycling is a question of convenience. This isn’t the case all the time but I am willing to bet that you aren’t even aware of a tenth of the waste decisions you make in your daily life. When I was a kid in grade school a group of older students from some random high school came into my class to give a presentation about recycling. The details are fuzzy now but I do recall that when I got home that night I pestered my mom about recycling and how important it is. “Police should force everyone to recycle” I declared to my mother as I half-scowled at her for not having a recycling bin in our apartment. What I didn’t understand is that not only did my mother come from a different generation with different mentalities and norms about recycling, but also that we lived in an apartment building and recycling was not offered. What never dawned on me at that age and likely still evades many people today is that recycling is a matter of convenience plain and si...

Congrats Uottawa! Since the introduction of the Recycling Program in 1990, our waste numbers have plunged, while our recycling numbers have escalated. For the very first time, in the school year 2008-2009, we are officially recycling as much as we are wasting. What’s more, this doesn’t include our electronic wastes programs, wood pallet recycling programs, and other special recycling programs. Also, our total consumption has diminished by more than 30% since 1987; however, we still produce enough waste to fill the Desmarais building three times over. With the arrival of our new electric composter just a month away (we will be the first university in Ontario to purchase our very own electric composter!), and a great promotional plan for the year, we will surely hit our 60% waste diversion target in the coming year or so. Félicitations Uottawa! Depuis l’introduction du Recyclage sur campus en 1990, notre taux de production de déchets est en déclin, pendant que notre taux de recyclage es...

Nous ne réalisons pas jusqu’à quel point une conférence peut laisser une grande empreinte écologique! Des bouteilles d’eau pour chaque personne inscrite, des déchets à l’excès, des cadeaux promotionnels inutiles et de la paperasserie à l’infini…. Quel gaspillage! Ayant au plus de 5 000 recherchistes et scientifiques qui viendront à l’Université d’Ottawa pour le 77e Congrès de l’Acfas, la décision a été prise : il y aura un comité de développement durable! Mais comment organiser un congrès vert? Nous pourrions toucher à beaucoup de petits détails, mais divisons cette grande tâche selon différentes catégories : Papier Utiliser du papier recyclable à pourcentage élevé de fibres recyclées après consommation pour tout matériel imprimé (affiches, le programme, etc.). Fournir aux participants des blocs-notes de papier imprimé au verso. Encourager tous les gens impliqués de réduire la consommation de papier. Communications Inscription électronique. Communication quotidienne et «conseils verts...

This week we’ve finally started weighing the donations at the dump and run. We should have most everything weighed and donated (or kept for the free store) by the end of next week. How exciting! But seriously, let’s talk about consumption. In my last post, I talked about free stuff, and how much get’s thrown out on a regular basis, that is COMPLETELY reusable. Sometimes, it takes simple reuse. Have a glass jar from spaghetti sauce? Instead of throwing it out or recycling it, wash it and use it as a container or a drinking glass. Have a plastic yogurt container? Use it for dry bulk goods in your pantry, or for painting. Mesh onion bags are really great for washing dishes. The most important step in all of this? Think about whether or not you really need any given item BEFORE you buy it. Those strawberries in the supermarket that come from California? Well, you can decide if you really want that extra plastic packaging and the pesticides, and all the costs (monetary, environmental, and ...

My boss always tells me that the secret to success is to surround yourself with the best people and let them do their thing. This makes sense after all; no one can do everything by themselves. The matter at hand was recycling and building a recycling dream team was less intuitive than one might think. I mean who are the right people to use if you want to complete reform the recycling system on campus? As this little story about building better bins continues I feel it is important to talk about the people that made these bins a reality. Let me tell you that a lot of ideas floated through my mind. I started with hardcore environmentalists but… recycling is a shared common activity so it had to be a colloquial activity. I thought about getting an outside consultant group but… the problems on our campus are unique to our campus and we needed ‘local solutions’. I even thought about getting some business people (who else to take a cold shrill look at recycling on campus and figure out how b...

Today, let’s delve into the idea of stuff. We need stuff. We want stuff. We want stuff we don’t need. Sometimes we realize that. Where does it go? Bingo… When someone realizes they have something they don’t need, the first thought is generally one of a few options: Can I throw it out? Can I sell it? Can I give it away? Unfortunately, not enough people ask themselves how much they need any given item BEFORE they acquire it. But, we can talk about that later. The first question should be: Can I reuse this or use it for something else? Or, Can I give it to someone I know needs it? Failing that, it should be donated…to the free store! Each year, we organize a Dump and Run on campus to account for all of the stuff that residence students (primarily first year university students) decide to chuck when they are moving out. We all know that you bring very little to residence, shop a bit too much during the year, and end up with so much stuff you can’t imagine fitting into your suitcases. That...

When you are assigned the task of making the campus greener by improving the recycling system, you can’t just jump in without some idea of the past. Before diving into a lake there are a couple of things that you have to double check before you plunge in head-first. How cold is the water, how deep, are there are jagged rocks, and are there any leaches? I mean there are more things to consider than just this but let’s not over-kill this analogy. First things first, when did recycling begin on campus? Back in 1992 the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) initiated a bold plan to ensure that landfills wouldn’t start bursting at the seams with waste. The MOE mandated that all academic institutions create plans to divert 60% of their waste under the threat of a fine that could reach up to $4 Million. Luckily uOttawa already had a burgeoning program in place. It was a very simple program with drop-off points and a collection center. Now this system was great and it served the campus well for ov...

While I was a student here I was always extremely disappointed with the recycling system. Of course I never really had a complete picture of everything that was going on. I never knew about the initiation of a recycling program on campus in 1992; I never knew about the night crews that collect and sort waste; and I certainly didn’t know about the politics behind recycling bins. There is so much more to the story than you think and I want to share a little bit about our experience so that others can profit and make the proverbial “better mouse trap”. The title of this little series is ‘building a better bin’ and it is called such because in the pursuit of creating a more responsible society I believe that we can start with a better recycling bin. Our story begins back in 2007 when the University of Ottawa was going through a little bit of a rough patch with regards to green public relations. The Globe and Mail publishes an annual survey about how student perceive the environmental initi...

A couple of months ago I blogged about how uOttawa was going to be involved in Recycle-mania. I was pretty stoked about the idea because I knew that the university was pretty good but I didn’t really have any proof so I was really happy that Brigitte signed us up. I don’t want to sound like I was a worry wart but when you don’t have a point of reference things can seem a little tangled. Imagine my surprise when Brigitte gave me the news. We were 47th in the overall competition. Not bad I thought to myself, not bad at all. I mean when you think about it, this was the first time that we ever entered into the competition, we don’t have any composting, and Brigitte, our waste diversion coordinator, hasn’t even been in her post for 1 full year yet. Now imagine my surprise when Brigitte told me that the organizers had recalculated our results and we had in fact finished 14th overall, not 47th. I was ecstatic! I mean holy crap; we almost broke the top 10 in our first year. And the part that ...