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...

Book worms at the University of Ottawa rejoice! You will be happy to know that you can continue to study at the library and be perfectly at ease with the fact that the library is using less energy. Admittedly energy consumption and libraries don't typically go hand in hand but they should. Did you know that library are energy pigs. Think about it, lots of people that need fresh air circulated around and books that can't get too dry or too wet or they risk being damaged. Finding that balance takes a whole bunch of energy. So today I thought I would share with you some good news from our EcoProsperity program. Now for those of you who don't know, the uOttawa EcoProsperity program is just a fancy name we have given to our energy savings program. Essentially we are going around to every building on campus and trying to make it more efficient. This past year the engineers and operations people at Physical Resources Service have been working to see what they could do t...

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...

En tant qu’étudiante en génie mécanique, je n’avais aucune idée à quoi m’attendre pour la première journée de travail pour ma première session coop. Comment savoir si j’allais me retrouver à faire du café pour un patron borné ou des photocopies toute la journée? Pour moi, l’important était que je sois capable de faire une différence, aussi petite soit-elle. En arrivant au service des immeubles de l’université d’Ottawa, accueillie à bras ouvert par des plantes sur tous les bureaux, des accros du compost, des réunions à gauche et à droite parce que sauver la planète ne peut pas attendre, je me suis rendue compte que j’étais à la bonne place. En plus d’être sensibilisée par tous les gens qui m’entourent maintenant à mon quotidien, j’ai la chance de pouvoir mettre le peu d’ingéniosité que j’ai accumulé durant mes deux dernières années d’études à l’œuvre tout en y rajoutant un brin de créativité. Avec une confiance étonnante, on m’a donné le mandat de trouver des solutions réalistes ...

The sun is back in full force and that means community garden time here at the University of Ottawa. This marks our 9th year of community gardening on campus and this year we are making a couple of upgrades. If you know anything about the gardens on campus then you know that you have to be dedicated to survive the ups and downs. The first incarnation of the community garden was created in 2004 and was comprised of a couple of individual plots and two larger communal plots. The garden grew slowly until in 2009 a new location was added to augment the number of spaces to about 30. Unfortunately a year later that space was designated as the construction site of the new ARC building . Not to fret, a new location was inaugurated at 649 King Edward immediately. So here we are in 2013 with two community garden locations and almost 50 plots to work on. Things are looking pretty sweet.... but why rest when you can push boundaries? Admittedly it is hard to "push the envelop" wh...

In the last five years, the University of Ottawa's Office of Campus Sustainability has partnered with the university's Housing Services to run an event called the Dump and Run . Yeah I know the name sounds silly (people usually have a prank in mind when you say dump and run) but this event is one of the most "profitable" for future uOttawa students as well as community members. It’s kind of a pay it forward program for recycling whereby first-year students in residences leave so much stuff behind, such as clothes, blenders, books, dishes, appliances (almost new by the way), electronics, handbags and much much more, that future students or community members can come by and collect everything they could possibly need for the coming year. So basically, every year is a recycle it forward year since frosh students have access to a bunch of stuff that comes from the students of the previous year and so on and so on. Now, this may sound complicated to understand bu...

Recycle Mania So this week I am pledging to recycle mania, meaning I am not going to be purchasing or throwing out anything that cannot be recycled or composed. You should try it and see how well you do! Please share if you do in fact try this out! Recycle mania blurb The hardest tasks to accomplish without wasting are the smallest tasks, like air drying your hands after washing them, bringing your own sugar for coffee or just drinking it black. But you know what it’s worth it, so go out and reuse (maybe recycle)! Recycle Mania Summary All in all, recycle mania is a great concept. Reusable mugs, containers and water bottles for the week wasn’t actually that hard to do at all! Just carrying around a bottle is great because you can always quench your thirst without having to buy and throw out a plastic bottle. Containers as well, it is so easy to just rinse them when you are done and use them again the next day. The hardest part of this week would have to be realized that eve...

Waste Free Month Done... Waste Free Life Begins! Ok, so my waste free month is technically done, and I realized that living waste free isn't as hard as it sounds; especially at Uottawa. We have this fantastic recycling program here where practically ANY type of plastic can be recycled at any recycling station on campus! This makes living waste free a lot easier!  During this month I learned a few things.  Mainly I learned that living waste free is the most difficult when you go out places. When you go to a restaurant or a function it is almost impossible to know where your food scraps and things will end up because you can't control that. I also stayed at a hotel with my family and I realized that it's pretty hard to live waste free there because there is no compost or recycling, and even though we put our recycling in a box; who knows where it is going to end up?! Also, living waste free was impossible at my work. I work at BeaverTails on the canal and even though ...

I failed - but not miserably - at being waste free for a week. A pessimist would tell you it's impossible to live waste free while an optimist would say that accepting the challenge is already an improvement from the week prior. I have always tried to reduce, reuse and recycle when it was convenient for me but this competition made me identify my own personal wasteful habits: using tissues, plastic sandwich bags and Q-tips, commuting by car too often, leaving the hot water run and buying treats in non-recyclable packaging, just to name a few. Have I made an oath not to use these products and behave in these ways ever again? No. Becoming more sustainable is like getting in shape - it doesn't happen overnight. I can't promise that I'll never contribute to a landfill, drive a car or enjoy an all dressed chip from a non-recyclable bag. However, each time I am wasteful, I'll think about modifying my consumption and activities next time around in order to lessen my i...

Living waste free is a huge learning experience. Even before I began my official two week period of Pledging to live waste free I had become more aware of the amount of waste/recyclables I go through and was already trying ways to cut back on the waste I produce. Watching the documentary "The Clean Bin project" and learning from the Office of Campus Sustainability, I had already acquired useful tips on how to live waste free before my official two weeks. The amount of items able to be recycled on Campus is amazing, which helped me be able to recycle more. So I admit I was at an advantage to someone who hadn't thought about how to live waste free and who began cold turkey for the Pledge. Since I became more aware of my waste, I have come across situations that I wouldn't have thought twice about if I hadn't been trying to cut back on waste. Take for example paper towels in the campus bathrooms. If there are no hand dryers and only paper towels, I could not thr...

Recyclemania was coming up again this year, and I decided to give it a whirl for three weeks – a week longer than I did it last year. In preparation for the event and throughout the three weeks, grocery shopping became a little more arduous – no products with sneaky plastic wrap or Styrofoam (ie. fresh fish and meat) or plastic bags. Luckily, I already use mesh bags instead of the available thin plastic bags to contain fresh fruits and vegetables. I also carry a reusable grocery bag (one of those ones that roll up into a little bundle) with me all the time in case there’s ever an unplanned grocery trip/purchase/need of a bag. For nixing the plastic wrap/foam plates found with fresh meats, simply buy frozen seafood with recyclable plastic packaging, and meats from a butcher – butcher paper is compostable! In addition to some modifications to my grocery purchases, the disposal of my everyday items needed to be reassessed. Dryer lint? Compostable. Cotton cosmetic pads? Compostable. V...

Day 1: Feb. 3 Today is the first day of RecycleMania, an event held in universities across the country to promote sustainability and waste reduction. I’ve pledged to live waste-free for the entire duration of RecycleMania meaning from today until March 30th, I will throw NOTHING in the garbage!  I’m nearly one day in and so far so good! I had a couple close calls ending with having to fish tissues/cotton balls out of the trash (my own trash, luckily) and put them in their rightful place (my compost bin!). I think Google will be my best friend throughout all of this. Every phrase I’ve searched today has begun with “can you recycle/compost ___?”. Carrying a reusable bag is also a must. Public compost bins are few and far between (even recycling bins can be rare!) so I’ve been chucking all of my things in a bag and carting them back to campus where I can dispose of them properly. So far my only two stumbling blocks have been gum wrappers and the stickers on all of my fruit. Ev...

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when people hear the term “Recyclemania?” Well, if they’re anything like me, most people think of that elevated and energetic sense of arousal one gets when separating paper and plastics. As it turns out, Recyclemania is actually an international recycling competition. And for the University of Ottawa, it’s a yearly waste-reduction campaign, aimed at shedding light on the necessity of sustainability, recycling, and responsible forms of waste management. So it turns out I’m not a doctor of recycling. Who knew? This year’s RecycleMania included a Guerilla Recycling event, which occurred each Thursday night for the month of March. It’s all about black hoodies, latex gloves, and getting elbow-deep in other people’s trash. While part of that may not sound appealing to most of you (really?), the whole process is much more rewarding than it sounds, and that’s not even considering all the loose change to be found at the bottom of the compost bin...

When you think campus sustainability you might think that the solution is more trees or solar panels. What about a campus sound map, or a campus recyclopedia, or maybe a residence neighbourgoods program? Students in the first year Global Environmental Challenges course (ENV 1101B) recently handed in their poster projects for the semester. Their assignment... make the campus more sustainable in their own little way. This semester the course was taught by Dr. Sonia Wesche  who decided to work with the Office of Campus Sustainability through the Community Service Learning program in order to give students a chance to have the opportunity to do some hands on work to improve campus sustainability (yet another Living Laboratory project). And I can tell you that the students did not disappoint. Every project was amazing but I only have enough time to highlight a couple. Campus Noise Map Concept: Create a noise map of the campus that shows the highest levels of noise. ...

It’s that time of year again, the time of year when friends and family get together and celebrate simpler times. So often we find ourselves so consumed in our busy lives that we forget what this time of the year is really about, what every time of the year should be about: energy conservation. This Saturday March 23 from 8:00 to 9:00 pm Earth Hour will once again be upon us, and we here at UOttawa will be turning off the lights, in conjunctions with people and organizations around the world in the collective efforts to draw attention to the need for energy conservation. So here is a list of things you can do this earth hour (in no particular order), while your lights are off 10- Build an epic blanket fort (in hopes that it maybe as awesome as this one ( video )  9- Candle light games night 8- Candle light dinner with that special someone 7- Make and launch your own aerial luminary ( article ) 6- Glow in the dark nerf gun fight with your roomates (be careful of furni...