By: Saad Ejaz and Hetal Patel
It may be difficult to imagine, but there are all sorts of creative alternatives out there to help create a more sustainable campus.
Typical discussions about sustainability tend to talk less about how to conserve water in our lawn maintenance endeavours. Although there is not much thought given to water use in this context, highlighting issues like these can be a solid first step in developing a respectful attitude towards water use and decreasing wasteful activities.
As Canadians, we are privileged enough to have access to one fifth of the world’s surface freshwater. However, we are not always mindful in our use of this scarce resource. If we continue to contribute to the upward trends of wasteful water usage, we may fall victim to water scarcity at home.
One of the greatest water- consuming activities we engage in is maintaining our gardens and lawns. On average, traditional grass lawn size of 0.18 acres needs an estimated 40 to 70 litres per day to water. McMaster’s total landscape area, taken care of by the grounds staff, is 300 acres. This means that we use roughly more than 100,000 litres.
A traditional green lawn serves the purposes of recreational use and aesthetic value. However, what if we considered an alternative that could serve those same purposes while using less water?
The costs of traditional grass lawn mowing and maintenance can range from $214 to $322 on average for 0.18 acres. Imagine the amount of money McMaster spends on lawn maintenance for over 300 acres of grass.
A substitute for traditional grass lawns are clovers, which have become a popular alternative due to the benefits that they present. This is largely due to clover being inexpensive, easy to grow and requires little attention and maintenance.
Currently, the cost of a traditional grass lawn is estimated between $8 to $12 for 4,000 square feet. This may not seem like much, however it is quite expensive when we compare it to the cost of having clover. It costs approximately $4 to plant clover over an area of four thousand square feet. Why not opt for the cheaper alternative and save money?
While it does require initial watering, the clover lawn requires little to no additional water once established. This would allow us save hundreds of liters of water that would otherwise be consumed for the same purpose.
Another important point to consider is that each year we spend hundreds of dollars on grass lawn maintenance. We can reduce this cost through the use of clovers since they are nitrogen fixing plants that enrich the soil with natural fertilizer. In addition to not needing chemical fertilizers, clover also stays green in the driest part of the summer without the need for water.
As much as we may enjoy mowing our lawns on a John Deere lawn tractor, clover does not require any mowing maintenance. The costs of traditional grass lawn mowing and maintenance can range from $214 to $322 on average for 0.18 acres. Imagine the amount of money McMaster spends on lawn maintenance for over 300 acres of grass.
Looking at it from an environmental perspective, there would be a lower release in greenhouse emissions due to less use of machines that mow the grass. Not to mention the amount of money we would be saving on gasoline, the purchase of a lawn mower and the maintenance of the mower. These are massive costs that we can save at McMaster, and we can use that money towards other sustainable development practices.
By: Melanie Yin
Typical discussions about the environment tend to talk a lot about how terrible cars are for the environment, but we don’t talk a whole lot about food. However, the transportation sector makes up 14 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, while food makes up a third of all emissions. Here are some tips to reduce your impact.
The production of red meat causes four times more greenhouse gas emissions than an equivalent amount of chicken or fish on average. Per kilogram of food:
As you can see, beef and cheese are by far the worst offenders. This is mostly because milk-bearing animals emit a lot of methane. All the wastes excreted by cows and other byproducts in the industry significantly impact our environment.
If you choose to reduce your red meat consumption, an important note to consider is that cutting down on meat can lead to a lack of iron and protein and potentially cause anemia. However, it can be easy to compensate with tofu, pumpkin seeds, beans, lentils and nuts. Some plant proteins don’t have all the essential amino acids, so be sure to have a good mix of foods to get everything your body needs.
Anything flown, even for a short distance, has a larger carbon footprint than food that is transported on land. Fresh fish that isn’t local is often air-freighted. For example, salmon that is flown in an airplane from British Columbia to be labeled fresh on your restaurant table 48 hours later is much worse for the environment than flash-frozen salmon that is transported by truck. Furthermore, fresh fish and properly stored frozen fish are indistinguishable in taste.
While it is true that transporting food is costly for the environment, it’s important to keep in mind that there’s not much you can grow efficiently in Ontario in the winter months. If you’re buying local tomatoes in the middle of the winter, the only explanation is that it was grown in a greenhouse. Heating up greenhouses is more costly for the environment than some methods of shipment from a warmer climate. That’s why it’s important to buy local, but also seasonal.
In Ontario in the winter, your best bets for local fresh foods with lower environmental impact are beets, carrots, cabbage, parsnips, mushrooms, potatoes and squash. The Hamilton Farmers’ Market, downtown at James and York, is only a 20-minute bus ride from campus and features excellent local food with a 4.5 star average rating on Google reviews. Mac Bread Bin also has you covered with a monthly box of fresh, local and seasonal produce you can pick up each month on campus for $12.
Keep in mind that while buying local is a decent rule of thumb, actual carbon output can vary wildly. For example, a Lincoln University study found that because of differences in their pastures and farming processes, New Zealand raised lamb imported to the UK had a lighter carbon footprint, 688 kilograms per tonne, than UK-raised lamb, 2,849 kilograms per tonne.
If you’re buying out of season fruits, consider buying them frozen. Freezing fruits when they’re in season is much better for the environment than growing them out of season as the latter requires more fertilizers and greenhouses. Furthermore, frozen fruits are often cheaper and the freezing process helps retain nutritional value.
Seeing MUSC trashcans overflowing with half eaten Pizza Pizza never ceases to leave me horrified. About 40 per cent of food in Canada each year is thrown out. Not only is the food itself lost, but the energy and water spent transporting and growing the foods is wasted. Overripe fruits can be made into smoothies and mushy bananas can be baked into bread.
If you’re at a restaurant and don’t finish your food, get a takeout container and bring it home. The environmental damage from the wasted food far outweighs the environmental damage from the container. McMaster’s green container program is a good first step for local takeaway habits. $5 gets you reusable eco-takeout containers for life on campus.
Remember, eating low carbon isn’t like diet plans that are all or nothing. When thinking about going greener, small changes to your diet can have a big impact.
The ground may be frozen, but it’s not too early to plan what you can grow come springtime.
Seedy Saturday is an annual event held in several cities across the country. Inspired by Seeds of Diversity Canada, a national organization dedicated to the conservation of food biodiversity, the event focuses on local sustainability practices, education, and building communities with sustainable futures.
Hamilton’s own event was hosted on Feb. 4 by Green Venture, a local, environmental non-profit organization committed to facilitating sustainable living practices while realizing a cleaner and healthier community. The event saw a seed swap, a gardening book exchange, seed and garden supply vendors and educational gardening workshops.
The event also served as an opportunity for likeminded individuals and organizations to network and discuss moving forward with sustainable resources within their respected communities. Although the event’s focus pertained heavily to agriculture, discussion also revolved around what sustainability means for Hamilton, and what initiatives could further the city’s environmental practices.
“[Seedy Saturday] is about awareness and connecting the dots within the community,” said Matt Carson, volunteer at the McQuesten Urban Farm, an urban farm developed as an initiative to increase food security within the McQuesten area. “Sustainability means working towards a city that is sustainable for all to live in; addressing the lack of green spaces for lower income neighbourhoods, growing food deserts and lack of accessible transportation in large parts of the city.”
Hamilton’s 2016 to 2025 strategic plan sees environmental sustainability as one of its top priority projects. The project’s key directions include a focus on natural features that the city has to offer, leadership and awareness initiatives, and considering environmental impacts in decision making processes.
From larger projects such as the light rail transit system to smaller, local initiatives like community garden plots, Hamilton is moving towards a more sustainable city, but there is always more work to be done. Initiatives concerning sustainable transportation, food security, environmental practices and education surrounding these topics are continuously coming to light from community organizations and events just like Seedy Saturday.
“Sustainability means so many things for Hamilton, but moving forward with light rail transit and improving the current transit system and bike lanes is necessary. I really appreciate all the green space we have and I hope it always stays that way,” said Jacqueline Cantar, sustainable food systems assistant at Mohawk College’s Sustainability Office.
“Hamilton has been changing a lot lately, and I think we need to remember our city and its residents who still require attention before we celebrate too much,” she said.
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By: Crystal Lobo
The “SHIFT: Environmentally Responsible Print Practice Exhibition,” is currently on display at the McMaster Museum of Art. Professors Judy Major-Girardin and Briana Palmer present this exhibit, which displays work from applicants across North America.
Printmaking typically consists of heavy chemical use and other toxic substances. This exhibition aims to approach this art form from an environmentally responsible perspective.
78 artists across Canada and the United States applied to have their work showcased. Only 28 were chosen.
“We really wanted to maintain a high standard of quality. So all along this initiative, the idea has been that we can do things in a more responsible way without sacrificing quality,” said Major-Girardin.
The exhibit served as one part of the greater movement towards environmentally responsible art. The second component was a symposium held on Fri., Feb. 26th. This symposium consisted of workshops displaying the processes used by the artists of the exhibit in creating their works. It also included a discussion panel, as well as showcasing of faculty and student work.
“It was a really kind of lively day of exchange. Everybody was able to talk to people who had like interests and really begin to build the network … We felt like we got the word out in a short amount of time with art pieces and the symposium,” said Major-Girardin.
The exhibit shows the McMaster community that meaningful change in society stems from small circles, something Major-Girardin takes great pride in.
“One of the quotes that I always reference is one from Margaret Reed that goes something like ‘Don't ever doubt the power of a group of small individuals in changing the world because really that's the only way that the world has ever changed with a group of small committed passionate individual.’ So I guess that's the message. We really are empowered to make change here and it starts with a small group but that builds and can build a whole movement,” said Major-Girardin.
Judy Major-Girardin would like to recognize the Forward with Integrity President’s Grant for funding this project.
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On Feb. 4, Naomi Klein came to McMaster to discuss her latest book, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate. Her overall message was simple: our current methods of living — and especially making money — are not sustainable.
I’ll be honest, I have only ever been peripherally involved in environmental movements. My activism tends to focus on social issues that affect people: racism, sexism, ableism, transphobia, and classism. To an extent I convinced myself that environmentalism was a whole other world disconnected from mine, but Klein related many of the issues that I care so deeply about directly to the environment because of the connection between capitalism and climate change.
This got me thinking, what are we doing here at McMaster to tie environmental activism to our other work? Why have I become so complacent about the environment? Climate change is directly connected to other issues I greatly care about, yet I am significantly more passionate about other topics. Part of it is undoubtedly the overwhelming amount of work to be done to help save our planet. When I consider the enormity of the problem I can almost hear the sound of a door slamming as my brain shuts down. “No thank you, this is too much to bear, and I’m not interested in engaging with what you are selling.” While overwhelming panic is undoubtedly behind my inaction, I’m starting to think that complacency is the bigger culprit.
So how are we fostering complacency on campus? One example is water. McMaster’s sustainability website boasts advances in water conservation on campus, from “ultra low-flush” urinals in DBAC, to a rainwater conservation system at the Engineering Technology Building. In an attempt to engage students in water conservation, the MSU has created “plastic-bottle-free zones” and retrofitted fountains with spouts designed to refill bottles.
While the sentiment behind these changes is great, I am skeptical of their efficacy. Every time I fill my reusable water bottle, the fountain tells me that X number of bottles — including my own — have been saved from a landfill, but this isn’t strictly true. Just because I refilled my bottle doesn’t mean I otherwise would have purchased bottled water. Apropos purchasing water, if the MSU is invested in a disposable-bottle-free-university, why are bottled beverages still sold across campus? I don’t think that the steps we have taken are necessarily bad, nor should they be repealed, however I do think that they have given us a sense of false security. While we may indeed have reduced the use of disposable bottles on campus, our initiatives have given us a good excuse to pat ourselves on the back and consider our environmental sins absolved.
If the MSU is invested in a disposable-bottle-free-university, why are bottled beverages still sold across campus?
At McMaster we have fallen into the exact trap that Kline warned against: attempting to make our current capitalist system slightly friendlier to the environment as opposed to understanding that the system is the problem. McMaster’s environmental initiatives, such as recycling, are framed as important for saving money. Our campus waste audit report in 2015 listed the ways in which recycling could reduce operating costs, but not the potentially positive impact it might have on the environment. Recommendations were described as “appropriate and cost effective.” It is easy for us as students to feel ambivalent about sustainability efforts when they are framed as a way to reduce overhead. Outside of our tuition costs — which would not directly correlate to recycling efficiency — are any of us concerned enough about our university’s budget to religiously recycle in an effort to reduce spending?
Instead, we need to call for reforms that are less budget-friendly and more environmentally sound. Klein called for McMaster to follow the examples of Oxford and Harvard in demanding our university cease investing in corporations profiting from oil production. Divesting from fossil fuels is a fantastic place to start. We need to go beyond reusable water bottles and energy efficient urinals, because we don’t demand more, complacency will be our demise.
Photo Credit: Jon White/ Photo Editor
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By: Saad Ejaz
On Jan. 26, dozens rallied outside the Federal Building in Hamilton to call on the Trudeau government to keep its promises on climate change.
The crowd carried signs and posters advocating for divestment from fossil fuels that read “Divest from oil, invest in our future.”
Leading up to the election in October and the Paris climate change conference in December, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed climate change extensively and discussed the need to overhaul the National Energy board Pipeline review process. He also promised to include members of Indigenous communities in this discussion.
However, those who were present at the rally expressed dissatisfaction with the government’s actions so far.
Don McLean, an attendee, said that he along with other members of the community want the Trudeau government to be proactive on climate change.
“Promised in the election campaign, both verbally and in their platform, that they would stop this broken process of pipeline reviews … We also want him to keep his promise to the planet, which he took in Paris.”
The question the protesters aimed at the Trudeau government is simple: How can Canada be a world leader in climate change and continue the destructive environmental projects of pipeline expansions?
Hearings for the Kinder Morgan pipelines resumed on Jan. 19 despite opposition from environmental groups. The pipeline project would allow three times more bitumen across southern British Columbia through the Vancouver harbour. While the hearings for the project are underway, so are protests and rallies.
Recently, Enbridge proposed an eastern pipeline. The Energy East project is a 4,600 km pipeline that will transport approximately 1.1 million barrels of oil per day from Alberta to Eastern Canada.
The crowd carried signs and posters advocating for divestment from fossil fuels that read “Divest from oil, invest in our future.”
“We already have serious climate change, we have to keep more 80 percent of the fossil fuels that we know about in the ground. And in terms of the tar sands, we need to virtually keep all of it there […] We don’t want to see any expansion of pipelines or fossil fuel extraction. We need to go in the other direction and it is to move towards renewable energy,” said McLean.
The rally was organized by Hamilton 350, a local chapter of the national climate change organization.
A number of different organizations attended the rally, including Council of Canadians Hamilton Chapter, Fossil Free McMaster and a number of sub-organizations within Hamilton 350 such as Environment Hamilton and The Blue Dot.
Mary Ann Blair, another attendee, thinks that there is still time for positive change.
“I personally don’t believe that it is an impossible situation. I believe that it is a situation that can inspire and is inspiring great human creativity … We can’t deal with this anymore. We need to realize it’s possible. And that’s why we are here. Change is possible. We don’t have to do things the same old way.”
Kazlyn Bonner, a member of Hamilton 350, urges Hamiltonians and students to become active on the issue of climate change.
“Whether you change your specific or small habits … Whether that action is in the form of signing a petition, or writing to MPs or even going to protests and rallies, and participating in a more visible way … there’s no action that is too small,” said Bonner.
Hamilton 350 will discuss plans for the upcoming months at a public meeting on Feb. 24 at 294 James St. N.
Photo Credit: Saad Ejaz
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By: Isaac Kinley
McMaster University President Patrick Deane is assembling a fossil fuel divestment advisory group in response to a petition demanding that the university pull its endowment out of fossil fuel investments.
The petition, an initiative of Fossil Free McMaster, aimed to collect 1,000 signatures but has so far managed to garner just over 900 in the two years that it has been online. Its text warns of the disastrous effects of climate change and says that McMaster students “deserve the opportunity to graduate with a future not defined by climate chaos.” It calls on the university to halt new investments in fossil fuel companies and to divest from all fossil fuel-related investments within five years, which it argues is also a financially responsible decision.
The advisory group will counsel the McMaster Board of Governors’ Finance Committee, responsible for the University’s investment decisions, on whether to divest from fossil fuels. Deane aims to form a group that is unbiased and includes both an undergraduate and a graduate student. To this end, he has contacted the Student Representative Assembly and the Graduate Students Association to ask them to provide candidates.
Conner Hurd, the head of Fossil Free McMaster, feels that this lack of bias may be difficult to achieve. “There’s very few people who sit on the fence on this issue,” he said. “It’s going to be hard to find an unbiased sample.” He expects that the advisory group’s eventual verdict will be in Fossil Free McMaster’s favour, but also stresses that his group advocates an approach that will allow the University to avoid losing money.
“Going forward with integrity doesn’t just mean taking the moral high road on any argument, it means being pragmatic. Ultimately we don’t want the university to lose out on money that comes back from endowment funds because it goes towards bursaries and grants,” he said. “Plus it is donated money, so the people who’ve donated [it] want to see it go back into the University.”
Professor emeritus of economics Atif Kubursi, who has been involved with the initiative along with Biology professor James Quinn, is also optimistic about its outcome, although he said he would like McMaster to move more quickly on the matter. “We should be at the vanguard of things,” he said. “It would be terrible if the university were a laggard and always reacting to others.”
He also feels that the recent 50 percent drop in oil prices may provide McMaster with a financial incentive to divest. “If they had listened to us, they would have saved a lot of money. This is an opportune moment to rebalance your portfolio by going into the kinds of investments that are sunrise, not sunset. The oil industry is a sunset industry. Sunrise would be renewable energy,” he said. “The University, even for pure financial reasons, is ill-advised to remain in fossil fuels.”
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By: Andrew Case
We’re lucky that our campus borders on Cootes Paradise. Sometimes, when I’m feeling particularly stressed, or overwhelmed by the sheer volume of people who feel the need to walk, talk, eat, play, and do other human activities which slowly drain my last (introverted) reserves of energy, I will escape to Cootes for a half hour. The Dundas Valley Conservation area, Bruce trail, and Mac Woodlot, all nearby, make for similarly pleasant retreats.
Evidently, I get a lot of utility out of the natural spaces near McMaster. Along with many other students, I like to think of myself as an environmentally aware person. That being said, I have some problems with how we approach environmental education and awareness.
The two main arguments which I hear being made for environmentalism are these: “the human race will go extinct,” and “it is immoral to pollute/litter/other heinous crimes against the environment.” I’m going to totally ignore the former in this article. But I have a qualm with the latter, the “moral argument”. It is all too often followed up with “think of your children’s children”, or some iteration, the gist of which is that I have a moral responsibility to future human beings. That is, actions which harm the environment are immoral because they make the plight of future generations worse than our own; because they harm other people. Fine. True enough.
I think those arguments are fine, but they leave me feeling a bit detached. I don’t want to be the cause of a future collapse of homo sapiens, and I don’t want to totally screw over my great-great-great-grandchildren, but those problems just don’t feel very immediate when I’m contemplating whether I want to drive someplace or make the ten minute walk. The utility of driving outweighs the disutility caused by the environmental harm.
Still, in this situation, I usually walk. The argument that convinces me is this: “nature is good. To harm it wantonly, therefore, is wrong.”
We feel the need to make every academic argument either scientific or, if we can’t manage that, at least humanist. I think environmentalism can have a strong scientific or humanist basis, and not lose face because it affirms the worth of nature to the human spirit.
One of my very favourite things is going on canoe trips with my dad. I spent six weeks of my summer on the Newfoundland coast, hiking and sailing. I like to saunter through Cootes. In short, nature is a great friend to me. And I try, where I can, to be a decent friend in return.
Environmentalism, when it’s at its best, is based on a good relationship between individuals and the landscape around them. Environmental education, then, should focus on fostering friendship between individuals and the places they live. Environmentalism should be about getting more out of the places we live while taking less.
Krista Kruja couldn’t be happier doing what she’s doing.
Having just finished her second year at McMaster, Krista is now focused on continuing the work that began in earnest last summer, when student Jonathan Valencia and volunteer coordinator Randy Kay first started the Hamilton Street Tree Project.
One of the main summer initiatives of McMaster’s Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG), the project’s primary objective is to inform local neighbourhoods about the Street Tree Program that has been funded by the city since 2004.
“The way that the city is doing this is by offering free trees on the city line – most people’s front lawn, or at least a portion of it, belong to the city,” Krista explained. “Anywhere that’s city property, [residents] are allowed to request a tree, and so the city will plant it, and it’s the city’s job to maintain it.”
As the project coordinator, Krista’s role has been to oversee efforts in going door-to-door and canvassing specific neighbourhoods in order to inform the public. Launched in part due to a 2011 Clean Air Hamilton study, OPIRG has focused on lower-income neighbourhoods that were measured to have the poorest air quality in the city.
Hamilton’s Keith neighbourhood, the focus of last summer’s pilot project, received an average of three tree requests per year prior to OPIRG’s efforts. After last year’s canvassing and door-to-door efforts, 65 new trees were planted.
This year, the focus has been on the Crown Point neighbourhood, which is located between Gage and Kenilworth. According to Krista, they’ve received nearly 70 requests for new trees so far, and are hoping to reach 80 by the end.
By expanding the urban canopy, OPIRG hopes to have a real effect on the air quality of these areas. But that’s not all they’re interested in doing with the program, Krista explained.
“Another sub goal [for the project] is community building – last year, it was just one student who went door-to-door and got lots of tree requests. This year we’ve been trying to get volunteers from McMaster, as well as the Crown Point community and Hamilton in general.”
Krista says that this summer, they’ve had more than 10 volunteers, some of whom aren’t even affiliated with OPIRG.
“For example… one of the co-presidents of Engineers Without Borders came out to volunteer, and she got in touch with the community developer for the Crown Point neighbourhood. She wants to work [with the developer] for some events in the school year,” Krista said with an enthusiastic smile. “It’s a nice partnership.”
Although it will be years before the trees have any noticeable effect on the air quality in these neighbourhoods, Krista’s enthusiasm for the project couldn’t be dampened.
“Sure, you don’t necessarily see the fruits of your labour in that air quality probably hasn’t changed much in the Keith neighbourhood from last year to this year, but you see the little trees, and you know that they’re going to get bigger, and in a couple of decades, it’s something you’ll definitely be able to see,” she said.
“Walking through that neighbourhood, maybe 20 or 30 years from now, I’ll be like: Oh, look at that! That’s something I was involved with,” she laughed.
Krista continued, “I think one of the greatest things about it is that it’s just such a big effort on behalf of everyone: McMaster’s done a lot, OPIRG’s done a lot, and Environment Hamilton has been really involved… Without everybody trying to help improve the neighbourhood, it wouldn’t have been possible, so I think it’s really exciting.”
With the project winding down in the first week of July, Krista expressed that she’s very interested in continuing the project during the school year.
“We were thinking of ways we can expand the Street Tree Project so it’s not just for the summer,” she said. “While I’m only working on it for nine weeks, I’m really enjoying it and I think it’s a really valuable thing.”
“I’d love to volunteer and work on it during the school year as well… to whatever capacity I can.”
It was a dark and bustling night in the McMaster University Student Centre when I first saw it happen. I was nonchalantly eating dinner, seated directly across what can only be called a three-panel garbage can, when I witnessed a most disturbing sight.
If you’re familiar with MUSC, you’ll know that the seating area has two charming garbage can centerpieces with four recycling bins, and one organic waste container, flanking its sides a mere three meter walk away from the trash bins. It’s a relatively easy to maneuver set-up with precautions in place to ensure accessibility for students of all abilities.
Sitting across from the generously sized waste bins, I watched as person after person walked to the garbage can and dumped paper, plastic and organic waste into trash bags. Eventually the amount of boxes and bottles overtook the garbage cans and I watched in amazement as one girl attempted to balance a milk carton on top of a leaning tower of Teriyaki containers and pizza boxes.
While the less than a minute walk may seem doable in theory, many students appeared to be unwilling to trek over and put their food scraps in the green bin, and their paper containers and plastic bottles into the recycling bins. Instead, a countless number of recyclable containers were dumped into waste bins that feed directly to landfills.
It was just, so, sad. Recycling bins are not a foreign concept in most Canadian cities and campuses, yet when it came to separating and disposing of various types of waste, no one seemed willing to bother with the extra effort.
With some patience, thought and care, sorting your waste can and should be easy. In response to this neglect of recycling bins on campus, for the past two weeks I have been completing a “Zero Waste” challenge. The term, coined by the Recycling Council of British Columbia, involves solely producing waste that can be recycled, composted or reused. The RCBC originally developed the idea as a campaign to promote the use of organic bins, but many environmentalists and activists have taken it one step further, making it a long-term commitment to produce no “garbage” whatsoever.
A 2010 Canadian Waste Management survey tracked the amount of garbage produced by each province, with Ontario weighing in with 9.2 million tonnes of trash in one year, the highest of any province (Nova Scotia produced the smallest amount of waste, with 367 thousand tonnes per year). With this in mind, along with the torturous image from that dark Student Centre evening, completing a Zero Waste challenge seems like a good idea that can make a small but influential decision in your community.
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Completing my own challenge seemed daunting at first, but so far the task has proved to be surprisingly manageable.
Before completing the challenge, you’ll need to go over your daily routine and identify any products or resources you may be using, and decipher where each item can be disposed of if need be. Coffee cups are a major garbage collector, as any wax-lined cup cannot be recycled. But Union Market, Tim Hortons and Starbucks all provide an option for reusable mugs. Committing to a Zero Waste challenge may involve a small investment in reusable products, but the small dollar charge will result in a large decrease in the amount of trash you’re producing (also most stores offer a discount when you bring your own cup).
McMaster does make composting and recycling accessible, with blue bins located in every building, and green bins in MUSC, Bridges, Mary Keyes, and the kitchens of campus eateries La Piazza, TwelvEighty and The Phoenix. It would be ideal to have more bins, especially as side-by-side receptacles for garbage, but at the moment, the various sorting options are divided.
It takes some effort to seek out these bins and ensure that your waste is being sorted and disposed of correctly, but the effort will decrease your ecological footprint and prevent the mass piling of unnecessary garbage. Mac uses a different waste system than Hamilton, where some products (like pizza boxes, wooden skewers, etc.) are considered compost instead of recycling. You can consult Mac’s specific guidelines on the “Sustainability” branch of their webpage, but common sense can answer most of your questions on sorting.
My personal waste challenge has been effective so far, and aside from a few minor items (a single coffee cup, dental floss, Doritos bags…) my waste has yet to fill a shopping bag, and my friends and roommates are joining in on the challenge.
Completing a Zero Waste challenge as one person may feel like a minor even dismissible effort, but as the trend catches on, more people may follow your example, and a new demand for recycling and composting infrastructure can improve the accessibility and availability of recycling bins on campus and within the community.
Milk carton balancing acts shouldn’t be a daily trend, and campus recycling and compost bins are available for a reason. Completing a Zero Waste challenge can be a fun and useful way to test how much waste you dump into landfills every year, and may make a difference in the long run.
