Sustainable Concordia conducts university-wide waste audit
It might seem unpalatable, but the brave students sorting through Concordia’s garbage are collecting valuable information about what we throw away.
This week, Sustainable Concordia held the third university-wide waste audit to get an idea of what and how much we consume.
After collecting garbage bags from around the university, volunteers weigh the trash, dump it out, and divide it into different types: raw or process nitrogen-rich materials, carbon-rich materials, meat, and different types of plastics.
Sustainable Concordia conducted university-wide waste audits in 2005 and 2009.
The most recent audit found that Concordia sent 718 tonnes of waste to the landfill in 2008-09. It also estimated that 2.1 million water bottles were thrown out, and only 10 per cent of bottles consumed at the university are actually recycled.
The audit also found that 3.9 million disposable coffee cups were discarded — that’s more than 70 coffee cups per person.
Data from these audits, demonstrating how much waste is recycled, was used to get ICI ON RECYCLE certification for Concordia through RECYC-QUÉBEC and the government of Quebec. Similarly, more specific audits held in addition to the three university-wide ones have yielded different results. An organic waste audit of cafeteria spaces provided the information needed to acquire and use the large-scale composter installed on the Loyola Campus in 2008.
“When we send garbage to the landfill, it doesn’t just sit there nice and neat. It actually leaks out of the landfill in two forms: as a liquid and a gas,” says Faisal Shennib, Sustainable Concordia’s Environmental Coordinator. “The gas is a very strong greenhouse gas, and the liquid is the most toxic liquid you could imagine, and it contaminates our groundwater.”
For these reasons alone, Shennib believes it’s worthwhile knowing what we throw away, what we can do to change our habits, and how we can reduce our consumption.
“Rethink, reduce, reuse, recycle — even though it’s very vague — is a very effective mantra for people who are figuring out what to do with their waste,” he says. “I do want to see us get to a zero-waste society.”
Shennib states the results for the 2011 audit will be made available by late April. This year’s audit continues through March 25.
Related links:
• Data on previous waste audits
• Sustainable Concordia
• “R4 Waste Audit” - Journal, March 19, 2009