| Overall Rating | Platinum |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 86.18 |
| Liaison | Chris Adam |
| Submission Date | Dec. 30, 2024 |
Dawson College
OP-18: Waste Minimization and Diversion
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
4.31 / 8.00 |
Chris
Adam Coordinator Sustainability Office |
Parts 1 and 2. Waste per person
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Materials recycled | 52 Metric tons | 60 Metric tons |
| Materials composted | 67.18 Metric tons | 20 Metric tons |
| Materials donated or re-sold | 1 Metric tons | 0 Metric tons |
| Materials disposed through post-recycling residual conversion | 0.80 Metric tons | 0 Metric tons |
| Materials disposed in a solid waste landfill or incinerator | 120.08 Metric tons | 149 Metric tons |
| Total waste generated | 241.06 Metric tons | 229 Metric tons |
If reporting post-recycling residual conversion, provide:
Several drums of oil used in the cafeteria is recycled for fuel by an offsite recycler. Stored in 45 gal drums in a walk-in fridge.
Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):
| Start Date | End Date | |
| Performance Period | July 1, 2021 | June 30, 2022 |
| Baseline Period | July 1, 2018 | June 30, 2019 |
If end date of the baseline year/period is 2004 or earlier, provide:
Overview: The 2018-19 baseline represented a pre-COVID year with normal activity in the college and the performance year was also a normal activity period, so similar behaviour and institutional operations were present.
Based on the metrics from both years, activity with regards to waste generation remained relatively similar, although the amount of compost generated is significantly higher.
Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users”:
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Number of students resident on-site | 0 | 0 |
| Number of employees resident on-site | 0 | 0 |
| Number of other individuals resident on-site | 0 | 0 |
| Total full-time equivalent student enrollment | 7,979 | 7,300 |
| Full-time equivalent of employees | 1,006.22 | 720 |
| Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education | 0 | 0 |
| Weighted campus users | 6,738.91 | 6,015 |
Total waste generated per weighted campus user:
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Total waste generated per weighted campus user | 0.04 Metric tons | 0.04 Metric tons |
Percentage reduction in total waste generated per weighted campus user from baseline:
Part 3. Waste diverted from the landfill or incinerator
Percentage of materials diverted from the landfill or incinerator (including up to 10 percent attributable to post-recycling residual conversion):
In the waste figures reported above, has the institution recycled, composted, donated and/or re-sold the following materials?:
| Yes or No | |
| Paper, plastics, glass, metals, and other recyclable containers | Yes |
| Food | Yes |
| Cooking oil | Yes |
| Plant materials | Yes |
| Animal bedding | No |
| White goods (i.e. appliances) | Yes |
| Electronics | Yes |
| Laboratory equipment | Yes |
| Furniture | Yes |
| Residence hall move-in/move-out waste | No |
| Scrap metal | Yes |
| Pallets | No |
| Tires | Yes |
| Other (please specify below) | Yes |
A brief description of other materials the institution has recycled, composted, donated and/or re-sold:
Batteries & ink cartridges (recycled), eye-glasses (donated), cell phones (refurbished and donated or recycled), garden perennials (donated), computers (limited quantity donated), sports equipment and jerseys (donated), cement cylinders from engineering labs (donated).
The cafeteria changed disposable food contatiners and cutlery to 100% compostable containers and wooden utensils which are compostable. This may be a partial cause of an increased composting metric for the performance year.
Optional Fields
Active Recovery and Reuse
Recycling Management
Does the institution use dual stream recycling to collect standard recyclables in common areas?:
Does the institution use multi-stream recycling to collect standard recyclables in common areas?:
Contamination and Discard Rates
A brief description of any recycling quality control mechanisms employed:
Procedures & Methods Note: The 10% discard rate is an estimate based on bags that are contaminated with items such has liquids, soils, paints from art classes, etc. that. can't be sorted and are thus returned to the waste to landfill stream. During garbage audits, "contamination" rates are recorded as sorting stations having the wrong item placed in it (e.g. metal container in compost) or non-recyclable container in plastic recycling sorter), but it does not mean that the material is rejected on site. An external consultant impolemented a one week audit of recycling material from hallway sorting stations to the eventual placement outdoors in bins for pick-up. This audit showed a 10% contamination rate. See link attached below in optional file uploads: Title - Waste Recycling Evidence".
Campaigns were implemented to increase coffee mug use and decrease contamination by coffee cups. This is a significant problem on campus Areas were created for staff and students to empty liquid coffee before disposing of their coffee cup as a pilot program.
Presentations are given to classes on the importance of sorting and during Living Campus Tours. Private material is shredded by adults with special needs registered in a social integration project. This prevents large quanties of paper from entering the landfill waste stream.
Garbage audits are implemented regularly by students and metrics collected. Note: All original hallway waste bins and office waste bins have been removed from the college and replaced by 1-2 central sorting stations. Individuals receive a one litre dek-top waste bin that is emptied into a hallway sorting station waste bin when needed. This encorages health by promoting movement and welness through interacting with people in the hallways.
Programs and Initiatives
- Awareness campaigns by students during the year
- Displays with specific recyclable material during events over waste stations
- Composting and recycling stations are shown in orientation videos and part of Living Campus Tours
- Facilities employees give workshops to classes and teacher groups.
- Presentations are given specifically to student program committees for end-of-year open houses and project displays.
- Presentation to management group about ongoing waste challenges and possibilities.
- Ensure that Facilities managers that have responsibilities related to all waste disposal within the college sit on Office of Sustainability Executive Committee. Communication is essential in connecting various college sectors and their respective activities that generate waste.
- Zero waste cafes: https://www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca/news/dnews/cooking-with-jamal-for-well-being/?ref=dnews&issue=2024-11-20
- For Office of Sustainability staff a consultant implemented a 1 week study of contamination rates from which we could plan better awareness campaigns and target certain items (e.g. coffee cups).
A brief description of the institution's waste audits and other initiatives to assess its materials management efforts and identify areas for improvement:
Students are involved with waste audits every year and results help raise awareness and direct troubleshooting activities. This data is incorporated into waste management guideline documents for the college. Different areas of the college, such as high traffic areas or the nursing program, are targeted. Waste bins, recycling bins and compost bins are emptied and the contents sorted and weighed. Totals are made for each sorting station and contamination percentages noted.
A central recycling station for ink cartridges, batteries, eye-glasses and cell phones are monitored for amount deposited, cleaning, contamination and theft(cell phones).
As new students arrive every fall (approximately 3200), a re-education effort needs to take place about sustainability initiatives in general, and specifically about waste sorting stations and event planning. Timing, key contacts, communication and Office of Sustainability staff support are all integral components of effective programs.
A brief description of the institution's procurement policies designed to prevent waste:
Electronics purchasing has asked for less packaging when ordering many similar products and Dawson is part of a college collective that purchases paper and other products as a multi-college group purchase. Sustainability considerations are in place for the bulk purchases.
For the dawson Dining initiative (free vegan meals twice a week for students), bulk purchases are secured and materials stored in bulk to prevent waste in packaging.
As landscaping projects increase, bulk soil and mulch is secured as much as possible by the truckload and moved by students to prevent plastic bag use.
Compostable bags are purchased for the sorting station compost collectors.
Tons of leaves from the property collected during the fall are used as mulck in naturalized areas and some are shipped in bulk for composting. Zero percent are bagged for disposal.
A brief description of the institution's surplus department or formal office supplies exchange program that facilitates reuse of materials:
- A large storage area at the College contains used furniture for reuse (e.g. almost all of the Office of Sustainabiity offices ihave reused furniture, wood and shelving). Other offices do as well.
- Some computers are "ghosted" and donated to charity or special projects (e.g. Cuba trip for students)
A brief description of the institution's platforms to encourage peer-to-peer exchange and reuse:
- Staff-led bike repair workshops on campus
- on on-line exchange exists on the College system for employees to exchange reusable material
- The library has a display in the hallway where used books are given away
- The Dawson Student Union has a permanent on-site location within its club space for book and clothing exchange
- The Office of Sustainability recieves 100's of plants from staff that are propagated and returned to the college, given as gifts or donated.
A brief description of the institution's limits on paper and ink consumption:
- Overview: Paper consumption has decresed from highs 10-15 years ago, when digital and paper copies of documents were often the norm. Digital is now prevelent. Double-sided printing is the default option in the printshop when paper is used.
- All public printers for student use have fees per page.
- Teachers are encouraged to ask for on-line copies of assignments and on-line books and especially "course packs" are now options for students.
- Printer fleets have been reduced and continue to be reviewed for further reduction. This is an obvious reduction in institutional ink use.
- Personal office printers are discouraged and staff have secure central hallway printers that they can used instead.
A brief description of the institution's initiatives to make materials available online by default rather than printing them:
Update 2024: The communication dept. and the registrar's dept were both high printed paper users in the past. Now the vast majority of publications are provided digitally. The annual report, view book and Dawson program brochures have all been moved on-line. This has saved approximately 150,000 brochures from being printed and 5,000 view books (20-30 pages each).
The registrar's office has also reduced paper consumption by over 1.5 million sheets by emphasizing on-line options for registering students, grading, and sending official documents (since 2016).
management recieves all documents digitally and HR provides testing and surveys for staff and potential employees digitally.
The Quality Assurance & Planning Office supplies all surveys and reports on-line.
A brief description of the institution's program to reduce residence hall move-in/move-out waste:
N/A
A brief description of the institution's programs or initiatives to recover and reuse other materials intended for disposal:
Eye-glasses, batteries, cell-phones, ink cartridges are all collected at a central permanent recycling station that is accessible to staff and students at a "high traffic" area.
Landscaping: 2022 - Present: Dead trees are let to decompose on site and branches shredded and used as mulch
Clothing, office supplies, art supplies, off the counter pharmacuticals peole has in excess can be brought to a drop-off point and material is sorted and delivered to Cuban organizations for distribution (yearly).
Paper towels in washrooms are collected in separate bins and composted.
Website URL where information about the institution’s waste minimization and diversion efforts is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
DNews article: Industrial design students win competition with compost theme: https://www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca/news/dawson-students-win-gold-silver-at-industrial-design-competition/
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.