| Overall Rating | Platinum |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 86.26 |
| Liaison | Karen Oberer |
| Submission Date | Jan. 17, 2024 |
McGill University
OP-18: Waste Minimization and Diversion
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
3.54 / 8.00 |
Figures needed to determine total waste generated (and diverted):
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Materials recycled | 807.80 Metric tons | 357.43 Metric tons |
| Materials composted | 231.65 Metric tons | 11.59 Metric tons |
| Materials donated or re-sold | 0 Metric tons | 0 Metric tons |
| Materials disposed through post-recycling residual conversion | 0 Metric tons | 0 Metric tons |
| Materials disposed in a solid waste landfill or incinerator | 1,428.41 Metric tons | 2,045.72 Metric tons |
| Total waste generated | 2,467.86 Metric tons | 2,414.74 Metric tons |
A brief description of the residual conversion facility:
Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):
| Start Date | End Date | |
| Performance Period | Jan. 1, 2022 | Dec. 31, 2022 |
| Baseline Period | Jan. 1, 2014 | Dec. 31, 2014 |
A brief description of when and why the waste generation baseline was adopted:
This is the earliest date from which we have reliable waste generation data.
Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users”:
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Number of students resident on-site | 2,981 | 3,260 |
| Number of employees resident on-site | 32 | 15 |
| Number of other individuals resident on-site | 22 | 0 |
| Total full-time equivalent student enrollment | 31,511.40 | 31,755 |
| Full-time equivalent of employees | 7,779 | 6,979 |
| Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education | 447.60 | 32 |
| Weighted campus users | 29,907.35 | 29,845.25 |
Total waste generated per weighted campus user:
| Performance Year | Baseline Year | |
| Total waste generated per weighted campus user | 0.08 Metric tons | 0.08 Metric tons |
Percentage reduction in total waste generated per weighted campus user from baseline:
Percentage of materials diverted from the landfill or incinerator by recycling, composting, donating or re-selling, performance year:
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) | No |
| Electronics | No |
| Laboratory equipment | No |
| Furniture | No |
| Residence hall move-in/move-out waste | Yes |
| Scrap metal | No |
| Pallets | Yes |
| Tires | No |
| Other (please specify below) | No |
A brief description of other materials the institution has recycled, composted, donated and/or re-sold:
In 2022-2023 Procurement Services continued its work with internal stakeholders to develop and roll out asset management procedures, including one for furniture and appliances. Following these procedures, the Sustainability Projects Fund-supported Facilities Management project, FMAS Sustainability Push, resulted in the reuse and/or donation of over 1,600 articles of furniture, as well as the recovery of 425 pieces of building materials, which were delivered to the ÉcoRéno reuse centre. Similarly, more than 80 IT assets were redeployed internally.
Moreover, in 2023 over 500 IT assets were sent to McGill’s certified, non-profit, refurbishing partner, creating employment opportunities for at-risk youth.
Organic waste collection expanded dramatically in 2021-2022, by bringing compost collection services to 27 major academic buildings across the downtown and Macdonald campuses. Moreover, 200 new multi-stream waste sorting stations (including an organic waste stream) were installed on both the downtown and Macdonald campuses in 2021-2022. This brings the total number of bins installed over the past two academic years to 713. This explains the increase in organic waste generation and diversion between our baseline and performance years.
Materials intended for disposal but subsequently recovered and reused on campus, performance year:
Does the institution use single stream recycling to collect standard recyclables in common areas?:
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?:
Average contamination rate for the institution’s recycling program:
A brief description of any recycling quality control mechanisms employed:
A brief description of the institution's waste-related behavior change initiatives:
A Zero-Waste Ambassador program was launched in March 2022. 13 student volunteers were recruited to communicate waste initiatives, educate the McGill community about waste sorting on campus, and act as a visible resource on zero-waste for the community. Over 18 months, the Ambassadors conducted nearly 800 hours of waste education activities.
A brief description of the institution's waste audits and other initiatives to assess its materials management efforts and identify areas for improvement:
Two waste audits were conducted in 2022, one in March and one in November, which examined the contents of standardized waste bins in 6 buildings over 3 days. Key takeaways included: waste sorting remains a key challenge, especially in recycling streams; diverting compost from the landfill stream is a key opportunity; and several particular types of waste are consistently sorted badly (e.g. coffee cups). These results were used to inform targets for future waste education initiatives.
A brief description of the institution's procurement policies designed to prevent waste:
McGill's Procurement Policy (Section 2.1.3) states that " it brings about the duty to source exclusively from contractors who demonstrate a steady record of compliance with all environmental regulations and an organizational commitment to responsible environmental management, by minimizing waste and promoting environmentally friendly products and services." In this way, McGill is ensuring that suppliers are committed to waste minimization. Furthermore, McGill Procurement Services encourages buyers to order items in bulk, especially with regards to office supplies, such as to minimize packaging waste and transportation costs.
Source: https://www.mcgill.ca/secretariat/files/secretariat/20180827_-_procurement_policy_english_final.pdf
A brief description of the institution's surplus department or formal office supplies exchange program that facilitates reuse of materials:
A brief description of the institution's platforms to encourage peer-to-peer exchange and reuse:
As part of the Asset Management Program, platforms for reusing IT, vehicle, research, and furniture & appliance assets have been developed and are successfully connecting different stakeholders across the University. These platforms largely consist of listservs that are used to post available assets for internal reuse.
A brief description of the institution's limits on paper and ink consumption:
McGill University offers a campus-wide copy and print management service that allows any student with a valid McGill ID card to send a print job to the central print queue, and pick it up from the uPrint device of their choice.
Some of the benefits include:
- Direct scan to email (no charge).
- A single pricing system, with printing and copying charges billed directly to students' fee accounts on a monthly basis or to employees' units.
- Default double sided printing and copying contribute to McGill's sustainability efforts.
- The costs of the device, paper, toner, staples, maintenance, and network jack are included in the cost per page printed.
All of the university's printers and copiers use 100% recycled paper and are defaulted to double-sided printer settings. In addition, most machines also provide users with the ability to scan documents directly to a USB key or to email the document directly to themselves.
Furthermore, in 2019 McGill ratified new Guidelines for the Purchase and use of Printing Paper and Printing Services. These guidelines institutionalize the above measures and encourage the centralization of all university printing in the McGill Printing Services unit, who maximizes post-consumer recycled paper content.
A brief description of the institution's initiatives to make materials available online by default rather than printing them:
The University no longer prints or distributes telephone directories, pay stubs, or invoices. Course Catalogues became available online as of the 2008-2009 school year.
McGill Libraries has digitized course material so that course pack printing has been dramatically reduced. In Winter 2021, the Bookstore's coursepack service was replaced with McGill Library's new Course Readings Service. The change to the coursepack process emerged in response to student concerns about the high cost of course material affecting access to higher education. This has allowed the university to provide students with access to course material through the Library’s collection or by licensing works for use at no additional cost to the student. Producing print coursepacks is not part of the new Course Readings Service.
Moreover, some academic units have been moving towards digitizing student files.
A brief description of the institution's program to reduce residence hall move-in/move-out waste:
Trash 2 Treasure aims to redirect reusable items in the Milton Park area, where many McGill students live. During move-out, students who leave the neighborhood often abandon their furniture and belongings on the streets to be picked up by municipal garbage collection. To address this problem, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) developed a program to collect these items and donate them to charitable organizations like Renaissance, which sells second-hand items and has a social-reintegration mandate, and the Welcome Collective, which provides furniture to asylum seekers in Montreal. Unusable items are to be recycled by Matt Canada (mattresses only) or the Eco Centre.
The Société pour l'action, l'education, et la sensibilisation environnementale de Montréal (SAESEM), an environmental non-profit organization, and Student Housing and Hospitality Services (SHHS) are partners in this project. SHHS has provided storage space and administrative assistance with the coordination and implementation of the initiative.
https://www.mcgill.ca/students/housing/sustainability-0/trash-2-treasure
https://saesem.org/en/2023/03/22/trash2treasure-new-collection-in-milton-parc/
A brief description of the institution's programs or initiatives to recover and reuse other materials intended for disposal:
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:
Above data was gathered from McGill's contracted waste service providers, TTI Environmental, Enviro Connexions, and Compost Montreal from the period of Jan. 1, 2022 to Dec. 31 2022.
Note: the university does recycle, donate, and reuse white goods, electronics, laboratory equipment, furniture, scrap metal, pallets, and tires, but they are not included in our reported waste data.
Above data was gathered from McGill's contracted waste service providers, TTI Environmental, Enviro Connexions, and Compost Montreal from the period of Jan. 1, 2022 to Dec. 31 2022.
Note: the university does recycle, donate, and reuse white goods, electronics, laboratory equipment, furniture, scrap metal, pallets, and tires, but they are not included in our reported waste data.
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.