Toronto Metropolitan University
EN-5: Outreach Campaign

Healthy Commute Week is an annual campaign that focuses on raising awareness on sustainable transportation methods including walking, wheeling, running, biking, taking the TTC or GO Transit, or using any other form of active or public transportation. The Sustainability Office highlights different ways that Ryerson students, faculty and staff can make their commute more sustainable and healthy through our social media campaign on Twitter. We also run a social media contest where you can post a tweet using our hashtag showing us how they commute healthy to be entered in a draw to win one of two $20 Best Buy Gift Cards. As part of our campaign, we host an Healthy Commute Education and Awareness Fair to raise awareness on sustainability and healthy transportation options. We gather a variety of innovative student and research groups focused on transportation, and host related activities. Activities include: Bike safety workshops Appearance by Ryerson Rams mascot, Eggy Visit from President Lachemi Interactive art installation highlighting sustainable and healthy transportation within our campus A sustainable transportation themed photobooth A chance to win $100 preloaded presto card

Reached 165 students at the event, and all prizes were awarded to participants.

Waste Reduction Week is an annual campaign that aims to promote a circular economy, resource efficiency, and waste reduction. We run multiple initiatives during this campaign including: Get Caught in the Act of Using Your Reusables! - Throughout the week members of our team look for students who are using reusable items such as water bottles, coffee cups, containers etc. on campus in our Student Learning Centre. These students win a prize and get featured on our Twitter platform. Sustainability Fair in collaboration with Environment and Urban Sustainability Student Association (EUSSA)- Where students get a chance to learn how to reduce their waste and participate in sustainability initiatives on campus with Ryerson’s Sustainability Office and EUSSA. What Waste Goes Where at the Hub Cafe - Test waste sorting knowledge and teach how to properly dispose of everyday items to ensure they end up in the right place. We also had an interactive display (coffee cup mountain) built by student interns to demonstrate the number of coffee cup waste that are consumed by the average student in a given semester. This was coupled with a social media campaign that encouraged students, staff and faculty to post about how they were committed to reducing coffee cup waste and plastic waste in general. As a result, the hub cafe eliminated plastic straws and many vendors on campus started to include a reusable cup discount. I Give a Shirt About Waste Reduction: The Sustainability Office in collaboration with Social Ventures Zone and EUSSA host a clothing swap event to help raise awareness on textile waste.

Engaged with over 200 students, staff and faculty during the week of activities and diverted close to 200 pounds of textile waste. Handed out 20 prizes to students, and engaged 110 students, staff and faculty at the sustainability fair event.

Name of the campaign: Earth Day Campus Clean-Up A brief description of the campaign: Ryerson is proud to be a registered participant in the City of Toronto’s Clean Toronto Together initiative, which calls on all Torontonians to get outside for 20 minutes to pick up litter in recognition of Earth Day. As part of the campaign, we encourage participation through acknowledging the most spirited green ambassadors who help with the campus clean up. Winners are chosen for best individual and best team and receive a Ryerson Earth Day Ambassador certificate. A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign: Engaged 60 participants in the clean-up, including student, staff and faculty. This number has continued to grow from the start when participation rate was between 10-15 people. Name of the campaign: World Water Day A brief description of the campaign: The Sustainability Office and Ryerson Urban Water co-hosted a World Water Day Fair in the Center for Urban Innovation to showcase research and initiatives being undertaken at Ryerson related to water. Students, researchers, faculty, and staff joined forces to educate on water initiatives. A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign: The Fair attracted 40 students, researchers, faculty, and staff. Name of the campaign: Pop-Up: Sorting Out Our Waste A brief description of the campaign: Over the course of 4 months, the Sustainability Office conducted weekly pop-ups in different buildings across campus to teach students, staff and faculty how to properly dispose of waste using our new four-stream waste receptacles to support proper waste diversion on campus. A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign: We have engaged 170 participants and recruited 30 Sustainability Ambassadors over the course of this initiative.

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