University of Ottawa
ER-2: Student Sustainability Outreach Campaign

Annual competition amongst academic institutions in North America to see who can reduce their waste consumption while increasing their recycling rates. On campus students and staff are encouraged to participate while issues related to waste are discussed on campus. Awareness event that students about issues related to the commodification of water. Bottled Water Free Day is a National celebrated event and this year on campus it was marked with the suspension of sales for bottled water on campus for the day. The Student Federation took the opportunity to distribute reusable water canteens to students on campus (approximately 400). Each canteen was filled with information about the “Right to Water” campaign.http://www.media.uottawa.ca/mediaroom/news-details_1883.html Annual event whereby the environmental accomplishments of the campus are celebrated. Awareness and general environmental issues are discussed with the campus community in the hopes of fostering further discussion about what can be done to make the campus more sustainable. http://www.sustainable.uottawa.ca/index.php?module=CMS&id=69 Awareness event that encourages campus community members to bring their bikes to the campus instead of using a vehicle or public transportation. Community members are offered prizes for participating in the event and provided information about the benefits of biking as well as information about the cycling infrastructure on campus via the website (http://www.protection.uottawa.ca/en/BiketoWorkDay.html). Awareness event that teaches the campus community about alternative transportation options available on campus. The event focuses around the closing a parking lot for one day. The space is re-purposed for the day so that campus community could see what the campus could be like with fewer parking spaces.

For the past 3 years the University of Ottawa has been the Canadian Champions of RecycleMania, placing 14th in the international competition last year. These results would not have been possible without the help of the student community, who represent the largest portion of waste generators on campus.Since 2009, the University’s overall waste diversion rate has increased, likely because of the increased campus awareness around recycling. This event demonstrated the positive feelings of students towards becoming a bottled water free campus. The University of Ottawa ceased the sales of bottled water on campus several months later. There has been a visible result in the amount of water bottles in the waste & recycling system as well as the overall usage of the water fountains on campus. In 2008 the University of Ottawa received a D+ on the Globe & Mail’s university rankings for “commitment to the environment”. The grade is a measure of student perceptions with regards to how they see their campus’ efforts to be green. In 2010 the grade has become a B-. Although Earth Day events cannot be completely credited for this increase, they do contribute to the overall efforts made on campus. http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/partners/free/cur_2010/CUR_Oct_2010.pdf In 2008 the student cycling rate on campus was 5%. A recent survey conducted in November of this year indicates that the student cycling rate is now at 7.61%. Although this is not the only event that contributes to the campus cycling rate, it is one of the major drivers. Since 2003, the campus population has gone up by 15,000 campus community members but the average number of cars parked on campus has only gone up by 112 cars. Although this event cannot be completely credited for this increase, it contributes to the overall efforts made on campus. http://www.protection.uottawa.ca/en/cfd.html

Other responsible parties : Jonathan Rausseo, the Sustainable Development Manager at the University of Ottawa,Physical Resources Services, 613-562-5800 ext. 2530, jrausseo@uottawa.ca Chaya Porter, the Sustainability Coordinator at the Student Federation at the University of Ottawa, 613-562-5800 ext. 4898, sustainable@sfuo.ca