University of Saskatchewan
IN-4: Innovation 4

Every June, the President of the University of Saskatchewan hosts an Employee Appreciation Picnic which is typically attended by 3,000 to 4,000 staff and faculty and their family members. Since 2007, Office of Sustainability together with other staff volunteers, mostly from the Facilities Management Division, has been working towards the goal of making it a zero-waste event.
To this end, the Waste Prevention Coordinator works actively with the staff of Catering Services to identify products and approaches that produce less waste. Examples include providing condiments in large pump containers rather than single serve plastic packages and serving burgers in serviettes rather than on disposable plates.
During the event, volunteers are stationed at all waste stations and help picnic participants separate their waste into recyclables, compostables and legitimate waste. The volunteers also use the opportunity to educate people on such matters as the range of materials accepted by Campus Recycling and how to determine which waste is compostable.
In 2007, the Employee Appreciation Picnic produced 216 pounds of garbage – at that time there was no coordinated sorting or recycling. In 2012, the picnic produced only 41 pounds of garbage and 259 pounds of materials were recycled or composted. The progress has been incremental with increasing success from year to year.
While the amount of waste reduced during this event does not significantly impact the total amount of waste produced by the University over the course of a year, the event does represent a significant community engagement success. Every year we have about 16-20 volunteers helps out with the event, many of whom participate every year. Comments from attendees at the picnic are overwhelmingly positive and the waste reduction initiative is now considered an integral part of the annual picnic.