Although Carleton is not included in the City of Ottawa’s new green bin program, which launched with the new year, its own waste management initiative is already in effect and expanding.
Carleton’s cafeteria in Residence Commons is already supporting the new green bin ideals. Murdo Murchinson, the officer of Carleton’s new sustainability program, said the initiatives have been successful so far. All of the waste left behind by students is recycled, but that is just a small part of the waste that is generated.
“The majority of it goes on behind the scenes,” Murchinson said, referring to waste created in the kitchen during food preparation.
This compost system has existed in Residence Commons for several years already. Now Carleton’s sustainability office, with the help of Carleton University Students’ Association and Dining Services, is ready to expand the system.
“In order to get the most bang for our buck, we’re going to go to the buildings that generate the most waste,” Murchinson said.
For now this includes a compost program at the Unicentre, which should be in place by September 2010, and potentially one at the Loeb cafeteria in the more distant future.
Over the past year, the compost program has done well at Carleton. Around 165 metric tons of waste was recycled this year, which amounts to approximately 5 per cent of Carleton’s overall disposals.
Recycling programs have also been doing quite well at Carleton, according to Murchinson. He said of the 225 metric tons of waste produced over the last year, 42 per cent of it was recycled.
Although the numbers are good, Carleton is looking to make them better. The goal is to increase the amount of recycled materials to 60 per cent by the year 2015. To achieve this goal, Carleton has added more recycling stations all over campus, and is making sure that construction waste is recycled, when possible.
Another waste disposal initiative at Carleton is the new addition of special waste depots. There are currently four located around campus, and more are on the way. These depots allow staff and students to safely dispose of electronic waste, such as batteries and cell phones.