It’s about time we started talking trash—literally.
It’s no secret that we’ve got a garbage problem on campus. If you’ve ever walked through Tory junction at lunch time or have gone to any floor of Southam Hall after 4 p.m., you have seen it. Overflowing garbage cans. Tables with Pizza Pizza trays and empty Starbucks cups. So, what is causing this overwhelming amount of garbage and more importantly, what can be done to resolve it?
Food options on campus have changed a lot in the past five years. Renovations have been made to the Tim Hortons on the first floor of the University Centre (UC), the residence cafeteria and Oasis. Roosters has added new items to their menu such as samosas and pakoras. New additions have been made, such as the Subway in the athletics building in 2016 and more recently, The Wing in the Atrium this past term.
Carleton takes pride in its food services. This pride is evident in a recent email from University Services titled “2 new restaurants, 2 ways to save on food, & 2 ways to save on textbooks.” What this title is missing is “& 2 more garbage bins.”
When a new food business is introduced, there will inevitably be more waste on campus and the university has a responsibility to accommodate for that extra waste.
Accommodations could include adding more garbage bins to “hot-spot” locations such as next to microwaves, having more frequent garbage bag changes, and hiring more custodial staff. The university could also take the garbage disposal system in the food court that encourages people to discard their waste according to its category (i.e. plastic, paper, compost etc.) and implement it more in appropriate locations around campus.
When garbage collection is neglected, it encourages littering on campus, improper disposal of garbage, such as throwing waste into recycling bins, and leaving messes on public tables—all of which create an unpleasant working environment.
The other responsibility falls on us, the consumers of Carleton’s food services. The actions that can be taken is quite simple on our part. If you see a garbage bin overflowing, don’t throw your waste in a conveniently-located recycling bin or leave it on a table for someone else to deal with. Walk to a landfill waste garbage bin or hold onto your garbage until one is within reach. Better yet, contact Carleton’s Facilities and Management Planning and let them know when a garbage bin is full.
We cannot expect custodians to have eyes everywhere, all the time. After all, they do cover 293,299 square metres of building space on campus. Another thing we can do on our part is simply consume less.
You can do this by bringing your own meals in reusable containers. If you know you are going to purchase food on campus, you can reduce your waste production by doing things such as asking for your food without a bag, bringing your own utensils and reusable straws or using a travel mug for beverages.
