New report shows improvements in Bishop’s waste reduction

By Danielle Storey – Contributor

In October, Bishop’s Sustainable Development (SD) Office celebrated waste reduction week, La Semaine Québécoise de Réduction des Déchets. During this week, the SD office hosted a waste categorization event that lasted about five hours where employees and volunteers weighed and sorted waste from every building on campus. The team then subsequently assessed the waste-sorting habits of staff and students.

These diagrams show the change in waste categories in Paterson from 2022 to 2023 from garbage bags collected at the waste-sorting event. There was a decrease in garbage, increase in recycling, and increase in composting compared to when the last data was collected; the after-sorting distribution shows room for improvement as much of the waste is compostable.

From this activity, the latest SD Office report on waste management shows substantial improvements from 2022 to 2023, with the Sports Complex, Paterson and the SUB under the spotlight. These locations have witnessed overall reduced garbage levels and a commendable surge in compost disposal. The substantial increase in compost disposal efforts from 2022 to 2023 suggests improvement in the proper disposal of compostable materials at these key campus sites.

At the waste sorting event, employees and volunteers first weighed all the bags collected from the buildings. They then sorted the waste into garbage, recycling, compost and consignment cans and then re-weighed the groups again. They kept note of anything strange found in some boxes, notably a pair of shoes that appeared to be in great condition found in the academic buildings.

The initiative provided an opportunity to gauge the impact of education in waste sorting across the campus. By analyzing the results and outcomes of different programs, the university aims to refine and optimize its waste management practices. The event therefore plays a role not just for data collection but also as a forum for collaborative thinking.

The Green Team is one of the newest initiatives from the SD Office. The team is a group of students that gather at sporting events, the Purple Pod, the SportsPlex and green spaces. The Green Team aims to help people properly dispose waste while also working to maintain green spaces on campus. Diane Drak Alsibai, Green Team member, said, “We think it is important to educate people on where their waste goes because it reduces overall garbage on campus”.

The results of that day, compared to the 2022 evaluation, show there has been a significant decrease in garbage waste and an increase in recycling and compost. This may have been facilitated by the compostable packaging distributed at all Sodexo locations on campus and the online and poster campaigns for waste sorting.

These results could serve as a testament to the potential of targeted programs and the dedication of the Bishop’s community to a sustainable campus.