The following UVic experts are available to media to discuss environmental and climate change topics ahead of Earth Day (April 22).

Dare Sholanke, a recent geography master’s grad, studied Vancouver’s waste governance system, examining binners' (informal recyclers) and the role of grassroots organizations in municipal waste management.

UVic has been rated as one of North America’s most sustainable universities, according to the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.

A recent comprehensive review of UVic’s Transportation Demand Management (TDM) program showed that during 2018, 62.38% of commuters took advantage of sustainable transportation options (cycling, walking, carpooling, etc.)—including a 1.8% increase in the number of pedestrians and 0.9% increase in the number of cyclists.

Facilities Management will be expanding the campus recycling and composting program over the summer by installing new outdoor zero-waste stations. The zero-waste stations will make it more convenient to recycle and compost no matter where you are on campus, and help the university meet its overall waste diversion target of 75%.

UVic has joined an elite group of Canadian employers committed to advancing sustainability. UVic is included in this year's list of Canada’s 100 Greenest Employers, and is the only organization from Victoria.

UVic has joined an elite group of Canadian employers committed to advancing sustainability. UVic is included in this year's list of Canada's 100 Greenest Employers, and is the only employer from Victoria.

In preparation for building renovations at the Queenswood site, several hundred items—fixtures, healthcare and commercial kitchen equipment, plumbing fixtures, millwork, appliances, even dishes and hot water tanks—have been salvaged for re-use by a variety of departments and off-campus organizations, including UVic Food Services, the University Club, Bamfield Marine Centre and Beacon Community Services.

Pitching in to reach our waste-diversion goals

Facilities Management, in collaboration with the Office of Campus Planning and Sustainability, is pleased to announce the implementation of a sorting-at-source recycling and waste station system in all office areas on campus, starting in January 2016. 

From the very first plans for the Gordon Head campus, natural features have been valued as a defining force in UVic’s learning environment. And the Environmental Studies program, starting small with a single course in 1975, has grown substantially — not just alongside, but as a driver of green initiatives that have helped transform the campus into an internationally recognized leader in sustainability. Many of the practices that helped UVic become the only Canadian university to make the Princeton Review’s 2015 Green Honour Roll sprouted from Environmental Studies course projects, student initiatives and partnerships across the institution.

Though the University of Victoria is known for its green campus and sustainable initiatives, the campus still has a ways to go to reach the goal of diverting 75 per cent of its waste from the landfill. In fact, in 2012 university offices sent approximately 12 tonnes of banned recyclable material to the Hartland landfill. In an effort to improve the rate of recycling in offices and help UVic comply with provincial and regional regulations, Facilities Management has commissioned a pilot study, running from September through November in the University Centre, Administrative Services, Business and Economics and Cornett buildings.

How about making your own toothpaste or using handmade cloth bags to store food? A group of Geography 101A students got inspired and started their own “Kick the Plastic” project after they watched the movie, “The Green Bin Project.”

Upcycling chopsticks to furniture earned a quartet of business students one of the top two spots—and $15,000—in the national Walmart Green Student Challenge in Toronto Feb. 26. Vinson Chen, AJ Qin, Jennifer Sallows, and Rebecca Staynor, calling themselves the Gustavson Greenshifters, beat students from universities across Canada when they came second out of more than 150 groups that began competing last fall.

Business students Rebecca Staynor, AJ Qin, Vincon Chen, and Jennifer Sallows, the Gustavson Greenshifters, have made it to the finals of the Walmart Green Student Challenge and go to Toronto to pitch their sustainable business idea in person to a panel of eminent Canadian CEOs Feb. 26. Their idea: to transform used chopsticks into oriented strand board. It will not only create a high-end building material from a free resource, but it will also create a positive “greenshift” in China by removing 45 billion chopsticks from the landfills. The winning team and their school will each receive $25,000. www.greenstudentchallenge.ca/