During this time we will be sending out a weekly Sustainability Tip, which is designed to help maintain a culture of sustainability even as we work from home and self isolate.
Weekly Sustainability Tip – Carry out your own Waste Audit!
Did you know?
Spending time at home instead of at work and school means that most of the waste we produce is being disposed of there too. This is a great opportunity to gain an understanding of our cumulative waste impact, to see where we are doing well, and what we could improve!
How to get started …
A waste audit is a process through which you quantify your waste, usually by weight, just before you take it to the curb for collection. All you need is a scale, like you might find in your bathroom, and somewhere to record the amounts! You could also review by the number of bags thrown out.
Get your “colleagues” (coworkers, partners, kids, roommates… pets?!) involved:
1. Decide how often you’ll weigh or review your garbage – once a week, month, or season?
2. Keep track of your numbers (weight, no. of bags or even a visual assesment).
3. Engage your “colleagues” to talk about how you can reduce your output together, this is a great exercise if you have children in the house and try setting and working towards a reduction target!
Pro tip:
By weighing garbage (landfill waste), blue bin, black bin, and compost separately, you can find out what % of your waste goes where. Reducing food waste and single-use plastics are great ways to lower your impact.
Waste in the time of COVID-19 …
Reducing the amount of waste to be collected also reduces the number of hours that trucks are on the road, and the amount of time collection staff are putting themselves at risk to keep things on track for the rest of us. It’s a small but impactful way to support frontline workers!
Curious to learn more about waste at Carleton?
Check out the ‘Recycling and Waste’ information on the our website and learn about our Zero Waste programs, our recycling rate and what you can recycle on campus.
Monday, April 20, 2020 in News, Sustainability Tip
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