On Friday, April 22, people around the world celebrated Earth Day, which aims to raise environmental awareness and encourage each and every one of us to take positive environmental action. The University of Ottawa community is committed to making our campus increasingly green and sustainable, and we can take pride in our eco-initiatives and achievements – some of which I’ve outlined below.

The Matt Anthony Field artificial turf replacement project

I’ll be excited to watch the Gee-Gees practise and play on our new state-of-the-art, environmentally friendly artificial turf, FieldTurf Revolution. The newly resurfaced field will be the first of its kind in Canada and only the second field with FIFA-RECOMMENDED FieldTurf Revolution in North America. Congratulations to Sports Services for embarking on this major initiative! On completion, the field will receive a FIFA- RECOMMENDED 2 Star designation.

Happy Anniversary, EcoNetwork

Friday April 22 marked the first anniversary of the campus EcoNetwork program. To celebrate this very successful recycling and greening initiative, the Office of Sustainable Development produced an inspiring video which highlights the extraordinary sustainability efforts of our employees.  I am thrilled to see how our EcoChampions are making a difference.

Eco Prosperity is getting results.

The goal of the University’s Eco Prosperity Program is to reduce energy costs and increase the efficiency of campus facilities.  The Program’s various innovative projects have led the University to improve the quality of its services, environment and working conditions, and have made this institution a leader among Canadian universities committed to sustainability. Projects will be implemented over a seven-year period and generate annual savings of more than $5 million.

In an equally important initiative, the University of Ottawa is also moving towards certification as a Fair Trade Campus. I encourage all of you to embrace these long-term sustainability and equity efforts.

RecycleMania win for uOttawa

Congratulations! The University of Ottawa won first place among Canadian universities in the Grand Champion and Waste Minimization categories of RecycleMania. RecycleMania is a competition for college and university recycling programs to promote waste reduction activities. Over a ten-week period, post-secondary institutions report recycling and trash data. Institutions are then ranked according to amount of recyclables per capita, total recyclables, least amount of trash per capita and highest recycling rate. More than 600 campuses took part in RecycleMania 2011. The encouraging news is that participants have recycled or composted over 91 million pounds of waste!

Dump and Run!

After exams, many of you will be leaving your university residences or giving up apartments to move back home, or on to summer jobs or vacations. The Dump and Run program allows you to recycle your left-behind furniture, kitchenware, clothing, unopened food, books, etc. and donate them to a good second home. Our Office of Sustainable Development is partnering with the Housing Service to collect whatever is left behind so that it may be distributed to selected charities or to international students coming for the Fall session. Items will be collected from April 11 through May 1. Get involved in Dump and Run!