After 10 years, Mount Royal University (MRU) is still short of its campus waste diversion goal — and students might be the problem, according to the manager in charge.
“I think the main challenge is from the community not doing their part,” said Rafael Blanco, the manager of environmental services at the Calgary university. “It’s goals, I mean, it’s about sorting. It’s about the classification. It’s about just taking the time to say, ‘Okay, I have a cup of coffee, and where should it go?’”
A decade of I-Walk at MRU
It’s been a decade since MRU increased its waste diversion goal to 70 per cent of on-campus waste from the landfill. To manage garbage and recycling, MRU started the I-Walk program in 2018 to help reduce the amount of waste that goes into landfills.
With this new program, MRU removed all single-stream landfill bins from classrooms and offices and replaced them with four-compartment bins for landfills and mixed recyclables, paper, garbage, and organic waste.
Before the I-Walk program, MRU’s 2015 waste report indicates that 65 per cent of its waste was sent straight to the landfills, while 35 per cent was diverted. Since the program’s implementation in 2018, MRU is still nowhere near its goal.
According to Blanco, a lack of awareness of the environmental footprint has hindered achieving MRU’s goal.
“We still have room for improvement,” Blanco said. “Our diversion rate goal is 70 per cent, and right now, we are close to 52 per cent. And of course, that percentage is at that level because of the implementation of this new system. From a few years ago, we think that we still have opportunities to keep improving that number.”
A plea for more waste reduction
The university wants students to use refillable mugs, water bottles, reusable products like lunch bags, grocery bags, straws, Tupperware, cutlery, and even less paper, which can help reduce the amount of waste that goes into landfills.
MRU’s 2022 waste report indicates that 97 per cent of waste can be diverted from landfills, a stark difference from the 52 per cent the university currently diverts.
“Sometimes it’s about a sense of ownership from the students,” said Blanco, hoping for students to step up their efforts.