Tangible Solutions

From Common Energy UBC

Tangible Solutions undertakes projects that will successfully engage both its members and the UBC

community in the implementation of sustainable solutions to reduce the carbon footprint of the university.

Our initiatives this year:

Bottled Water Free UBC

This year we have been working hard to shift UBC's water accessibility to a more sustainable system. As it stands, water fountains on campus are scarce or ill-functioning and corporate plastic bottled water can be bought nearly everywhere. Although this system provides economic benefits for the university, the same cannot be said for students - studies have shown that bottled water is thousands times more expensive that than tap water for the consumer. Two dollars a day adds up real fast. Plus, tap water here is safe to drink; MetroVan tests tap water 25000 times a year. On the consumer level, it seems folly that we are spending so much more money for something that isn't even better.

As such, we are currently in the process of a multi-stakeholder process to develop a long term plan which will phase out the distribution and sales of bottled water and continue to install water fountains around campus. Plans are also in the development for educating and engaging the campus public about these issues.

Read about How It All Started.

Also, check out Ubyssey's article.

Some more history and media:

UBC Water Fountains on the News (2008)

Paper: Changing Tastes - Coca Cola, Water and the Commercialization of High Education

Other resources:

The Story of Bottled Water - from the producers of The Story of Stuff

Inside the Bottle - The Polaris Institute

Waste Management

This year we decided to do the following:

a. Broaden awareness about UBC's waste management programs and educate about proper waste sorting;

b. Encourage the use of composting and recycling bins at campus-based events and within residence; and,

c. Actively support the expansion of UBC's waste management program.

We have been doing this in two ways:

(1) Assisting at Sorting Stations

This involved stationing two of our members at a waste sorting station and helping students properly sort their wastes. This is important because there are many things that can be composted that people do not compost. As well, there are some things that people compost that cannot actually be composted. For example, although chop sticks are made out of wood, the wood is too compact and will not break down fast enough in UBC’s In-Vessel Composting Facility, risking jamming the system.

Citing UBC Waste Management’s website: “70% of UBC’s waste stream can be composted or recycled! UBC produces about 1900 tonnes of compostable waste each year including: food waste, residual paper products, animal bedding, animal waste, wood, yard waste and sawdust.”

Right now, the university is in the process of doing a waste audit, so more concrete data on this will be available eventually, but it is clear that much of the 70% that can be composted is going to the landfill instead of our composting facility.

In fact, we saw in action. Although most people had a solid basic understanding of how to sort wastes, most could not place ALL their wastes in the correct bin.

Evidently, a better system of waste education needs to be implemented if we are to foster a culture of sustainability and zero waste. However, education is not the only thing that needs to happen. If 70% of our waste stream were to actually be composted like it should be, we would need to expand UBC’s composting facilities, as the In-Vessel Composter is functioning nearly at maximum capacity. Also relating to infrastructure, composting receptacles would need to be much more accessible and available.

Although this particular initiative did not necessarily bring about significant change per se, it was a valuable learning experience. We learned about UBC’s recycling and composting capabilities in a hands on approach, we passed on our knowledge to other students and we came to a better understanding of the sociodynamics required of this movement.

(2) Expanding composting programs in residence

Composting receptacles need to be much more accessible and available - especially in residence. For instance, in Marine Drive residence, a small number of students have managed to obtain a small composting bin for their apartment, but most of the apartments do not own one, as a composting bin does not automatically come with the living space as the garbage cans do. Marine Drive Residence’s composting consists of a couple large bins on the side of one building.

A similar situation occurs in Totem Park and Place Vanier residence. Although you can compost your food in the cafeteria, you cannot do the same in the actual residential houses. Many kids take out food from the caf to eat it back in their room (and many have their own mini fridge). It’s great that the take-out containers are biodegradable, but it defeats the purpose if you can’t compost them where you end up taking them. As such, last year, Place Vanier’s Residence Sustainability Committee implemented 20 small composting units in 20 house lounges with the financial aid of the Sustainability Office. They would have gotten enough bins for all the lounges in Place Vanier (there’s somewhere between 70 and 80 in total), but since it is not in the mandate of custodial staff of PV to empty the composting bins, residents have to do it, and no one seems willing to do the chore apart from ResSC members. Twenty was about all they could handle between all of them on the committee.

As of today, the 20 bins are still diverting Place Vanier waste to the compost thanks to the committee.

But that only covers about a fourth of the floors in Place Vanier. So if the students cannot support full-scale composting, capacity should come from above. Wherever there are garbage and recycling receptacles, composting receptacles should be there, too, and they should be managed by the university.

In the beginning we tried working with residential student groups to implement composting in order to divert as much waste as possible into the composting stream, but we soon came to find out that there are many barriers to doing so. The small composting bins cost money (10 dollars each), there is unreliable/insufficient capacity to take care of the bins and/or the bins are too small in consideration of the population that would use them, etc etc. It would make much more sense if such composting was already a part of UBC infrastructure. Thus, going forward, we will be supporting the development of centralized composting through our administrative contacts and aim to ensure full communication between the student groups and UBC staff going forward. In the mean time however, we will continue to promote the small composting bins to try and divert as much waste as possible to composting, since there are a good number of them in stock, and they might as well be used.

If you are interested in getting involved or would like to learn more, please contact commonenergyubc@gmail.com