It takes a whole lot of bags, bins and elbow grease to run Red River College’s recycling program. By the numbers it’s:

• 25,000 bags annually
• 450 bins of various shapes and sizes across our campuses
• 17-member Recycling Team

I like to call it Sustainability at Work – the active, team effort needed to get all of our recycling out of the bins and out the door. Our Recycling Team is divided across 3 campuses, the Paterson GlobalFoods Institute, Roblin Centre and Notre Dame Campus. The team is responsible for the day-to-day operations of collecting and sorting, cleaning and preparing our cardboard, bottles, plastics, paper, cans and food waste for recycling and composting.  Thanks to them, we recycle 963 kg of bottles and cans, 1796 kg of paper, 3070 kg of cardboard and compost 5425 kg of food waste every month. That’s enough to fill 187 residential recycling bins every month!

This isn’t everything we divert from the landfill, but represents a sizable chunk of what we recycle on a daily basis, and provides a good snapshot of the sizable efforts our Recycling Team. So keep the recycling coming, and next time you see a member of the Recycling Team, tell them what a good job they’re doing. 🙂

Bikes and Bikers.

Over the years we’ve seen more and more students and staff embrace the power of the pedal by commuting to Red River College by bike. Spring and Fall months, in particular, bustle with bikes.

While reported incidents of bike theft on campus are low (approx. 1/ year), having your bike stolen sucks. Full stop. Read More →

The Sustainability Office (Sue & Sara) celebrates Red Goes Green with a red velvet cupcake.

Happy 1st Birthday Red Goes Green,

You were conceived several years ago. And one year ago today you were finally brought to life.

You were created as a one-stop-site for all of Red River College’s sustainability happenings, events and news to help meet the College’s strategic action of increasing sustainability awareness among students and staff. Between events, speakers, policies and programs, you are one the many tools the Sustainability Office is using to promote sustainability and effect change. Read More →

Gord McLeod shows off the budding bounty! Red River College is pleased to be participating for the first time in Winnipeg Harvest’s Grow a Row Project.

Grow-A-Row’s roots date back to 1986 when Winnipeggers Ron and Eunice O’Donovan produced more potatoes in their backyard garden than they could consume. Their vegetables were so well received by Winnipeg Harvest the O’Donovans encouraged friends and neighbours to donate their surplus produce too. Since then Grow-A-Row has yielded millions of pounds of fresh fruit and veggies.

At the College, the project is being led by Gord McLeod and his Pavement & Grounds team. In between weed-whacking, mowing and their other regular duties, Sandhu, Brady, Rob, Ron and student employees take time out of their day to tend to the garden. Read More →

Sue Hayduk – RRC Polytech Sustainability Coordinator

Hi everyone. Last week I confessed that I had never commuted to work by bike. I’m pleased to let you know that I succeeded in my commuter challenge and biked to work!  I found that once I got on my bike and started riding, any fear I had at the outset melted away. I prepared by using the City of Winnipeg’s 2013 Cycling Map to plan my bike route and took note of the bike lanes or wider roadways on my drive home. What really made the difference was mapping my route on Google Maps using the bike filter. I was surprised to see that the commute was only 9 km. I thought, “I can do that”, and, well, I did!  The savings to the environment were also significant. I saved 1 litre of fuel and avoided 1.87 kg of CO2 from going into the atmosphere! Read More →

I know that driving alone to work is not a sustainable mode of commuting, yet day after day I drive to work. I decided that I needed to make a change, and the Commuter Challenge is helping motivate me to explore more active, sustainable commuting options. Read More →

Jennifer Berger from the Manitoba Eco-Network gave a great presentation about the many benefits of  Organic Lawn Care. She reminded us to treat our lawn like a natural system, one that needs the right balance of nutrients to live and grow well. Along with the many reasons why we should eliminate chemicals from our lawns, she shared some great tips and tricks on how to properly aerate, mow and seed our lawns to out-compete weeds, and offered some advice on other sustainable garden-like alternatives to lawns.

Some of the highlights from the session were: Read More →

A peek at the College’s e-waste stockpile. Not to worry, it will all be recycled.

Do you have old, broken or unused electronic equipment or small appliances sitting at home or in your office collecting dust and being as useless as a chocolate teapot? If so, we want it!

E-waste, short for electronic waste, refers to all waste that comes from or is caused by electronics. Items like old computers, phones, and radios and televisions, media waste (CDs and floppy disks) and light bulbs are all e-waste.

Disposal of these items is a growing concern, because of the health and environmental hazards contained within the electronic components themselves.  Materials like lead and mercury can leach out into the ground water, soil and air if not properly disposed. There are also several non-renewable resources – like tin, nickel, zinc, aluminum, copper –  that can be recovered and reused from these items. Read More →

Even though it feels like winter, spring has sprung and Earth Day is right around the corner. To celebrate this global environmental event, Red River College is holding our 3^rd annual State of Sustainability. All students, faculty, staff, friends and neighbours are welcome to join us. We hope to see you there! Read More →

Sue Hayduk- Sustainability Coordinator

Hi I am Sue Hayduk, and I’m excited to be working in RRC’s Sustainability Office.

Somehow – I think – sustainability has always been inherent to me. My mom was frugal and “reuse and recycle” were part of our everyday household; my dad was an avid outdoorsman and I grew up knowing the value of healthy land, clean air and clean water; and I grew up in Winnipeg’s North End, a mix of people, cultures, languages, foods and traditions, a vibrant reminder of my roots and where I chose to live today. So this is where it all started for me this path of being where I am now as Sustainability Coordinator. Read More →