Piles of electronic waste ready to be picked up for recycling.

Did you know that at the Brady Road Landfill, methane gas is captured and burned thereby reducing annual greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of taking 21,700 passenger vehicles off the road?

Did you know that Winnipeg Harvest uses approximately 1 million plastic bags to deliver emergency food kits each year?

Did you know that you can bring used writing instruments to Staples locations to be recycled as part of their partnership with Terracycle?

October 24-28, 2016 is RRC Waste Reduction Week and we have several activities planned which will give you opportunities to learn more, be inspired, and take action (including a draw for a $500 gift certificate to a local bike shop)! Read More →

Sara and Whitney — waiting to catch the LRT to the airport. For all you baseball fans, that’s Camden Yards in the background.

Last week, Sara and Whitney (RRC’s Sustainability Office) left family and pumpkin pie meals at home and spent four days in Charm City to attend North America’s largest sustainability conference for higher education. More than 1800 of our post-secondary counterparts, faculty, students, administrators (and even a few College Presidents) descended onto Baltimore to gain lessons and tools, be inspired to advance sustainability initiatives at their own institutions, and form important relationships in a rapidly growing post-secondary sustainability network. Read More →

Fair Trade Campus Week is September 26-30

Fair Trade Week will soon be upon us, and there are a lot of fun activities planned (did someone say “free ice cream”?) to help raise awareness about Fair Trade, to learn about Fair Trade options on campus, and to provide updates on our efforts to become Manitoba’s first Fair Trade Campus.

When you purchase a Fair Trade product, you are ensuring that farmers and workers in developing countries that helped bring that product to market are receiving adequate compensation for their hard work, that they have safe working conditions, and that environmental standards were met in its production.

Fair trade is a true embodiment of sustainability – working to address economic, social and environmental issues of our globalized economy.  This is why Red River College is working to become the first Fair Trade Campus in Manitoba. Some of our efforts can be readily seen when you enjoy De Luca’s Fair Trade coffee from Food Service locations; purchase a Dairy Milk Fair Trade chocolate bar from the Ox, the Mercantile or a vending machine; or participate in Fair Trade Campus Week. Read More →

September is an exciting time to be at Red River College with a whole new term of classes starting, the campuses are abuzz.

For those new to Red River College, or even those returning, here are some tips on how to live sustainability on campus:

Follow us on Social Media

An easy way to find out what is going on with Sustainability at Red River College is to follow us on one (or more) of our social media channels. You can find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You can also subscribe to our blog to get informed of all the latest sustainability news.

RRC Bijour Urban Honey.

RRC Farmers Market 

On Friday, September 9, Red River College is hosting its first ever farmers market. In addition to some great local vendors, we will be selling RRC’s very own Bijou Urban Honey made this summer on the PGI 4^th floor patio in partnership with Beeproject Apiaries. The market is open to everyone and will run from 11AM to 2PM on the plaza level between DEF buildings at Notre Dame Campus.

Waste and Recycling

You may have noticed that there are no garbage or recycling bins in classrooms on campus. Hall It! encourages everyone to be responsible for their own waste by taking it to the halls for disposal. This program helps keep classrooms clean, reduces staff time needed to clean these rooms, and makes it easier for you to dispose of your waste properly with helpful signage and bins placed in the hallways.

Our hallway Pitch In program consists of three bins: two for recycling (paper and containers) and one for garbage. Large signs above many of these trios will help you figure out where to put something if you’re not sure. Eliminating stand-alone garbage bins makes recycling accessible for you, so you don’t have to worry about carrying your recyclables around all day looking for the right bin.  Read More →

Label prototype of “Bijou Urban Honey”. Get yours at the market!

The idea to hold a Farmers Market has been buzzing in our minds since Chris and Lindsay from Bee Project Apiaries installed three hives on our Paterson GlobalFoods Institute in early July. They told us that at the end of the season we could expect to receive about 75 kilograms of honey.

“75 kilos of honey?!” we thought to ourselves. “What are we going to do with all of that golden goodness?” And just like that, our Farmers Market idea was born.

Students, staff and members of the community are invited to attend the Farmers Market on Friday, September 9th from 11-2pm on the Plaza level in between buildings DEF.

Our local line-up is growing everyday and includes vendors such as:

• Hearts & Roots
• Bramans Greens
• De Luca’s
• Nosh on This – gluten-free baked goods
• Red River College Bijou Urban Honey

We hope to see you there!

Hi, my name is Whitney Crooks and I am thrilled to be Red River College’s new Sustainability Coordinator. I’m really looking forward to getting to know and working with all of you. I bring with me a fair amount of experience and a lot of enthusiasm! Here is a little bit about me and how I came to be here.

Environmentalism has always been a part of me and my life, however until about 10 years ago, I had no idea that you could turn that passion into a career! In University, I originally studied sciences, earning a BSc in Mathematics and Physics and an MSc in Applied Meteorology and Climatology.

I enjoyed my studies, but quickly learned that I didn’t want to be a meteorologist. I began looking into my options and found the Masters in Environmental Studies program at York University. In this program, I found my place and I earned my MES with a focus on community engagement around environmental issues.

Read More →

Chris from Beeproject Apiaries bringing the bees to their new summer home.

Lindsay from Beeproject.

Hives with a view.

You don’t get more local than honey made on your own roof. Red River College is excited to partner with Beeproject Apiaries on their Urban Pollination Project to bring honeybee hives to the college’s Paterson GlobalFoods Institute. Read More →

Every year coinciding with Earth Day, the Sustainability Office invites students and staff to attend our State of Sustainability. Now in its 6th year, this lunchtime event is an opportunity to review highlights and discuss the setbacks of our campus sustainability journey.

When: Friday, April 22nd from 12pm – 1pm
Where: Notre Dame Campus, Room A137
What to bring: Yourself and a bottle or mug for something to drink.

This event will also be live-streamed. We hope to see you there!

Waste Reduction Week happens the third week in October each year.  It’s your chance to join hundreds of Canadian’s across the country taking steps to cut waste and improve the environment.

This year we are tackling food waste and disposable packaging! During Waste Reduction Week we want to encourage you to take action, rethink, reduce, reuse and recycle  – this week and every week on campus!

Here’s a few ways to participate: Read More →

The Sustainably Office, Fair Trade Manitoba and Ten Thousand Villages welcomed over 300 staff and students at our booth during Fair Trade Campus Week at the Notre Dame Campus and Roblin Centre.

We heard some amazing stories, many from our international students who spoke of their first-hand accounts of labour conditions in their countries.   One student shared her knowledge of the sport ball industry in her home country of Pakistan.  She explained that the majority of sport balls came from one city “just one city” in Pakistan.  Did you know that there are over 250 manufacturers of sports balls in Sailkot and only 6 are fair trade? Fair trade magazine; Summer/Fall 2014 |Issue 4; p14

We had over 100 entries in our secret word and fair trade trivia contests;  I was impressed that everyone was correct in their trivia answers;  and that I even learned a few new places to buy fair trade in Winnipeg. Read More →