From produce to protective gear, Campus Cleanup volunteers unearth unusual items

Enjoying the sunny skies and beautiful weather, 134 volunteers showed their campus pride as they collected trash at the University of Calgary’s ninth annual Campus Cleanup and Barbecue on April 27. With teams from areas including Active Living, Hotel Alma, University Relations, Facilities, Career Services, Haskayne and more, the 2018 cleanup narrowly beat the record for the highest number of participants.

“We had a really successful cleanup thanks to all the volunteers,” says Teresa Holmes, recycling and solid waste co-ordinator, Facilities Management. “It’s great to see everyone come together as a community and take a shared responsibility for keeping our campus clean and helping to make it more sustainable.”

Setting out across main campus armed with garbage bags and gloves, students, faculty, staff and community members collected 294.8 kilograms of trash in the yearly effort to help to keep the UCalgary campus green and clean.

“It was wonderful to have nice weather this year — we’ve been out here in rain, wind and snow in the past,” says Provost Office staff member Heather Smith-Watkins, who has participated in every Campus Cleanup. “It’s a great initiative that is all about keeping our campus beautiful, helping the environment and spending time with colleagues.”

Odd and wacky items found

Every year as volunteers pick up trash, they keep their eyes out for the strange and unusual items to be found. This year was no exception with the discovery of a jockstrap, a hubcap, a shopping cart, and a pineapple, alongside the usual finds of alcohol bottles and beer cans, partner-less shoes, books and discarded signs.

The prize for the wackiest items went to the Graduate Pan-Psychology Partnership team comprised of Art Assoiants, Alexander Choy and Jessica Baraskewich, who found a flamingo fedora, kneeling pad and nearly-full bottle of gin. They won a composting Bokashi kit for their discovery. Staff member Isabelle Couture won the sustainability-themed door prize draw, and the team from Active Living, The Dumpster Divers, won the sustainability prize pack for the most litter collected, bringing in 48.2 kilograms of trash.

Cigarette butts continued to be one of the most abundant trash items strewn across campus. One team called the Butt Pickers concentrated on picking up as many as possible, finding 0.2 kilograms of discarded butts alone, despite the cigarette butt receptacles available across campus.

Community comes together to show their campus pride

As a thank-you for their efforts, Facilities hosted their annual barbecue for all volunteers following the cleanup, where many took the opportunity express how initiatives like the Campus Cleanup are making a positive impact.

“I brought my daughter with me to help clean up,” says community member Karina Gillies. “It’s good to raise your kids to care for their community and the environment. It’s really cool that the university comes together to do this every year.” 

Even though her school year was finished, fourth-year psychology student Sarah Qin came back to campus to participate and learn more about waste and recycling on campus, and encouraged her friends to join as well.

“I really wanted to come out to enjoy the sunshine and help keep the campus clean,” says Qin. “People can help by doing simple things like not throwing garbage on the ground and learning how to properly sort items into recycling and composting bins. The examples by the bins really helps to know what goes where.”

All litter collected during the event was sent for recycling or to the landfill. The university diverts about 20 waste streams from landfill, including batteries, electronics, furniture, scrap metal, hazardous materials and more.

“The campus community plays a significant role in helping UCalgary achieve its campus-wide goal of diverting 80 per cent of our waste from the landfill by 2020,” says Steven Gasser, associate vice-president, Facilities Management. “We’re striving to become a zero waste community and we’ll get there with the help of our students, faculty, staff and community members.”

Helping to end plastic pollution

The Campus Cleanup happened soon after Earth Day on April 22, where the focus for 2018 was ending plastic pollution. Recent initiatives from UCalgary students, faculty and staff are helping to raise awareness of the damage plastic pollution is having on our environment, and taking action to help end it.

Plastic-Free YYC, a non-profit organization founded by University of Calgary staff members Briana Loughlin and Isabelle Couture, is aiming to raise awareness about the impact of plastic on the environment, waterways and ecosystems, and educate people on how to reduce their plastic footprint through a plastic-free lifestyle.

On World Water Day, in another effort to help reduce plastic pollution, UCalgary went straw-free as part of a Campus as a Learning Laboratory project aimed at exploring banning straws on campus. UCalgary students, staff, the Graduate Students' Association, Students' Union and Aramark collaborated to make March 22 a straw-free day on campus, and seek out people's thoughts on not having a straw accompany their drinks for the day. The information gathered will help inform a decision whether or not to ban plastic straws on campus.

Drop in to the Sustainability Resource Centre in Science B 101 to learn more about waste and recycling.