Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Green bins curb waste, Survey Research Centre finds

A message from the University of Waterloo's Survey Research Centre.

It has been over a year and a half since Waterloo Region introduced big changes to waste collection. In March 2017, garbage collection was reduced from 10 bags of garbage collected every week to a maximum of 4 bags of garbage collected every two weeks. Green bin and blue box collection continued to be available for most Waterloo Region residents on a weekly basis, but was a recent addition for the surrounding townships.

The changes were implemented in an attempt to reduce the amount of garbage flowing into the region’s single and rapidly filling landfill site. The Region reported on its website that prior to March 2017, over half of residential garbage (by weight) consisted of organic, compostable material that could have been redirected to green bins, while another 14 percent of garbage consisted of recyclable material that could have been redirected to blue boxes.

This data was supported by initial survey research conducted by the Survey Research Centre at the University of Waterloo in early 2017, which indicated that less than half (45 percent) of Waterloo Region residents surveyed reported putting their green bin at the curb for collection on a weekly basis in the past year.

Now that the waste collection changes have been implemented for 18 months, the Survey Research Centre wanted to follow up to see if there has been an increase in green bin use. The Survey Research Centre conducts an annual Waterloo Region Matters Survey where university researchers and community organizations with limited budgets can field their own survey questions while sharing the cost of conducting survey research.  Questions about the waste collection changes were included in the recent 2018 survey.

The research shows that 59 percent of Waterloo Region residents surveyed report they have put their green bin at the curb for collection on a weekly basis in the past year. This is a statistically significant increase over the 2017 survey results. Support for the waste collection changes remains unchanged from 2017 with over three-quarters of respondents indicating that they are somewhat or strongly in favour of the changes. The proportion of residents who indicate that they never put their green bin out at the curb (12 percent) and who report that they don’t have a green bin (11 percent) has dropped significantly since early 2017 (20 percent and 17 percent, respectively).

The results are encouraging and the Region of Waterloo continues to explore ways to improve waste management. The more Waterloo region residents can divert organic, compostable material into green bins and recyclable material into blue boxes, the longer the landfill will last. For a refresher on what can and cannot go into green bins and blue boxes, visit the Region of Waterloo website.

The Survey Research Centre offers survey research services ranging from a simple consultation to a complete package of study and survey design, data collection and top-line analysis – all at a cost recovery price. It provides telephone call centre services, online survey hosting, survey programming and mail survey services. A free one-hour consultation is available to University of Waterloo faculty, staff and students.

Cannabis miniseries answers your burning questions

Public Health Professor David Hammond and doctoral student Elle Wadsworth have developed a video mini-series chronicling the ins and outs of cannabis legalization in Canada. Recreational marijuana was legalized on October 17, and Canada is only the second country in the world to do so, after Uruguay.

"The videos were meant to be a summary of the cannabis legalization process in the run-up to the implementation of the policy," said Wadsworth. "We wanted to provide a resource for whoever wanted to learn more about the process – why cannabis was being legalized, what the industry thought about it, and more."

Each episode is between 10-12 minutes long:

• Episode 1: Why legalize cannabis in Canada?
• Episode 2: The Cannabis Industry in Canada: Dispensaries
• Episode 3: The Cannabis Industry in Canada: Licensed Producers
• Episode 4: The Illicit Cannabis Market in Canada 
• Episode 5: Cannabis Advertising in Canada
• Episode 6:  Youth Cannabis Use and Education in Canada
• Episode 7: Cannabis-impaired Driving in Canada

The mini-series was supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Catalyst Grant (Hammond), a CIHR-Public Health Agency of Canada Applied Chair in Public Health (Hammond) and a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (Wadsworth). It was edited by Vince Harttrup.

How To Win Grants and Influence Reviewers and other top tips

The Network for Aging Research (NAR) is hosting an expert panel that will provide information and tips on how to incorporate an interdisciplinary approach and knowledge translation methods into grant proposals entitled "How to Win Grants and Influence Reviewers." Please register on NAR's event page.

After the presentations, attendees are invited to form groups with others that have similar interests in aging research based the following NAR priority areas:

• Support for family and caregivers
• Social isolation
• Aging in place
• Mobility
• Care coordination

Each group will submit a research question and corresponding plan. The submission that most effectively demonstrates interdisciplinarity and knowledge translation strategies will be awarded $2000 to support the completion and submission of a grant proposal for the NAR January 2019 Catalyst grant call.

The Consent Clothesline event takes place today. Hosted by Sexual Violence Response Coordinator Amanda Cook, the event will bring individuals from the campus community together to express, through arts and crafts, what the concept of consent means to them, and provide messages of support to survivors. The event is being held in the AHS Expansion Foyer from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Today, the University of Waterloo is participating in The Learning Partnership’s national Take Our Kids to Work Day, so if the folks in your office seem a little younger than usual today, that's why. Grade 9 students can participate in a career-focused day with workshops and hands-on opportunities. Depending on students' interests, there will be a variety of workshops for them to engage in. All sessions will start and end at the Visitors Centre in South Campus Hall and will be 1 hour in length. Sessions begin at 10:00 a.m.

Developed by The Learning Partnership in 1994, Take Our Kids to Work Day is an annual event that gives students the opportunity to discover a range of career possibilities and navigate their career interests. 

The event also gives businesses an opportunity to share knowledge and advice around education, career choices and relevant skills required in today’s workplace.