Wrapping up Zero Waste Month 2022

Throughout October, the Sustainability Office and Plant Operations – Environmental Services hosted Zero Waste Month on campus. The university has committed to becoming a zero-waste campus by 2035, and a critical part of meeting that target is engaging our campus community Throughout the month, we ran a series of activities to spread awareness, educate our campus, and encourage participation in our Shift: Zero campaign.  

We were excited to connect with more than 200 people at the Zero Waste Fair, which included 10 campus partners who ran booths to share more about their waste reduction programs and resources.  

We also engaged 50 people on the Shift: Zero pledge. The pledge is part of the Shift: Zero campaign to show your support for Waterloo’s vision of a sustainable, zero-waste campus. 

Seventeen items were fixed at the repair workshop hosted in partnership with 4ReapairKW. We look forward to running more workshops in the future. 4RepairKW also has drop-in repair times at the Repair Hub in E7-1401, with new hours soon to be released for the Winter 2023 term.  

Finally, with our Shift: Zero sorting challenge we were able to educate more than 160 people about proper waste sorting on campus. Read the Shift Zero Sorting Guide for more information on what goes where and try playing the game!  

Thank you to everyone who engaged in Zero Waste Month. Let’s continue to reflect on all we learned about waste reduction programs on campus and how we can engage with these initiatives through our work, studies, and personal lives.