Waste ethics: Further thought/University of Toronto

I went to print one sheet of paper today and as I was pressing the print button I thought to myself, Do I Really Need This? Following that I quickly went to double check the document if it was something I really needed.

I strongly believe that if everyone gave this much thought to all their consumption and disposal practices, we'd have a much more functioning system. Trouble is getting people to think this much.

Last year I observed a lot of on-campus waste ethics and practices with the intention of improving how people look at and understand waste. The moment I really adored was when people would approach the school's four sectioned waste bin and find themselves confused as to where to place their coffee cup (or other good, but usually a coffee cup!). I loved this moment because their was a great hesitation, which means they were considering a wee bit further as to where it should properly go. Nothing rattles me more than when someone just chucks something, giving no consideration, further thought or interest in doing the right thing.

And why my emphasis on the coffee cup? Well, a major issue is properly educating people on what is accepted for proper conduct. A huge conundrum I reached on campus was that it was so different from Toronto's system, and that's a huge problem! The school, located right in the heart of Toronto should have some kind of regularity and uniformity with the city of Toronto.

Beyond that, the school struggled to find regularity between colleges. The campus-based waste initiatives were all umbrellaed by Facilities and Services but their methods of conduct would vary slightly. For instance, Victoria College (east of Queen's Park) would use reusable fabric towels in their bathrooms, while sidney smith would use paper towels that were allegedly* recycled.

Looping back to the coffee cup, my initial point - the coffee cup is not a recognised recyclable product in the City of Toronto. So how do they expect students to know this? The average person, doesn't know that the University of Toronto uses a different recycling system than the city. So, what I am getting at is that the University should be more consistent, both internally, between the Colleges and with the City of Toronto.

*I use the word allegedly because although the company may recycle and the sticker may indicate to people that it is recycling. It really depends on how contaminated the contents of the bin is. Some companies accept a higher level of contamination than others. Or, another skeptical point is, they say the do and don't! Very complex.

I love ethics. Actually, I just love waste ethics.

And just if you didn't believe me, this is a photo of my friend Michelle and I: