Seneca Polytechnic
OP-18: Waste Minimization and Diversion

The 2015-2016 waste baseline is used because the waste collection equipment was added or updated on each campus in 2015. The data collected during the 2015-2016 performance period was the first year to reflect these equipment changes, and the first year in which the waste hauler began providing a waste matrix. The waste matrix breaks down the monthly weights of each bin or compactor collected, the collection frequency and the collection cost, allowing Seneca Polytechnic to monitor its monthly cost and collection frequency. Annual waste data is independently verified by a third-party waste consultant (CD Sonter), obtained by Seneca year over year. All reporting is completed to meet the requirements of the Ontario Ministry of Environment.

SIGNAGE IMPROVEMENTS
Seneca replaced all waste signage in 2020 to reflect the acceptance criteria of our new haulers and improve the clarity and understanding of what materials go in each stream. 

WASTE SIGNAGE AND RECEPTACLE DESIGN STANDARDS
Seneca has developed standards for waste signage and receptacle design. These describe standards for the design, location and sizing for all waste infrastructure. These standards are embedded in the Sustainability Impact Statement (SIS) forms that apply to all projects at the proposal stage and standards for new buildings and renovations, requiring all project teams to follow these standards when designing a space or procuring waste infrastructure, along with other waste management standards to follow/best practices to consider. 

FRIENDLIER REUSABLE CONTAINER PROGRAM
Seneca Food Service has implemented a reusable container program for our dine in service through the company “Friendlier” in April 2023. Seneca has also absorbed any deposit charges to increase for accessibility for students. The cafeteria locations at Newnham and King campuses now no longer offer single-use containers, even the standard compostable food containers previously used.  

OSCAR AI SORTING SYSTEM
Seneca Newnham and King campuses implemented the Oscar AI Sorting technologies at their cafeterias in September 2023. They receive monthly insight reports and have monthly meetings with the Oscar team to improve the performance, in addition to on-campus engagement initiatives that increase students' awareness of the system.

STAFF WASTE & RECYCLING TRAINING
The Office of Sustainability (SoS) conducts semi-annual waste and recycling training for both food service and custodial staff. These sessions outline: 
- Importance of effective waste programs and waste reduction 
- Context of waste in Canada and Ontario, including upcoming regulations 
- Seneca’s sustainability background and waste related goals 
- Overview of the program, including infrastructure at each campus 
- Overview of the acceptance criteria  
- Contamination reduction measures 
- Opportunity for program feedback 

CIRCULAR ECONOMY MONTH (OCTOBER 2022)
Seneca held demonstrations on how to sort waste properly. View the Instagram video capturing the initiative here: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cj0hJxlAWkM/ 

EVENTS
Virtual posters and communications are created to promote events such as waste reduction week, clothing drives and clothing swaps.

Seneca conducts a third-party certified waste audit across all campuses annually to satisfy MOE regulatory requirements and support the annual waste and recycling program improvement cycle by integrating recommendations from our auditors, CD Sonter Consulting, feedback from training sessions, sustainability survey results and our internal assessments into annual action plans. This year, the scope included a delineation between cafeterias and the greater campus for the Newnham and King campuses. The resulting audit reports are attached.

SUSTAINABILITY POLICY
Seneca’s sustainability policy outlines firm commitments to reducing Seneca’s environmental impact overall, and highlights promise to reduce waste generated overall through procurement and process improvements and continuous improvements to our waste and recycling program.

PROCUREMENT POLICY (2024)
Seneca’s procurement policy is currently in the development phase and further makes firm commitment to reduce waste generated and divert materials from landfill while encouraging supply chain transparency and disclosures from vendors. In the procedures, it also includes waste specific standards in the commodity category specific criteria section.
- Procurement program includes procedures and tools (e.g., vendor scorecards) to achieve minimized waste within the upstream supply chain, overall consumption, low-waste or recyclable alternatives and end-of life considerations 
- Includes points awarded for sustainable innovations, including circular models 
- Category specific criteria also include waste reduction and recycling/circular economy requirements where applicable e.g, leasing for electronic equipment, take back programs, reusable programs for food service vendors, no or limited plastic packaging, etc.  

SUSTAINABLE REVIEW FOR PROPOSED CAPITAL PROJECTS
The operations specialist in the Office of Sustainability is a formal member of the review team that carries out reviews of all projects put forth to the capital projects department every year. The staff reviews each individual project, including capital funding requests for large purchases, and provides further consultations on projects/purchases that are determined to have high impact.

SUSTAINABILITY STANDARDS
Seneca has enacted various standards applied to different functions e.g., Standards for New Buildings and Large-Scale Renovations, Standards for Landscape Design and Maintenance, Sustainable Events Toolkit, etc. in 2023. In all, the principle of sustainability, waste, is enforced and measured in relation to that context in efforts to reduce waste, support circularity and increase recyclability.

INFORMAL STANDARD PRACTICES
Seneca continues to pursue waste reduction through consultations on behalf of the Office of Sustainability to key departments. Examples include working with the communications and alumni departments to drastically reduce paper usage through transitioning to electronic materials and providing the events and janitorial departments with sustainable vendor options upon request.

OFFICE SUPPLIES
All office supplies are now centrally ordered, monitored and provided upon request. This allows for better tracking of resource use and opportunities for sharing and reuse.  

METAL FURNITURE
Metal furniture is picked-up as metal scrap.

EMPLOYEE MARKETPLACE
Employee marketplace on the employee MySeneca Platform.

TEXTBOOK RESELL
The bookstore offers a textbook resell program.

OFFICE MOVEOUT INVENTORY AND EXCHANGE FORMS
In order to facilitate the reuse of office supplies, furniture, etc. after office move outs or renovations, there is an inventory excel sheet that project teams are given that let teams log all of their items and materials. It also provides potential donation recipients, specialty recycling services, etc. The exchange form provided facilitates the exchange between project teams and internal parties that want to pick it up.

After investigating both pre and post pandemic usage rates of printers and paper consumption, it was determined that a large proportion of the printers on campus were being either underutilized or not used at all. This data supplemented by insights from the Office of Sustainability resulted in the ITS Printer Reduction Initiative, which: 

- Reduced the number of printers on campus by 77%, still offering one printer per floor, per building 
- Changed the default setting to double sided 
- Retained the “pay to print” system to discourage unnecessary printing 
- Tracks usage rates for staff 
- Communicated the change and encouraged investigating paper reduction opportunities 

Printer and paper usage levels will be continuously monitored, and additional awareness, communications, or infrastructure adaptations will be made where appropriate.  

SENECA'S HUMAN RESOURCE'S DEPARTMENT HAS GONE PAPERLESS
All old files are being scanned into drives and paper files can now be accessed through an electronic filing system.

The alumni and marketing departments have adopted a waste reduction approach and have officially transitioned away from paper products to electronic alternatives for the following materials: 
- Course catalogs 
- Course schedules 
- Directories 

EVENTS:  
- Stopped offering programs at convocation 
- Reduced the number of viewbooks offered in efforts to reduce paper, including:  
- Scaling back print volumes overall 
- No longer offering them at Ontario College Fair (OCF) and Open House, but instead offering a QR code to a digital viewbook that states “ Please support Seneca’s commitment to sustainability by choosing our digital viewbook to reduce the use of paper-based materials.
- Leveraging digital screens to drastically reduce signage 
- Introduced a zero promo-product approach with no giveaways other than a sustainable tote bag made from 100% natural cotton offered to guests

Our residences are equipped with Beds, dressers, desks, Closet organizers, kitchenette tables, chairs, TV’s, microwave and fridges.

Students do not bring additional furniture, so we do not have the waste that some University/College housing have.

Most other equipment that a student brings to residence is of value and they leave with it to their next accommodation and/or family home.

We do set up bins in the lobby for non-perishable food and other items such as small appliances which will then be donated and of course we promote the textile bins at Seneca.

CLOTHING RECYCLING
Seneca Residences host year-end events that partner with local organizations and utilize existing textile bins to donate clothing that they do not wish to bring home.

FOOD DONATIONS
Seneca Residences hosts year-end events that offer non-perishable food donation bins within the residence for students to donate unopened food that they do not wish to bring home.

APPLIANCE DONATIONS
Seneca Residences host year-end events that offer appliance donation bins within the residence for students to donate small appliances that they do not wish to bring home.

SWISH CONTAINER PROGRAM
Swish offers a take back and reuse program for the custodial plastic containers, which has centralized collection at Newnham campus. They pick up the bin when it is full and provides weights monthly or upon request.  

TEXTILE SCRAP RECYCLING
The School of Fashion has requested textile processing equipment that will turn scrap fabrics into new textiles. The processing of the textiles will offer a student employment and course opportunity, and the resulting fabrics will be used in a variety of course offerings I.e., garment dying with natural materials, used in projects for first year students, etc. The “scraps of scraps”, as the machine is only capable of processing 75% of the textile waste generated, are then sent to a textile recycling facility in Brampton.  

CLOTHING RECYCLING
Seneca offers Diabetes Canada textile bins in strategic locations around all our campuses, which provide us with a monthly diversion report.  

“BETTER WORLD” TEXTBOOK DONATIONS
The Seneca community can donate used books to the bookstore at Newnham campus. Donated books are shipped to the BWB warehouse in Mishawaka, IN, where they are sorted and sold, donated or recycled. For every book that is donated by Follett and sold by BWB, proceeds are given to The Thirst Project. Overall, BWB has raised over $13M for literacy and libraries. Books that cannot be sold or donated are recycled in an environmentally friendly way. Nothing gets thrown away. 

MECHANICS RAG REUSE PROGRAM
The mechanical programs have independently implemented a rag reuse program, in which Swish takes contaminated rags to be cleaned and returned.  

AEROSPACE FILTER RECYCLING PROGRAM
The aerospace programs have independently implemented a filter recycling program that collects filters and other aerospace equipment for recycling when they are at their end of life.

CD Sonter Consulting Audits
Office of Sustainability provides data from the following sources to be included in our annual audits:
- Waste hauler summaries
- Recycling certificates
- Construction and demolition waste logs
- Emails from specialty haulers
- On-site composting manual logs

And:
- Sustainability survey results
- Feedback from training sessions