What I Did For Sustainability @ McGill
January 8, 2010
At a presentation to Management Forum on December 3, 2009 about “Sustainability at McGill”, Prof.
Jim Nicell, Associate Vice-Principal (University Services), asked audience members to send in examples
of their individual efforts to enhance sustainability at McGill.
In response to this a number of people sent some items to WhatIdidfor.sustainabilty@mcgill.ca. A
summary of some of actions are listed below, grouped by category. This is not an exhaustive list. It is a
summary of items that are relevant to people from all across the University. Send us more information
about your individual actions or choices or those of your unit. Send all comments to the above email
address.
For more ideas, please visit the website of the Office of Sustainability at
http://www.mcgill.ca/sustainability.
Minimizing fuel consumption
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Chose to use public transportation to and from McGill instead of using a car
Bike to work during warmer weather
Created a carpool to come to work
Collect a few orders from others before placing the order with suppliers such as Lyreco
Reduced energy consumption
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Changed the power-management settings on my computer to put the computer on standby or in
sleep mode when it is not used for a certain period of time.
Requested a laptop so that I could work at home when necessary
Proposed to eliminate the use of paper cups and lids for all staff
Turn off the ceiling lights and only work with natural light and/or small desktop lamp.
Turn lights off every time I step out of my office, and coffee break room when I’m last to leave
Shred paper with my bare hands
Use the stairs at ALL times, (not always easy)
Do laundry with cold water, dry clothes on a rack when possible
Actively discourage the use of air conditioning where possible (i.e., when there are windows that
open)
Use of elaborate audiovisual equipment and electronic displays was discouraged in favor of more
face-to-face communication with visitors.
Minimizing Paper consumption
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Print double-sided, wherever possible
Print 2 or 3 pages of text per printed page, wherever possible
Print the part of the document that I need rather than the entire document (e.g.: long emails)
Print only when absolutely necessary
Scan and forward e-mail attachments instead of printing and forwarding via internal mail
Actively encouraged colleagues to stop printing emails
No more printed document brought to meetings
Minimize material consumption and waste production
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Bring my own utensils, plates and mugs, bring lunch from home
Use a re-usable glass stirrer for my coffee instead of the ‘1 time, plastic’ ones
Eliminated the use of disposable cups in our unit
Eliminated the use of small individual servings of coffee creamer, sugar, etc.
Buy second-hand when possible
Composting, including vermi-composting (i.e., the use of worms to compost vegetable and fruit
wastes) of wastes
Share books, magazines and other documents within the unit and with people in other units.
Reuse paper that has already been used on one side for another purpose
Eliminated promotional and memo mailings and replaced them with electronic communications.
Reduced the paper materials distributed at activities and events.
Printed promotional materials on 100% recycled paper and encourage other units to do the same.
Eliminated the use of printed plastic bags in favor of re-usable bags.
Moved to the use of eco-friendly lunch packaging (not molded plastic containers) for the large lunch
meetings.
After major events, leftover food is given to the needy.
Use tap water instead of bottled water for personal use and at meetings.
The use of water bottles and disposable cups (e.g., styrofoam) by attendees at events was
eliminated in favor of a “bring-your-own” water bottles/coffee cups policy.
Re-usable banners, directional sandwich boards and signage were used whenever possible.
General
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Formal consultation took place with the Office of Sustainability on ways to host more sustainable
events.
In collaboration with the Office of Sustainability, a waste audit was conducted to benchmark food
waste from an event.
We have highlighted our “green” efforts on a website to inform others and encourage them to do
the same.
We formed a “Green Team” to monitor events to ensure appropriate recycling and waste disposal
and to provide information about efforts to participants.