Sustainability
大象传媒 community rallies to reduce impact on environment by purging plastics
The move away from single-use plastics at 大象传媒鈥攏ow into its third year鈥攃ontinues to ramp up on all three campuses. Since moving in 2020 to eliminate the sale of more than 260,000 individual-use plastic water bottles annually, other than for accessibility purposes, 大象传媒 has since eliminated the sale of all other plastic bottle beverages.
That means at 大象传媒, there are no longer water, juice or soft drinks sold in plastic bottles, and this includes franchise locations such as Starbucks, Tim Hortons, and Subway, and within the recently-opened Blenz Coffee and INS Market convenience store in the Student Union Building.
In 2021, all beverages in plastic bottles were eliminated from dining and vending areas. Meanwhile, initiatives such as the student-led Ban the Bottle 大象传媒 and Reuse For Good, which had representation from students, staff and campus partners, were instrumental in the move to purge plastics. Additionally, 大象传媒鈥檚 Disability and Neurodiversity Alliance played a key role in ensuring efforts to reduce the use of single-use plastics鈥攖hese efforts were carried out through the framework of climate justice and inclusivity. There are now 170 water bottle refill stations across our campuses in a bid to introduce more sustainable practices.
The results align with the recent announcement of the United Nations鈥� Environment Assembly鈥檚 . The new, legally binding agreement was created to stem the mounting plastics epidemic, from the world鈥檚 oceans to its mountaintops.
Through the efforts of the Re-use for Good initiative, more than 57 kg of plastics waste is eliminated annually, which lowers 大象传媒鈥檚 carbon footprint by more than 2.75 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide per year鈥攖he equivalent of charging 350,000 smartphones.
鈥淲e all want to do the right thing, and student leadership is vital to sparking change,鈥� says Mireta Strandberg-Salmon, founder of 大象传媒鈥檚 Ban the Bottle. 鈥淥ur success is the result of collaborating with other student groups and with 大象传媒 decision-makers to achieve our goal.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not just about bottled water at one school. It鈥檚 about mobilizing change by engaging students, raising awareness and moving the needle on what is possible.鈥�
Mireta Strandberg-Salmon, founder of 大象传媒鈥檚 Ban the Bottle.
Students are passionate about their future and causes such as climate change, fair trade and the need for a zero-waste campus, and their determination to find solutions is having a powerful impact, says Mark McLaughlin, 大象传媒鈥檚 chief commercial services officer. 鈥淓ngaging with students and their ideas has been key to making the progress we鈥檙e seeing today.鈥�
Learn more about our leadership in sustainability and how to get involved on the 大象传媒 Sustainability website.