Université de Sherbrooke
EN-5: Outreach Campaign

In the fall 2018, the University launched, as part of its 2018-2022 Sustainable Development Plan, the Je suis #VertUdeS campaign. It wanted to raise awareness and mobilize the university community on multiple issues related to sustainability. More specifically, the Université de Sherbrooke was contributing $0.25 to a new Université de Sherbrooke’s Sustainable Development Projects Support Fund (Fonds de soutien aux projets de développement durable) for each interaction with the #VertUdeS hashtag through Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The entire university community could participate in this campaign, which took place from October 9th to November 25th, 2018.

This campaign helped raise $20,000, contributing to the Sustainable Development Projects Support Fund, which is intended to ensure the sustainability of projects put forward through the Joint Fund for Sustainable Development Initiatives. In 2018-2019, three existing student projects were financed through this fund, enabling the students to pursue their activities and put forward new projects. For instance, it permitted the hiring of five students to the student group Équipe verte (Green Team), that works to improve sustainable development practices at the University. It also funded the Campus durable (Sustainable Campus) student organization whose mission is to promote and supervise student sustainable development initiatives at the University, as well as La Déraille, a multi-stakeholder (or solidarity) co-op whose mission is to facilitate the practice of utilitarian cycling. In addition, the Ruche Campus, a student initiative which led to the development of a beekeeping on the main campus, was able, with support from this fund, to acquire equipment essential to its activities and pay part (35%) of an employee’s salary. These new acquisitions have allowed the group to triple its membership and strengthen its activities.

The comprehensive composting program enabled the Université de Sherbrooke to eliminate disposable tableware. Indeed, only compostable tableware is now available in cafeterias, and having its own composting unit equipped with bioreactors, which is located on the main campus, the University is able to compost this tableware in-situ. The program has been a great success and has become a true technological showcase that demonstrates the benefits of a comprehensive organic material enhancement system. But the University is not reducing its effort and intends to do more with regard to responsible waste management. It is in this context that the University 2018-2022 Waste Management Strategy brings an important nuance to the 3RV-E principle: in order to achieve zero waste, “Elimination” has been replaced by “Education”, emphasizing the importance of information, awareness raising and education in the transmission of environmentally responsible behaviors. In other words, improving the sorting of residual materials in order to enable more efficient and local treatment can only be achieved through more education and awareness-raising. In this regard, a number of awareness-raising activities and campaigns occur yearly (i.e. during the Québec Waste Reduction Week) on all three Université de Sherbrooke’s campuses and are meant for the whole university community. These awareness-raising activities and campaigns will remain as to preserve and surpass the University's exceptional record on the issue of waste management. The university community is the first link to success in waste management. At its core, reducing materials at source and sorting them for reuse, recycling and reclaim before disposal is possible because everyone feels concerned and accepts the necessary compromises to achieve the objectives.

The Université de Sherbrooke already achieved much with its comprehensive composting program and awareness-raising activities and campaigns related to it. Indeed, this initiative helps divert 500,000 items of dishware from landfill every year. In addition, the system, which still operates at maximum capacity, recycles 70 tonnes of compostable material on-site to be used internally each year. For a decade, it has maintained a rate of enhancement of all its residual materials above 70%, making it one of the best universities in the world in this field.