University of Toronto Mississauga
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Project Title: A Call to Action: Informing University of Toronto Mississauga’s First Biodiversity Action Plan, Fall 2021

Connections to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
SDG15 (Life on Land)

Project Description: “The purpose of this report is to explore possible directions for a Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) that the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) would like to implement.”

The project team conducted a review of community engagement best practices from municipal reports, peer-reviewed articles, and non-profit reports highlighting how community engagement should be used to help give underrepresented groups a voice in decision-making processes. Within the report, it states “our team recommends that UTM focuses their community engagement on the campus community (i.e., staff, faculty, and students).” Therefore, a modified stakeholder analysis tool was developed for UTM to help identify the specific stakeholders to engage with and map out their interests, benefits to UTM, and the recommended level and type of engagement tools to use. Lastly, a community engagement guide was created to use prior to and during consultations with the campus community. The guide provides background information on the engagements’ purpose and goals and sample questions to ask staff, faculty, and students.


Source: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BrjeLEo4XrlUA2Zbbz69iUqy3tHwHC8_/view

Project Title: Litter Mitigation and Public Awareness, Winter 2022

Connections to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
SDG11 (Sustainable Cities & Communities);
SDG12 (Responsible Consumption & Production);
SDG15 (Life on Land)

Project Description: In 2022, a group of UTM students in partnership with the City of Mississauga engaged in a project titled “Litter Mitigation and Public Awareness” with the following goal:

“To reduce litter, and incidences of wildlife feeding within the City of Mississauga to resolve any conflicts that exist between the human population and urban wildlife in an attempt to bring forth a cohesive and healthy environment and community.”

As stated in the abstract, “Food litter and the feeding of wildlife have become two of our major issues in the peel region. The completion of the Litter Project will ensure that the amount of litter, specifically food waste being produced on a daily basis is significantly minimized to reduce its effect on the urban ecology. The method that our group has implemented is to send out both a preliminary survey and a concluding survey to get our primary source of the public's thoughts. Utilizing posters on social media aiming to educate residents on the dangers of littering and feeding wildlife was a primary step in the long-term plan to reduce litter. We also hope to take the data we have collected and create strategies to effectively educate the population and bring awareness to the dangers of littering, how it can affect wild animals, and the dangers of feeding wildlife in general.”

Source: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MA239_0--GwV6cdPAQh6Znj7ya7uRGkF/view

Project Title: Green Fleet, Winter 2022

Connections to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
SDG7 (Affordable & Clean Energy);
SDG11 (Sustainable Cities & Communities);
SDG13 (Climate Action)

Project Description: In 2022, a UTM student conducted a project to evaluate alternative fuels/EV options for UTM’s campus fleet. The student evaluated the current fleet based on age, greenhouse gas impact, and EV replacement availability. Also, the student recommended that UTM apply for a Federal grant called the Zero Emissions Vehicle Infrastructure program to help our campus expand its EV charging infrastructure.

Source: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1s8VHcece4gMsQaFC-44ffKAqIFbq5_ve/view

Project Title: Sustainable Labs and Residences program, 2022-2023

Connections to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
SDG4 (Quality Education);
SDG11 (Sustainable Cities & Communities);
SDG12 (Responsible Consumption & Production)

Project Description: The purpose of this project was to help the Sustainability Office develop the Sustainable Labs and Residence program at UTM.

Project Title: Whole Life Carbon of the University of Toronto, Fall 2022

Connections to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
SDG9 (Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure)
SDG13 (Climate Action)

Project Description: The Ha/f Research Seminar: How do we halve the greenhouse gas emission of the U of T’s own buildings?

An exploration of how to half the whole life carbon of U of T's built environment by looking at the construction and performance of the following buildings: Myhal CEIE, Rotman, CCBR, Maanjiwe nendamowinan, Terrence Donnelly, UTM Innovation Complex, UTSC Environmental Sciences & Chemistry.

** Maanjiwe nendamowinan and UTM Innovation Complex are buildings on UTM's campus

Source: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1qAEeeLy_UEEmEoBcCi7qDow-_cAFuoSqon9CN3xFhW0/edit

Project Title: Urban Farming, Winter 2022

Connections to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
SDG2 (Zero Hunger); SDG3 (Good Health & Well-being);
SDG10 (Reducing Inequality);
SDG11 (Sustainable Cities & Communities)

Project Description:
Source: The aim of this project was to “assess and implement the past-proven, effective method of urban farming to aid in increasing access to healthy, nutritious, and affordable food in the City of Mississauga, beginning with the UTM campus.”

The project team strategized and implemented a plan most suitable for covering aspects such as incentivizing (financial/non-financial) an increase in urban farming practices in the City of Mississauga- starting with the UTM campus- and supporting the growth of urban farming practices in the city through non-financial means. The project team also formulated a project risk assessment, identifying and evaluating all potential project risks.

Source: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13_v3UdDAdqJbGu4N4YMMMACK71M5qaQy/view

Project Title: Ice Salt Use Assessment & Reduction Plan, Winter 2022

Connections to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
SDG11 (Sustainable Cities & Communities)

Project Description: The aim of the project was to determine the minimal amount of salt needed to make the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) campus a safe place for the community, while not compromising on the environmental impacts of its usage. This project emerged because of the rising concerns surrounding salt application on infrastructure and the environment.

Source: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XEHKqyiNfZBXL6BDhtYxSkTyO5NTRrdx/view

Project Title: UTM Bike Share Expansion, Winter 2022

Connections to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
SDG11 (Sustainable Cities & Communities);
SDG17 (Partnership for the Goals)

Project Description: “The UTM BikeShare program is a bike rental program offered by the UTM sustainability office and is free of charge for the UTM community. In 2022, a group of five students from the ENV332 class were tasked with researching and providing ideas for ways the UTM BikeShare program can expand. Short-term and long-term goals were set in place, including creating an online booking portal, expanding the operating season, and partnership with the City of Mississauga. The group conducted extensive literature reviews to find other bike programs that were successful, research on similar booking portals and created a survey to gather information on commuting habits of UTM students.”

Through the project, the students found the BikeShare program to be a good initiative and made the following recommendations: “the BikeShare program should work on advertisement of the program and implementation of an online booking portal to increase the number of UTM community members taking part in the program. In the future, the UTM BikeShare office should investigate partnering with the City of Mississauga as a long-term plan for expansion, in which case the program would reach a much larger group of individuals and could potentially help UTM and the city in reaching their sustainability goals quicker.”

Source: https://drive.google.com/file/d/16pFeypLtH9GQcaZtNn_M7Bc-RzvSZKDD/view

Project Title: Waste Reduction, Winter 2022

Connections to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
SDG11 (Sustainable Cities & Communities);
SDG12 (Responsible Consumption & Production)

Project Description: “The goal of the UTM on-campus waste management project was to gauge the level of student awareness and knowledge on waste management to better design future initiatives at the UTM Sustainability Office. The research study was done through survey collection and literature review to identify the room for improvement through collecting student opinions and taking references from international governments and tertiary institutions."

The project found that there is room for UTM Sustainability Office to inform and educate students on waste management practices by hosting more workshops and events to raise environmental awareness among the student body. In September 2022, the Sustainability Office launched the Waste Ambassador program- This program trains student volunteers and equips them with the foundational knowledge to educate their peers on waste management. It also requires volunteers to participate and facilitate events on campus such as tabling, bi-weekly patrolling and litter clean-up.

Additonally, the Hospitality Department introduced OSCAR, an AI device in buildings on campus with the largest waste generation, to help the UTM community sort their waste correctly. Students can use Oscar to scan waste items and it will tell them which sorting stream (garbage, paper, organics or recycling) it belongs to. The system aims to reduce waste on campus by helping students recycle items properly.

Source: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hRcrkKbfr6eYzyz4znHKMOrKIusv_r7s/view

Project Title: Ice Salt Use Assessment & Reduction Plan, Winter 2022

Connections to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
SDG11 (Sustainable Cities & Communities)

Project Description: The aim of the project was to determine the minimal amount of salt needed to make the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) campus a safe place for the community, while not compromising on the environmental impacts of its usage. This project emerged because of the rising concerns surrounding salt application on infrastructure and the environment.

Source: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XEHKqyiNfZBXL6BDhtYxSkTyO5NTRrdx/view

Project Title: The Relaunch of Repair Cafe, Winter 2022

Connections to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
SDG10 (Reducing Inequality);
SDG11 (Sustainable Cities & Communities);
SDG12 (Responsible Consumption & Production);
SDG13 (Climate Action);
SDG17 (Partnership for the Goals)

Project Description: “In 2022, a group of students worked on a project with the “goal of facilitating reusability on campus by implementing a hybrid repair cafe to make it more accessible. The objectives/deliverables included:
(1) Online forum integrated with a request form
(2) a roadmap for the upcoming academic year (2022-2023)

Ultimately, a successfully functioning repair cafe will “increase student engagement, decrease waste on campus, promote reusability, embrace the circular economy, and help combat climate change.”

Coordination and planning will be essential to navigate the predicted challenges:
- Space for storage
- Limited resources (workforce and funding)
- Lack of volunteers
- Ineffective marketing
- Coordinating schedules of repair cafe staff


Source: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CejYkO-T6Z7eRhDg1KUvT7mG8GLAI560/view

Project Title: Food Security Framework, Winter 2020

Connections to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
SDG2 (Zero Hunger);
SDG3 (Good Health & Well-being);
SDG10 (Reducing Inequality)

Project Description: In 2020, a group of UTM students engaged in a project “to provide tangible solutions for Hospitality and Retail Services (HRS) to mitigate food insecurity on campus by raising awareness on the current state of Food Security and improving the accessibility of UTM’s food bank.”

The goals of the project were as follows:
1. “Raise awareness of current Food Security issues (local, national, and global)
2. Promote and improve the accessibility of the University’s current food banks
3. Provide options and ways to mitigate food insecurity issues by identifying potential events or programs for accessible food services”

In order to achieve these goals, the students “launched an online survey to students on Food Security to determine if the students at the UTM campus are facing Food Insecurity challenges and establish a definition of Food Security in the context of the UTM community. The results were used to provide HRS with useful information to implement a feasible, comprehensive Food Security framework in the future.

Source: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nddmzaas0Toq8P7auP--yFTo5O2sol3l/view

A third-year environment course, Practicum in Environmental Project Management, runs yearly and gives students real-world experience solving an environmental problem either on campus or in the community. Students are divided into groups, and each group is given a client with a sustainability project for completion. Many of these projects take place on-campus, and have included renewable energy feasibility studies; waste audits; greenhouse gas inventories; and compost feasibility studies. Students produce a final presentation and report detailing the outcomes of their projects.

https://utm.calendar.utoronto.ca/section/Environmental-Management#:~:text=ENV332H5%20%E2%80%A2%20Practicum%20in%20Environmental%20Project%20Management&text=Students%20work%20in%20teams%20on,local%20NGO%2C%20etc.).