Posted on Tuesday, April 18th, 2023
This spring, Algonquin College will be phasing out using paper hand towels in most College washrooms to exclusively use already
installed automatic hand dryers on the Ottawa Campus. Currently the College spends approximately $100K/year on hand paper towels and an additional $70K in labour-related costs for stocking washrooms and collecting waste.
“The College is committed to increasing sustainable practices and reducing waste and emissions associated with daily operations,” said Ryan Southwood, Executive Director, Facilities Management, Algonquin College. “The College is committed to lowering its ecological footprint by managing waste and continuing on the path from green to sustainable.”
The actual hand paper towel dispensers will be removed. This will affect 170 washrooms on the Ottawa Campus.
In the past 18 months, the cost of paper towel has more than doubled. Not only is it more expensive, but it is non-compostable, so waste ends up in a landfill.
In terms of waste volume this represents at least 44,200 bags (30 gallons) that goes into a landfill annually. The College uses 2,100 cases of paper towels each year or 9,765,000 ft of paper per year.
Note: Paper towels will remain available in shops, classrooms, labs and kitchens as well as the E, R and X Buildings. Only washrooms with installed hand dryers will be affected by this change.
Posted on Monday, April 17th, 2023
This week, April 17-21, 2023, is National Volunteer Week! Volunteers are an essential part of society and make many positive contributions to our communities. This week, let’s celebrate our hard-working volunteers and learn ways we can help out too.
To kick off the week, we are revisiting a conversation we had in February of this year with Leah Grimes, a Volunteer Support Specialist in Student Support Services at the Ottawa Campus, to chat about the AC Volunteer Centre and how you can spread kindness in your community and beyond through volunteerism. Read more >
Posted on Friday, April 14th, 2023
Alexandra Massie, Dhanashree Dama, Noha Abdelrahman and Jay Donde Ericsson with their first-place trophy.
Learners from the Interdisciplinary Studies in Human-Centred Design (ISHCD) program captured first-place at the RE/ACTION Showcase on April 14, the first to take place fully in-person since 2019.
Students Alexandra Massie, Dhanashree Dama, Noha Abdelrahman and Jay Donde Ericsson developed their project, titled “Communicating Timely Measures for Type-2 Diabetes,” over the last six months. According to professors Su Cheng Lee and Lanre Jerry-Ijishakin, the group’s efforts serve as a confirmation of the skills that they have developed throughout the course of their studies, and as a testament to the overall strengths of the ISHCD program.
The RE/ACTION Showcase highlights applied research projects led by student teams in partnership with real industry clients. This event — the first to take place in-person since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic — saw more than 50 projects displayed by nearly 200 AC students from 11 different programs of study, as well as some examples of the initiatives funded through the AC Innovation Fund. The Showcase is held in support of funding agencies including the Natural Sciences Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Ontario Centre of Innovation, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Mitacs.
Read more >