{"id":13,"date":"2016-01-28T18:38:50","date_gmt":"2016-01-29T01:38:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/comm486sarahso\/?p=13"},"modified":"2016-01-28T18:42:04","modified_gmt":"2016-01-29T01:42:04","slug":"13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/comm486sarahso\/2016\/01\/28\/13\/","title":{"rendered":"Paving the way to zero waste"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"I

I really don’t think a caption is necessary for anyone that has been on campus at UBC. Source: https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/teachereducation\/2012\/08\/23\/how-do-i-get-to-scarfe-construction-update\/<\/p><\/div>\n

Every morning, it’s guaranteed that I\u2019ll wake up to one of two kinds of noise\u2013 1) the cheering of excited parents and kids for soccer matches on the field adjacent from the apartment I rent, or 2) the clanging and banging of construction for the in-progress elementary school and condo on the other side of the block.<\/p>\n

On my walk to school, I pass by at least three different construction projects on campus. Over the years, I can\u2019t help but to wonder what becomes of the buildings that I\u2019ve watched being torn down to be replaced by shinier, more modern counterparts.<\/p>\n

Construction and demolition waste is one of the most voluminous waste streams<\/a>\u00a0in the developed world, creating 160 million tons<\/a> of waste each year, 44% of which comes from renovations alone. While many of the disposed materials (timber, glass, metals, soils, etc) can be reused, only one third of them are recovered or recycled.<\/p>\n

So what of the materials from our beautiful campus, UBC, one of the world\u2019s top universities and leaders in sustainability? Doing the Google search led me down a rabbithole of articles<\/a>, papers<\/a>, and documents<\/a>\u00a0that detail UBC\u2019s efforts to address these concerns.<\/p>\n

Setting it into perspective, UBC currently diverts about two thirds of their operational, construction and demolition waste from the landfill, with goals to set this rate to 80% by 2020<\/a>.\u00a0For construction efforts specifically, it is mandatory<\/a> for 75% of waste from construction on campus to be diverted , with real diversion rates exceeding this expectation by 6% in 2011. Additionally, wood, carpet tiles, metal, and components such as drywall and separated and sorted<\/a> for reuse or recycle.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not every day that I\u2019m singing praise about UBC construction, but I\u2019ll have to admit, this is one place where the institution seems to be doing a good job at practicing what they preach. Next time you make a block long detour around blue fences in the rain, rest assured that at the very least, UBC is taking some serious precaution for renovating our campus with the environment in mind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every morning, it’s guaranteed that I\u2019ll wake up to one of two kinds of noise\u2013 1) the cheering of excited parents and kids for soccer matches on the field adjacent from the apartment I rent, or 2) the clanging and banging of construction for the in-progress elementary school and condo on the other side of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20131,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[205],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sustainability"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/comm486sarahso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/comm486sarahso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/comm486sarahso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/comm486sarahso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/comm486sarahso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/comm486sarahso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/comm486sarahso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13\/revisions\/17"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/comm486sarahso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/comm486sarahso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/comm486sarahso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}