Heading into his final year of Environmental Studies at the University of Manitoba this fall, MBLL summer student Owen McDonald has a new appreciation of how research and policy can come together in an organization to make a real impact on environmental sustainability right here in Manitoba.
“As my first co-op placement, I was excited to work on a wide range of projects – from assessing the risks that storing lithium-ion batteries for e-bikes and scooters may pose on an organizational level, to the relatively messier work of an office waste audit,” said Owen.
As one of 27 summer interns at MBLL this year, Owen afforded MBLL’s sustainable development program manager, Donna Dagg, the extra hands needed to conduct the waste audit at a warehouse in Winnipeg through which lottery products, among other things, are routed.
“It’s a very time-intensive, manual process,” said Donna. Over the course of three days, Owen and Donna painstakingly sorted all materials collected from the separate recycling, compost and garbage bins throughout the property.
The team found that since the previous audit years ago, a smaller percentage of compostable cups made it into the correct stream with other compostable materials. The same was seen for other compostables such as food waste and napkins.
MBLL makes compostable cups available at coffee and tea locations used by employees and guests (such as at casinos), but the benefits are not realized unless those cups end up at a commercial composter.
“We have stepped away from single use plastics, including those used in beverage containers like plastic lined paper cups used for coffee and tea.” said Donna. “Switching to compostable materials makes sense, especially if you are carrying through that commitment to the other end of the product’s cycle, which is commercial composting.”
Todd Macdonald, the director responsible for the warehouse’s waste management, was excited to get the results of the waste audit. Todd initiated the waste audit with Donna’s area because he wanted to get a better sense of how successful the location was in diverting recyclables and compostables from the waste stream.
“The results are just what we hoped for – not because they are perfect, but because they give us a clear picture of where we can make improvements and how that might be accomplished,” said Todd. Based on the findings, Todd is working to increase the number and visibility of collection bins.
Results were shared with site employees, who learned that being over-eager by placing waste in the compost or recycling streams when they were unsure where it should go, could contaminate those streams and lower the overall recovery rates of compost and recycling. Donna and Owen used these learnings to create simplified graphics at each disposal bin to indicate which stream to discard the most common items – such as those compostable cups.
For Donna, having a summer intern is more than just being able to get more hands-on work done. “Owen brought different ideas, perspectives and fresh energy to MBLL,” she said.
Of his internship, Owen reflected, “I found it eye-opening about how important it is to communicate effectively to employees and to ensure the infrastructure is there to support everyone’s good intentions,” he said. “It’s great to come to an organization that is so receptive to sustainability. I’ve learned a lot about governance and making change at the organizational level.”
#MBLLGoodTogether demonstrates MBLL’s commitment to partnering with Manitoba communities, non-profits, and charitable organizations that help make our province an even better place to live. Our Community Champion series highlights MBLL employees that are making a difference in the lives of Manitobans through their work or volunteer efforts in the spirit of being “good together.”