Banting Sort-It-Out Challenge for Waste Reduction Week Fall 2017

Banting Sort-it-out Challenge Activity to further

reduce waste and increase waste diversion from

landfills - Waste Reduction Week Oct 15-21, 2017  

At Banting we “Do it for the Planet”   

Waste reduction ALL YEAR!

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vSBbUMnggMeEwSOJ20ToZAoubmeBm7wYyno1ylnsE46N_tkb-o8UKIrIIrSR-NQqTMldIjKD9jzrvpE/pub?start=false&loop=true&delayms=5000

Banting Green Newsletter September 2017-Mid November 2017

Here are the Banting Environmental Activities from September 2017-Mid November. From Recycling, Gardening, Take Me Outside Day, Cleaning-the-Capital, cooking and enjoying our harvest! Please enjoy!

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vRdXIdy2eo0bRtkhznla1LBCZTOVL2QL9ZJhD5WtTq_y_bJFgrJa41nJJ4trazz29iNPMBiYRVYBkj8/pub?start=false&loop=true&delayms=5000

Helping the Planet with Janet - By Hayden Fitzgerald, Grade 11 Biology

I have been doing grade 11 biology and during this time I have studied a lot about the environment and humans living in the environment.

Plants and Vegetable Production

Throughout the course we have learned about plants and plant reproduction methods for the plant unit. We have an organic vegetable garden at school and have learned about and used  many types of plant reproduction methods. These include planting by seed, rhizome, bulbs, tubers, and clippings.

Seed Method:

• We placed avocado pits in soil to simulate how it would grow in nature and have been patiently waiting and observing the results
• We sprinkled flax seed over soil to grow the flax.

Clipping method:

• We cut the green tops off a pineapple and put the green head in soil to regrow the pineapple. It takes a couple of years before harvest

Tuber method:

• We took potatoes that were starting to root.  We cut off sections with the shoots coming off making sure to have parts of the flesh attached. We then  planted each of these in deep pots of soil.

Rhizomes:

• Rhizomes – you can grow the following through their rhizomes - mint, rhubarb, ginger, horseradish, ginger, turmeric, asparagus.    I wasn’t there the day my class planted mint by using the rhizome. Here is a link for finding out more \/
• https://littleveggiepatchco.com.au/blogs/news/planting-rhizomes-and-tubers

Bulbs:

• Our class planted garlic in the fall by taking apart the full bulb and taking each clove and placing it a few centimeters into the soil. We  then covered it with leaves and a layer of sticks for winter protection. Then in the spring we will remove the layers of sticks and leaves and  wait for the shoots to come up.  In June you can harvest the scapes which are edible. The bulbs are harvested in late July.
• Egyptian Onions - and our class also planted Egyptian Onions. The bulbs grow at the tips of the plant and then fall over to re-seed themselves. We take these bulbs and plant them in the soil in the desired location.

Root clippings:

• We cut the roots off of green onions and leeks that we we using in cooking.  We stuck the roots in soil to let them regrow. This method lets us have a continual crop of green onions and leeks when needed.

Runners: strawberry plants, thyme can be reproduced using runners.

• We have a wild strawberry plant in the classroom and we also have thyme growing as well. I was not here for the planting of these but my class did plant these.

Grafting:  we did not do grafting at school but there are many resources available.  Fruit trees such as apple trees often use the grafting method.

• Here are some resources:

• https://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/yard-garden/fruit/grafting-and-budding-fruit-trees/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ryf0248Od60
• www.torontomastergardeners.ca/askagardener/fruit-tree-grafting/
• www.hardyfruittrees.ca/tutorials/2014/01/16/why-are-fruit-trees-grafted

Taking care of the environment

In this class I have also helped with organizing the blue, black, and compost bins around the school to help the planet.  We have also made compost liners out of newspapers so we don’t have to purchase them and have taught other students how to make them. Here is the link so you can make your own liners:

http://ottawa.ca/cs/groups/content/@webottawa/documents/pdf/mdaw/mdu2/~edisp/con054938.pdf

We have also shared our knowledge of sorting recycling and garbage with other classmates and people in the school. We did an garbage and recycle audit. We also went class to class with a sort-it-out activity challenge for each class. In this activity students were given a variety of blue, black, compost and garbage items and were challenged to sort them into the proper bin. We rated each class and gave feedback on their successes.

My classmates and I also made a petition for stopping the use of non-decomposable coffee lids. This was sent out to Tim Hortons, McDonald’s, and Starbucks through a www.change.org  petition. We are encouraging people to read, sign and and share the petition to reduce plastic waste on our planet. We also encourage people to  Lug-A-Mug to their coffee shops/fast food outlets. Here is the link and please support our work to save this planet for our future generations.

https://www.change.org/p/guest-services-timhortons-com-have-decomposable-coffee-lids?recruiter=850457004&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition&utm_term=triggered

Thank you for taking the time to read this and hopefully you can help save the planet as well.

Hayden Fitzgerald, Frederick Banting Alternate Site

Solar Energy

Solar energy comes from harvesting the sun’s energy with the use of solar panels. Solar panels are made of semiconductor materials, and when sunlight hits the panels, electrons are knocked loose from their atoms, which generates electricity. Solar energy does not work at night and can be affected by weather, thus it is important to use a storage device, such as a battery. Solar energy use has surged about 20% over the last 15 years.

For more information, visit:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/solar-power/

Minimizing Waste to Reduce Ecological Footprint at Construction Company Matt Brule

Plan for Minimizing Waste to Reduce Ecological Footprint at a Construction Company

By Matt Brule for SNC2P January 30, 2017

What the company I work for does:

 I work for Capital City Flooring and Renovations.  I am one of  about 10 guys in the company. We install flooring,  banisters and staircases. We  also renovate bathrooms, install showers and any other task you can think of provided our boss has someone who can do the job. Ron, my boss lines up jobs for us and we all meet in the morning. He tells us where to go for the job, we load tools into my van and then off we go do the job. The average job takes about 2-3 days. When job done is done there is always a lot of waste from everything we have torn out. During the job debris is put in garbage bags which we put in a big trailer. After the job is done I or my boss brings the load to the dump. We have to pay to have it dumped at the dumps site off Moodie Drive.  This is my plan to reduce and recycle the waste taken out.

My Plan:

To help the environment im putting in a plan at my work so a lot of the materials we normally bring to the dump get recycled. In order to do so we would need to get  a Blue Bin, a Green Bin, a Black Bin and a Re-use Bin in addition to the garbage bin/bags we already use  so we can separate all the waste and reusables from every job. This would eliminate the amount of garbage brought to the dump every week and it would be alot better for the environment.

List of materials that we normally bring to the dump:

-wood

-metal

-carpet

-cardboard

-plastic

-paint cans

-aluminium

What we would do differently:

Green bin

-wood

Blue bin

-Metal

-Paint cans

-Aluminum

-plastic

Black bin

-cardboard

Garbage

-carpet

Re-Use & Re-Purpose

We could also reuse some material that is still good at the end of a job for a different job in the future.  Anything that the company does not reuse can be brought to Habitat for Humanity ReStore. Follow the link below for more information on ReStore and how to bring used construction materials a new life while helping communities in need.

https://www.habitat.ca/restore

Habitat for Humanity ReStores are home and building supply stores that accept and resell quality new and used building materials. Shopping at a Habitat ReStore is a socially conscious decision, as funds generated are used to fund local Habitat for Humanity home building projects.

That is my idea to reduce our ecological footprint and help the environment.

The City of Ottawa website details how demolition and construction waste can be properly diverted https://ottawa.ca/en/residents/garbage-and-recycling/hazardous-waste-and-special-items#special-items

Construction material

Plaster, wood (including pressure-treated lumber), drywall, concrete, asphalt or other waste resulting from building construction, renovation or demolition are brought to the Trail Road Landfill Site or to another landfill.

The following companies offer a program for recycling some construction and renovation materials:

·   The West Carleton Environmental Centre has plans to improve waste management for companies  such as the one I work for to reduce waste going to landfills. More information can be found at this website: http://wcec.wm.com/wcec/facilities.jsp “The proposed facility will be aligned with the City of Ottawa’s long-term waste management goals and the province’s environmental values and policy statements relating to zero waste, climate change and green energy creation. “

·   In addition the Tomlinson Waste Recovery Centre http://wasterecoverycentre.com/ has a waste recovery centre for construction debris and waste materials. They accept construction and demolition waste, electronic waste, blue and black waste, metal decommissioned appliances, solid non-hazardous waste.