McMaster’s ‘Bring Your Own Bottle’ initiative “aims to reduce the use of single use plastic water bottles by encouraging the McMaster community to use the water bottle filling stations located throughout campus.”  

The initiative and the formation of a committee made up of students, faculty, and staff, was inspired by past SUSTAIN student research that identified a need to increase access to filtered water stations, especially for on-campus residence students, so that we could effectively move away from single-use water bottles.  

The Bring Your Own Bottle Working Group is looking for SUSTAIN 3S03 students to help advance this work by analyzing Residence-Wide Student Survey results, measuring usage of refill stations, reporting on water bottle sales data, and recommending strategies to further promote water bottle refilling and reuse.   

Each semester, Residence Life runs their ‘Residence-Wide Survey’, which asks dozens of questions of residence students, including questions related to single-use plastic bottles and water bottle refilling. SUSTAIN students have been involved in analyzing the results and making recommendations for improvement. While survey data is one source of information, we also have access to plastic-bottle sales from Hospitality Services and can collect data on ‘water bottles saved’ from refill station counters on campus. If you believe that ‘we can’t manage what we don’t measure’ and that ‘we need to make data-driven decisions’, then this project might be for you!  

SUSTAIN 3S03 Students from Fall 2022 created a framework for this analysis and established benchmarks for future SUSTAIN 3S03 students to build upon. This data and framework will be made available to students who choose this project.   

Community Project Champion: 

Monica Palkowski, Living Learning Coordinator, Housing & Conference Services 

Project Liaison: 

Kate Whalen, Associate Director, Academic Sustainability Programs Office

Since 2009, McMaster has continually worked to expand its campus composting program. Compost bins now exist in many buildings on campus in both kitchens and common areas such as libraries, the Student Center, and most residence buildings. In 2012, McMaster started the first Composting Champions program. The program took a hiatus, and in 2022 Facility Services engaged SUSTAIN 3S03 students to help re-invigorate the program on campus. Read their report here, and their Daily News story here. 

To participate in the Composting Champions Program, the participating group or department identifies at least one champion to lead the initiative. The role of the program champion involves communicating with other students and staff members and emptying the compost bin on a frequent basis to one of the central locations.   

Facility Services is looking for the help of SUSTAIN 3S03 to further enhance the program, develop and implement opportunities for communication and engagement, and increase the number of composting champions.  

Community Project Champions:  

• Dave Cano, Director, Sustainability, Facility Services, McMaster University  
• Carlos Figueira, Director Custodial, Grounds, Logistics and Mail Services, McMaster University   

Project Liaison 

• Kate Whalen, Associate Director, Academic Sustainability Programs Office, McMaster University  

McMaster’s ACCESS Tech program facilitates the collection, refurbishment, and donation of technology to Hamiltonians in need (read more here). In addition to computers, monitors, and keyboards, the team also collects smartphones for reuse.  

One challenge to the donation and upcycling of smartphones is that the phones need to be factory reset by the owner before being donated, which takes additional advocacy and engagement to support potential donors while they recall their passwords and while the phones still support current operating systems. 

SUSTAIN 2SS3 students will have the opportunity to work with student staff of the ACCESS Tech program to develop their ideas and engagement strategies.  

Community Project Champions: 

• Sanya Sharma, Coordinator, ACCESS Tech, McMaster University 

Project Liaison 

• Kate Whalen, Associate Director, Academic Sustainability Programs Office 

Sustainability poses complex challenges that require interdisciplinary solutions. McMaster’s Interdisciplinary Minor in Sustainability was developed in 2014 with the goal to develop students’ interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of sustainability. All undergraduate students can pursue the Minor, choosing from 80+ courses from Faculties across campus. So far, more than 307 students have graduated with the Minor.   

Despite efforts to generate awareness, we often hear from students that they found out about the Minor too late in their undergraduate career to satisfy the course requirements.   

The goal of this project is to develop an advocacy plan to reach more students early on, so that more students can obtain robust knowledge of sustainability for which they can apply to help create a more sustainable future for all. 

Community Project Champion   

• Kara Salvador, Program Administrator, Academic Sustainability Programs Office  

Liaison and Project Mentor  

• Dr. Kate Whalen, Associate Director, Academic Sustainability Programs Office.

Past SUSTAIN students worked with McMaster’s Facility Services and University Technology Services (UTS) and with Empowerment Squared to coordinate ACCESS Tech, a technology reuse and donation initiative. Empowerment Squared is a local charitable organization that empowers newcomers, racialized, and marginalized communities with tools and opportunities to thrive. Empowerment Squared refurbishes collected devices and works with their network of community organizations to distribute donated technology to local families in need.   

McMaster’s ACCESS Tech staff will be hosting a collection and ‘upcycling’ event to take place on October 20, 2023, from 10am to 2pm. 

SUSTAIN 4S06 students have the opportunity to leverage this event to engage in short, in-person interviews. One group of SUSTAIN 4S06 students will interview IT donors of ACCESS Tech to understand their experiences of and motivations for donating. Another group of SUSTAIN 4S06 students can interview those who upcycle IT from McMaster, which are mainly McMaster students, to understand their experiences of and motivation for upcycling IT.   

Community Project Champion:   

 Sanya Sharma, Coordinator, ACCESS Tech, McMaster University   

Past SUSTAIN students worked with McMaster’s Facility Services and University Technology Services (UTS) and with Empowerment Squared to coordinate ACCESS Tech, a technology reuse and donation initiative. Empowerment Squared is a local charitable organization that empowers newcomers, racialized, and marginalized communities with tools and opportunities to thrive. Empowerment Squared refurbishes collected devices and works with their network of community organizations to distribute donated technology to local families in need.   

McMaster’s ACCESS Tech staff will be hosting a collection and ‘upcycling’ event to take place on October 20, 2023, from 10am to 2pm. 

SUSTAIN 4S06 students have the opportunity to leverage this event to engage in short, in-person interviews. One group of SUSTAIN 4S06 students will interview IT donors of ACCESS Tech to understand their experiences of and motivations for donating. Another group of SUSTAIN 4S06 students can interview those who upcycle IT from McMaster, which are mainly McMaster students, to understand their experiences of and motivation for upcycling IT.   

Community Project Champion:   

 Sanya Sharma, Coordinator, ACCESS Tech, McMaster University

In the fall of 2022, a group of SUSTAIN 3S03 students and their Community Project Champions laid the groundwork for McMaster’s ground nesting bee garden. This fall, another group of SUSTAIN 3S03 students and project champions will be facilitating the planting of native pollinators in the garden — the group will be both planting pollinator species as well as creating the infrastructure for bees to nest.  

This project at McMaster provides an excellent opportunity to amplify this information obtained and use it to advocate for individuals to also support pollinators in their own gardens and/or communities.  

Students who choose this project should be available to attend the community gardening event on November 9th from 8am until 12pm.   

Community Project Champions 

Ashley Low, Communications Assistant, Academic Sustainability Programs Office 

Nathan Butterworth, Community Engagement Coordinator, Academic Sustainability Programs Office 

Advisor 

Noah Stegman, Coordinator of Nature at McMaster and Pollinator Team member 

McMaster University is working to enhance the sustainability of its operations, and this extends to the Academic Sustainability Programs (ASP) Office, which runs several large meetings and events each semester. When department leaders of the ASP Office host a lunch meeting, engagement event, or student project showcase, they order food to enhance the experience for those who attend. The ASP team wants to make sure that hosting a sustainable event is easy and is sustainable at every step of the way. ASP leaders know that they need various options to choose from, depending on the event, and that they need an approved process to follow to ensure that nothing is missed.  

Students who take on this project will support ASP staff in refining a list of local catering businesses, assessing the businesses for their sustainability, and creating a sustainable catering guide to support all ASP-run events. One key measure of success is that the new process and guide are used by the ASP Office when catering and hosting the SUSTAIN 3S03 Project Showcase in December of 2023 to make it ASP’s most sustainable Project Showcase yet! 

Community Project Champion 

Kara Salvador, Program Administrator, Academic Sustainability Programs Office  

Project Liaison 

Nathan Butterworth, Community Engagement Coordinator, McMaster University 

Potential Resource is the Sustainable Catering Guide created by Sustain Students from 2022.   

Stop Sprawl HamOnt (SSHO) is a coalition of citizens and community groups advocating in an intense and unprecedented way to maintain Hamilton’s urban boundary and save farmland from sprawl development.   

SSHO led a campaign in the summer of 2023 to engage 18,000 Hamiltonians to participate in a City-led survey. Over 90% wanted to save the 3,300 acres of farmland that was at risk. Now, they are advocating to the province, to undue the provincial decision to override the municipal plan and impose 5,000 acres of development on some of the country’s best farmland. The soil is considered in the top 0.5% of the best soil in the country and we need to save this non-renewable resource as this land is priceless.  

Students who take on this project would work directly with a Co-Founder of SSHO to host a farm event at Manorun Organic Farm on Saturday, November 4 to engage with young, local farmers. The goal of this project is to increase McMaster students’ awareness of agricultural land use and its scarcity. 

This project is open to student creativity, and some ideas may include adding live music, food, and/or games. 

Ideal students would be those who have an interest in or curiosity about saving farmland, politics, and who enjoy collaborative planning with others.    

There is room for all ideas and skills, just bring your passion!   

Note; when declaring your interest in this project, be sure to advise if you are available on November 4th between 10am and 4pm for set-up, the duration of the event, and wrap up. 

Community Project Champion: 

• Michelle Tom, Co-Founder Stop Sprawl HamOnt   
• Shania Ramharrack-Maharaj, Founder of Stop Sprawl Students 

CPC Support: 

• Chris Krucker, Manorun Farm  

Active forms of travel, like biking, promotes physical and mental health, and is a low-carbon mode of transportation. Having a safe and appropriate place to park your bike when you arrive at a destination promotes cycling and supports those who bike.  

Communities at and who access community and social services centres, like hospitals and health care facilities, have described a desire for more bike racks at their locations.  

The City of Hamilton has a process and form for requesting more bike racks, that is publicly available. 

The goal of this project is to advocate for greater awareness and use of the City’s bike rack request form. Measures of success would include the number of new requests made by community and social service centres, as well as the number of new bike racks added.  While implementation is not a required part of this project, it is an option. This project can also be extended for future SUSTAIN students to continue through implementation, measurement, and reporting.  

Related Links: 

Greater Hamilton Health Network: https://greaterhamiltonhealthnetwork.ca/  

Bike Rack Request Form: https://www.hamilton.ca/home-neighbourhood/getting-around/biking-cyclists/bike-parking-request-form  

Community Project Champion: 

• Alison Carlyle, Project Manager – Sustainable Mobility, Planning and Economic Development, Transportation Planning & Parking, City of Hamilton 
• Marijke Jurriaans, Sustainability Project Manager, Greater Hamilton Health Network 

Project Advisors 

• Evan Nopper, Active Transportation Technologist – Sustainable Mobility, Planning and Economic Development, Transportation Planning & Parking, City of Hamilton 

• Peter Topalovic, Program Manager – Sustainable Mobility, Planning and Economic Development, Transportation Planning & Parking, City of Hamilton  
• Dr. Kate Whalen, Associate Director, Academic Sustainability Programs Office

Did you know that many McMaster students don’t have reliable access to affordable and nutritious food? The MSU Food Collective Centre is a service run by students, for students who may be experiencing food insecurity. The service offers access to non-perishable food items and various hygiene items at no cost and various programs to help support students. The McMaster Community Fridge aims to reduce barriers and support food security by providing food for folks in the McMaster community and surrounding area who need it. The McMaster Community Fridge is a fridge, freezer, and pantry located on campus by Mills Library and Lot B that is accessible 24/7. It provides fresh food and non-perishable items at no cost to those who need it. 

To increase support for and awareness of the Community Fridge, SUSTAIN 2SS3 students will advocate for McMaster students to donate acceptable items during move-out in both winter and spring. 

SUSTAIN 2SS3 students will focus on advocating to students living in McMaster residence buildings. Students can leverage social media and other forms of communication and are encouraged to get creative with their advocacy and engagement strategies! 

Community Project Champion(s) 

• Zachary Nott, Volunteer Coordinator, McMaster Community Coordinator 
• Maureen Saha, Communications Coordinator, McMaster Community Fridge 

Project Advisors: 

• Monica Palkowski, Living Learning Coordinator, Housing & Conference Services 
• Nathan Butterworth, Community Engagement Coordinator, Academic Sustainability Programs Office 

Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) is working to enhance the sustainability of their operations, and this extends to their Volunteer Association, which runs HHS’s catering and retail food services. When department leaders at HHS host a lunch meeting, staff BBQ, or holiday party, the Volunteer Association provides catering services. The Corporate Services Department and Volunteer Association teams want to make ‘sustainable events’ the default option for those ordering catering and food services at HHS, and they know that they need to provide support to those running and attending the event to achieve the most sustainable outcomes. For example, the Volunteer Association could deliver a composting/food waste bin to the event, but organizers and attendees need to have the tools and information to effectively use it.       

Students who take on this project will assess the current catering processes and associated catering items and advocate for any changes that would ensure that every HHS event is a sustainable event by default. Additionally, students will create a sustainable catering guide that will support all HHS staff in hosting, delivering, and attend the most sustainable events possible. One key measure of success is that the new process and guide are used by the organizers of HHS’s Annual Holiday Party in December of 2023 to make it HHS’s most sustainable Holiday Party yet! 

Community Project Champion 

Victoria Brzozowski, Environmental Management Lead, Hamilton Health Sciences 

Project Liaison 

Nathan Butterworth, Community Engagement Coordinator, McMaster University

McMaster University is signatory to the Okanagan Charter, which is committed to optimizing the health and well-being of campus. Since 2019, McMaster has worked to promote native bees on campus and currently has 75 native bee nests and is a Bee City Campus. McMaster is situated in a native bee ‘hot spot’ with over 200 native bee species.   

In the fall of 2022, a group of SUSTAIN 3S03 students and their Community Project Champions laid the groundwork for McMaster’s ground nesting bee garden. See their project report here. Why do bees need a garden to nest? Because many bees nest and lay eggs under leaf piles, in tubular structures, and in the ground. Following the success of the group’s work, a native bee nesting garden has been installed on McMaster’s main campus. To continue supporting native bees at McMaster, SUSTAIN 3S03 students who take on this project will organize and facilitate a community gardening event so that students, staff, faculty, and members of the broader community can get their hands dirty while planting shrubs/bushes and additional native pollinators and creating a garden ideal for McMaster bees to nest and lay their eggs for spring.  

Students who choose this project must be available to attend the event on November 9th from 8am until 12pm. 

Community Project Champions:  

• Noah Stegman, Coordinator of Nature at McMaster and Pollinator Team member  
• Nathan Butterworth, Community Engagement Coordinator, Academic Sustainability Programs Office 

Project Advisor: 

• Susan Dudley, Professor of Biology and Pollinator Team member  

Active travel, like biking, promotes physical and mental health, and is a low-carbon mode of transportation. Having a safe and appropriate place to park your bike when you arrive at a destination promotes cycling and supports those who bike.  

Communities at and who access community and social services centres, like hospitals and health care facilities, have described a desire for more bike racks at their locations.  

The City of Hamilton has a process and form for requesting more bike racks, that is publicly available. 

The goal of this project is to increase access to bike parking at a social services centre in Hamilton. Measures of success include the number of new requests made by members of social service centres, the number of new bike racks added, and the reach of the reporting back to the centre and its community members. This project can also be extended for future SUSTAIN students to continue through implementation, measurement, and reporting at other social services centres. 

Related Links: 

Greater Hamilton Health Network: https://greaterhamiltonhealthnetwork.ca/  

Bike Rack Request Form: https://www.hamilton.ca/home-neighbourhood/getting-around/biking-cyclists/bike-parking-request-form  

Community Project Champion: 

• Alison Carlyle, Project Manager – Sustainable Mobility, Planning and Economic Development, Transportation Planning & Parking, City of Hamilton 
• Marijke Jurriaans, Sustainability Project Manager, Greater Hamilton Health Network 

Project Advisors 

• Evan Nopper, Active Transportation Technologist – Sustainable Mobility, Planning and Economic Development, Transportation Planning & Parking, City of Hamilton  

• Peter Topalovic, Program Manager – Sustainable Mobility, Planning and Economic Development, Transportation Planning & Parking, City of Hamilton 
• Dr. Kate Whalen, Associate Director, Academic Sustainability Programs Office  

Encouraging and supporting sustainable mobility to and from McMaster is a priority of McMaster’s Parking Services and Office of Sustainability, both of which have information available to staff, faculty, students, and visitors. Information is posted online, but it is in need of a refresh. 

McMaster’s Parking Services and Office of Sustainability are looking for SUSTAIN students to create a clear, concise, and up-to-date ‘Sustainable Mobility’ webpage to be hosted on McMaster University’s website.  

Measures of success include ensuring that the information is accurate, professional, engaging, and in-line with McMaster’s online presence. Other measures, which will be tracked in future surveys will include the number of staff, faculty, and students who take a sustainable mode of travel to/from campus. 

Community Project Champion   

• Robert Morrallee, Senior Manager, Parking Services, Real Estate, Partnerships and Ancillaries, McMaster University  
• Dave Cano, Director, Sustainability, Facility Services, McMaster University 

Liaison and Project Mentor  

• Dr. Kate Whalen, Associate Director, Academic Sustainability Programs Office.   

Planting Trees by Searching the Web 

If you’re wondering how searching the web can result in more trees, check out Ecosia here. Ecosia is a free search engine that donates its advertising revenue to reforestation projects across the globe. For every 45 searches, approximately one tree is planted. Ecosia has planted over 160 million trees and has approximately 200 million users. In October 2022, Zero Waste McMaster (an awesome student club) collaborated with the McMaster Students Union (MSU) to pilot Ecosia on 20+ staff computers, and then worked with SUSTAIN students and Mills Memorial Library to install it as the default browser on 170 public-facing computers (read the Daily News story here). 

Following this early success, this year’s SUSTAIN 2SS3 students have two opportunities to advocate for others to adopt Ecosia.  

While the project is open to creativity, SUSTAIN 2SS3 students can expect to create communications that could be disseminated through email, memo, and PowerPoint presentation to students, department leaders, and/or staff teams. Students will develop communication strategies that advocate for exploration and/or the use of Ecosia to users, and gain community feedback to learn more about effective implementation strategies.  

Community Project Champion(s): 

• Nelly Okwu-wolu, Project Team Executive, Zero Waste McMaster 

Project Liaison: 

• Dr. Kate Whalen, Associate Director, Academic Sustainability Programs 

The mission of the Daily School Route (DSR) is for 100% of students to have the opportunity to walk or bike to school. The DSR is working with elementary schools in Hamilton to remove barriers and create opportunities for active travel. One current initiative is focused on engaging with elementary school students, parents, and staff to establish a network of ‘Student Streets’. The DSR defines a Student Street as a “contiguous route to school that is safe, convenient, and attractive”, and describes that “Student Streets are the guideway of the DSR, and their purpose is to maximize the number of students using active transportation daily”.[1]  

The initiative includes working with parents and guardians who currently drive to find alternative options, such as walking and biking, carpooling, and parking further away from the school so that their kids can gain the benefits of active travel to and from school, as well as with parents and guardians of kids who current walk or bike to school to improve their transportation experience. The initiative also includes facilitating a street-activation project whereby students use chalk and other means to decorate and ‘activate’ their Student Streets as a way for them to advocate for their transportation infrastructure and to form community connections between students.   

SUSTAIN 3S03 student can take part in this initiative by selecting one of two projects:   

1. Daily School Route Parent Engagement Strategy  

1. Daily School Route Street Activation Event   

NOTE: Students taking on this project will have to complete a Vulnerable Sector Scan. 

Community Project Champion  

• Daniel Chong, Daily School Route  

Project Mentors  

• Megan Bieksa, Volunteer Communications Advisor, Daily School Route  
• Kate Whalen, Volunteer Project Advisor, Daily School Route   

Sources 

1.  https://dailyschoolroute.org/project/what-is-a-student-street/   

Project option 1: ACCESS Tech – Communications Strategy 

Project option 2: ACCESS Tech – Increasing Donations Through Refurbishment 

Past SUSTAIN students worked with McMaster’s Facility Services and University Technology Services (UTS) and with Empowerment Squared to coordinate ACCESS Tech, a technology reuse and donation initiative. Empowerment Squared is a local charitable organization that empowers newcomers, racialized, and marginalized communities with tools and opportunities to thrive. Empowerment Squared refurbishes collected devices and works with their network of community organizations to distribute donated technology to local families in need. 

The goal of this project is to iterate and build on the previous students’ work for promotion and communication as well as for increasing the number of devices that are refurbished for donation. 

One group of SUSTAIN 3S03 students will develop and implement a communications strategy to encourage individuals to prepare for the upcoming IT Collection Event (October 20, 2023, 9am-3pm) by saving their devices, marking their calendars, and taking part in the collection event. Creating a ‘living’ communications plan that future student teams can use and build upon is another main goal. Students also have the opportunity to lead an Instagram takeover of the University’s account before and/or on the event day. An additional opportunity is to write and publish a story in the McMaster Daily News. 

To further enhance the ACCESS Tech initiative, a second group of SUSTAIN 3S03 students will develop partnerships and secure funding to purchase replacement parts like power cords and batteries, making unusable computers usable again. 3S03 students will create and host a workshop to teach McMaster students valuable skills like replacing ram, hard drives, and batteries so that they can refurbish devices for donation. 

Community Project Champions  

Communications Team 

• Gregory Iarusso, Manager, Communications and Culture, Office of Assistant Vice-President & Chief Technology Officer and UTS, McMaster University 

• Sanya Sharma, Coordinator, ACCESS Tech, McMaster University 

Refurbishment Team 

• Sanya Sharma, Coordinator, ACCESS Tech, McMaster University  

Project Liaison 

• Kate Whalen, Associate Director, Academic Sustainability Programs Office 

At McMaster, unwanted furniture items like desks, chairs, and bookcases are not tracked as part of McMaster’s annual waste audits as either waste or part of reduction efforts1 because there is currently no coordinated effort to donate or reuse items. 

With the motto, “one person’s trash is another person’s treasure”, a working group of McMaster’s Sustainability Advisory Committee developed processes and procedures so that university-owned furniture assets can be donated. The group successfully launched a McMaster ‘Trash to Treasure’ Facebook group to facilitate the program.  

The objectives of the Facebook group were to, (1) provide a platform for the exchange of University-owned goods between campus departments, (2) donate items to campus departments and university-sanctioned clubs, and (3) measure the impact through analysis of items posted. 

Unfortunately, the program was launched within weeks of the global pandemic and lockdown of McMaster. Fortunately, although some years have passed, few people were renovating their on-campus office spaces during this time, and folks became proficient in using the Microsoft Teams platform, which is more accessible to those working at McMaster. 

The goal of this project is to re-launch the Trash to Treasure program as a pilot with a handful of users, gain their feedback, make required revisions, launch the program campus-wide through a promotional campaign, and both measure and report on the program’s initial success.  

Community Project Champions  

• Carlos Figueira, Director, Custodial, Grounds, Logistics and Mail Services, Facility Services, McMaster University 
• Dave Cano, Director, Sustainability, Facility Services, McMaster University 
• Christa Morrison, Business Systems Specialist, University Technology Services 

Project Liaison 

• Kate Whalen, Associate Director, Academic Sustainability Programs Office 

Project Supporters/Advisors 

• Alex Schaap, Access Tech  
• Waste Reduction Working Group, McMaster Sustainability Advisory Council 

Two student groups

Description:

Cycling is a sustainable form of transportation, and Cycle Hamilton is working to make Hamilton the best place for anyone to get around by bike and connect the community along the way. Cycle Hamilton is a non-profit advocacy organization that hosts many events throughout the year including an Annual General Meeting (AGM). At the AGM, community members come together to learn about the past year accomplishments, listen to guest speakers, discuss future plans, and socialize with others in the cycling community. Cycle Hamilton is looking to work with two groups of students to host their 2023 AGM.

Group 1: Event Planning

This student group will would focus on the logistics of planning this AGM. Tasks would include selecting a venue, contacting potential speakers, generating an overall theme, creating the agenda for the event, and anything else the group thinks would make a successful event.

Group 2: Communications

This student group would focus on communicating and promoting this AGM. Tasks will include creating an Eventbrite, creating social media content, advertising in Cycle Hamilton’s newsletter and on their website, or developing any other content they believe will promote the event.

Part of this learning experience includes student team members being physically present at the event, which is anticipated to take place during the week of November 14, 2024 (in the evening).  

Community Project Champions:

• Paul Brown, Cycle Hamilton Board Member

Project Advisor

• Liana Bontempo, Cycle Hamilton Co-Chair 

SDG Alignment: 3, 9.2, 11, 16, 17

McMaster’s Hospitality Services is committed to making sustainable change to their operations. One way is through the “Choose to Reuse – Bring Your Own Mug” (BYOM) program. Individuals who bring their own reusable mug at participating locations on McMaster campus will receive a discount on their purchase.    

To increase this program’s usage, students in SUSAIN 3S03 worked to create a campaign to promote this program and address the issue of lack of awareness. However, following their campaign, usage increased only slightly. You can read the group’s report here.  

SUSTAIN 4S06 student researchers who take on this project will help McMaster’s Hospitality Services understand why students choose single-use coffee cups over their reusable mug.   

Community Project Champions:  

• Liana Bontempo, Manager, Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships, Hospitality Services     

Several post-secondary institutions have banned or are phasing out the sale of single-use plastic water bottles on campus. However, there are some important questions to answer:  

• How can we avoid making the problem worse for the environment and human health, which is what happened when the University of Vermont banned the bottle (Taylor, 2015)? 
• What are current student perceptions of refilling and a potential ban? 
• What are the barriers and opportunities to reuse? 

• Why do students purchase water and/or other beverages in single-use plastic bottles?
   

In the Fall of 2022, a group of SUSTAIN 4S06 student researchers interviewed students who already use a refillable bottle to understand their experiences. The student researchers recommended that future studies focus on first-year students living in residence who purchase beverages in plastic bottles to understand their attitudes, perspectives, and choices.  

Community Project Champion:  

• Monica Palkowski, Living Learning Coordinator, Housing & Conference Services 
• Melissa Gallina, Research Coordinator, Housing & Conference Services