Sustainability
5. Sustainability
As an organization led by, and ultimately for young people, we know that consciousness of our environmental impact and the footprint of this community needs to be top of mind in everything we do. Throughout the year we will be working towards making the USC as sustainable as it can be, led in large part by our new Sustainability Framework. One way we’re excited to implement this is by ensuring we are sourcing ethically, and showing students what goes into products available at operations like The Spoke and Wave. We will also be engaging internal and external stakeholders to advocate for increased urgency and action on issues of sustainability and climate change. It is also important for us to make our spaces more green, which could look like retrofitting, installation of greenery inside, on top, and around our rooms and spaces, and reworked infrastructure to allow our campus community to dispose of waste of all kinds in the correct ways.
 Executive Lead: Nathan Szierer, Vice President Governance and Finance
Initiative | Executive Lead | Updates | Status |
Implementation of London’s Green Bin Program | Eunice Oladejo | The USC’s VPEA is in communication with City Staff regarding the 2022 timeline for implementation, as well as education initiatives. She is further initiating conversations with the London Environmental Network regarding joint advocacy for green bins. | Ongoing |
Mug-share program | Zamir Fakirani | The USC President is working with the Commercial Operations Working Group and aiming to implement a mug-share pilot in 2022. | Ongoing |
Sustainability Policy Paper | Â | The USC President and VPEA wrote a Sustainability policy paper which was passed in November Council. | Complete |
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Additional Executive Initiatives
The Executive Roadmap plans out how the executive will structure their programs, plans, and portfolios for the year under organized priority areas. However, when new opportunities or issues arise, they may implement additional programs. See below for updates on these additional initiatives.
Internal practices
- President is working alongside our COO and VPGF to ensure internal sustainability practices reflect our mission and values. Specifically, we are working alongside our Commercial Operations Working Group to improve procurement practices.
President’s Advisory Committee on the Environment and Sustainability
- President attended the university’s last PACES meeting of the year where updates on the university’s waste management practices were publicized.
Supporting Western’s Sustainability Team
- The USC Executive have established a working relationship with the university’s sustainability team and connected waste management to envirowestern. The President and VPEA will be visiting the team next week to discuss possible collaborations.