Celebrating Circular Economy Month | Sustainable Seneca | Seneca Students

This month the Circular Innovation Council launched the first-ever Circular Economy Month, which is dedicated to educating and engaging Canadians on building a circular economy.

A circular economy incorporates a better design that consumes less raw material during production, maximizes value during use, and improves products and services that are intended to eliminate waste.

At Seneca, we are committed to addressing the global single-use plastics problem and incorporating concepts of the circular economy into our waste management approach at our campuses.

 “At Seneca, we work to foster innovation and to make sustainability the standard in how we operate. One of the areas we are focusing on and see many opportunities in is waste,” said Courtney Hayes, Sustainability Specialist — Operations, Office of Sustainability. “From incentivizing best practices in our vendors to implementing innovative recycling programs, we keep an eye on the horizon and ask, what actions can we do today to help build the future we want to see?”

Since the fall of 2022, Seneca's cafeterias and campus stores have been selling beverages in aluminium cans or glass bottles whenever possible, except for sports drinks and selected vitamin waters and water in bottles exceeding 1 Liter. 

Students and employees can now find alternatives to plastic cutlery, stir sticks and other packaging items in food service locations.

What can you do to increase your positive environmental impact?

• Fill your reusable bottle at one of the many water stations available on campus; locate a station by searching “hydration stations” on the Seneca MOBILE app
• Use reusable containers on campus and commit to hosting meetings and gatherings without single-use plastics
• Recycle properly utilizing the correct disposal bin and  discarding food and liquid
• Be an example for your friends and the Seneca community

Do you have an idea for further reducing single-use plastics on campus?

Email sustainability@senecacollege.ca.