Reusing and Recycling before Renovating

Recycling efforts diverted approximately 150 metric tonnes away from landfills

The Swap Shop on campus is normally kept busy with the odds and ends that arrive from small to medium-sized moves across the university.

But for the Faculty of Law’s Bora Laskin Library and staff move that occurred over the summer, the “big guys” were called in, says Reno Strano, waste management supervisor in the Department of Facilities and Services.

The recycling rate was more than 90 percent, an excellent achievement for a moving project of this size.  In comparison, the overall diversion rate for the U of T campus last year was 72 percent, he says.

"For very large moves, we subcontract to CSR Eco Solutions. The company recycles old furniture and equipment and more to local charities and even Third World countries,” says Strano. As of September 20th, preliminary reports from CSR indicate about 150 metric tonnes of old equipment, materials, computers, etc. were diverted away from landfills.

Just about everything was recycled, separated, piled up and removed: numerous study carrels, large library tables, a variety of chairs, doors, desks, outdated computer equipment, and excess shelving units.

In addition, the library move included recycling of old papers, enough to fill five very large containers—30 percent larger than the big grey containers at the Faculty of Law, says Strano.

We’ll have more on the renewal project’s recycling and diversion initiative in a future post, as the demolition progresses.