Your trash is someone else's treasure

a release from the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group

Every year, tons of reusable goods from the Kitchener-Waterloo area end up in landfills. Unwanted furniture and electronics are considered “trash” to their owners and end up on the streets for garbage pickup. Why not recycle these items? There are many students, start-up home owners, and low income residents that would appreciate these second hand items. Why not help save the environment and save people money simultaneously by simply recycling these goods?

Trash 2 Treasure is a new initiative aiming to do just that. Our goals are to divert reusable goods from entering landfills, and provide the community with quality items at affordable prices; and we believe that by doing so, our goods recycling program can also build a greater sense of community within the region.

As far as we know, Trash 2 Treasure is the first large-scale goods recycling program of its kind in Canada. There have been a few in the United States, all highly successful programs generating tens of thousands of dollars and diverting tons of waste from landfills each year. Kitchener-Waterloo’s Trash 2 Treasure can be just as successful, with the potential to attract people from all over Ontario.

In short, Trash 2 Treasure helps to save the environment, save people money, and build community relations. Run entirely by volunteers, our costs can be kept to a minimum — making our sale items as cheap as they get. Although this takes place in the university and is run by students, Trash 2 Treasure is a public interest initiative and everyone is welcome.

Between July 31 and September 11 we will be running our donation drive throughout the community every Thursday — July 31, August 7, 14, 21 and 28, and September 4 and 11. During this time community members can drop off small items at the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group, or they can opt to have their items picked up by our weekly pick-up team. We accept a wide variety of items such as furniture, small appliances, electronics, computer accessories, CDs and DVDs, sports items, tools, home décor accessories, and more.

Then, on September 13 and 14, we will be holding a giant sale of these items at the Student Life Centre in the University of Waterloo (10:00 to 2:00 both days).

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Changes coming to UW fitness centres

by Chris Gilbert, Athletics

In order to optimize our fitness spaces and to enhance our facility programming, the Athletic Department is altering the usage of the Physical Activities Complex (PAC) strength centre and Columbia Icefield (CIF) fitness centre (pictured above).

The PAC strength centre will focus on heavy weight lifting, and will have a large range of free weights and strength equipment. The warm up room will have cardio equipment for the purpose of warm up and cool down. The changes to the PAC strength centre will allow a certified personal trainer to be available during all open hours. The full coverage in supervision will also allow us to provide additional workout equipment for users to sign out.

The CIF fitness centre will focus on both fitness and conditioning, and will have a combination of cardio equipment, machines, weights, and equipment for general users. The CIF fitness centre will also receive eight additional pieces of equipment to meet demand and user needs.

“The changes we are making to the fitness centres in both facilities reflect current use patterns and will enable us to better serve our customers,” commented athletics director Bob Copeland. “Our aim is to utilize our space, time and staffing resources to optimize the user experience. We will continue to evaluate these changes moving forward. Ensuring the safety and security of our users and meeting the needs of our clientele is our number one priority on campus.”

Beginning Tuesday, September 2, the PAC strength centre will be open:

• Monday, 7 – 8 a.m, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., 4 – 7 p.m., 9 – 11 p.m.
• Tuesday, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., 4 – 7 p.m., 9 – 11 p.m.
• Wednesday, 7 – 8 a.m., 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., 4 – 7 p.m., 9 – 11 p.m.
• Thursday, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., 4 – 7 p.m., 9 – 11 p.m.
• Friday, 7 – 8 a.m., 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., 4 – 7 p.m.
• Saturday and Sunday, noon – 3 p.m.

Starting from the same date, the CIF fitness centre will be open:

• Monday – Thursday , 7 a.m. – 11:30 p.m.
• Friday, 7 a.m. – 9:30 p.m.
• Saturday, 9 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.
• Sunday, 9 a.m. – 11:30 p.m.

In total, the PAC strength centre and CIF fitness centre will provide users with 129 weekly hours of operation.

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Waterloo to host nanotechnology workshop

The Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology will host the Ontario Session of the ISTP- sponsored, Canada-India Nanotechnology Workshop this Tuesday, August 5 and Wednesday, August 6. The workshop begins with coffee at 8 a.m. on Tuesday; the formal opening, with a welcome by President David Johnston, starts at 8:30. Most events take place in Davis Centre rooms 1302 and 1301. No RSVP is required.

"This is an Open invitation session," says the notice from Christopher Pringle, director of industry and government relations in the department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering. "Please feel free to attend the presentations. There will be a formal networking opportunity for one-on-one discussions and arrangement of follow-up discussions, followed by a traditional Indian BBQ where participants can informally connect and share ideas.

"The opportunity here for industry is for potential research linkages with Indian and Canadian researchers and more details about funding opportunities the Federal government has in place for industry led collaborations.

"This is a high profile workshop. ... Dr. Henri Rothschild (President of ISTP Canada) will provide opening remarks. Seven Ontario universities will present their nanotechnology infrastructure, programs and expertise, followed by nine Indian researchers whose topics include Nanobiotechnology, Organic Electronics, Nanomaterials and organic semiconductor fabrication for photovoltaic and LED, Amorphous silicon thin film solar cells by PECVD, MEMS and Semiconductor devices for biosensing, Semiconductor thin film processing, characterization and device fabrication, Biomolecular Electronics and Conducting Polymer research, Purification and characterization of Industrial enzymes, Experimental surface studies, Auger Electron Spectroscopy, Self-supporting biological nanostructures, Synthesis an characterization of dielectric films and ultra thin SiN dielectric films for VLSI fabrication, and Signal processing and pattern recognition, neuron firing apparatus characterisation."

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Of sunscreen and summer hours

Many food outlets across campus have already closed or reduced their hours of operation for the summer. Starting today, Tim Hortons in the Student Life Centre is actually extending its hours. From now to August 15, they are open Monday to Saturday, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sundays 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. They will be closed August 4, Civil Holiday Monday, like most other places on campus. The turnkey desk in the Student Life Centre will be open Monday, as always, with coffee for sale as usual.

A correction to Wednesday's story on the Canada Day celebration. Bill Anderson, chemical engineering, writes: "I can’t resist pointing out a calculation error in the Canada Day statistics. The volume of sunscreen should be 3.3 litres (15 x 220 mL = 3,300 mL = 3.3 L). I suspect 33 L of sunscreen spread over 220 volunteers would have left them very well protected, but rather slimy..."

CPA staff

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