EPSB.ca » Our Division » Topics of Interest » Environmental Sustainability
Edmonton Public Schools is committed to making environmentally-conscious decisions. Created in the fall of 2008, the EnviroMatters Office is an initiative of the Infrastructure department and the centre of the Division’s environmental initiative. In 2010, we developed a policy to guide and support environmental sustainability initiatives across the Division.
We promote sustainable school practices through environmental education, protection and conservation efforts. Many schools across the Division incorporate environmentally-friendly practices in their daily routines.
Policy: Environment (EO.BP)
All new schools in the Division maintain high environmental standards by:
Many of our new LEED-certified schools feature photovoltaic solar arrays mounted on the roofs and/or exterior walls. With the creation of our new Division Solar Strategy, we have also begun installing a few arrays on existing schools. Each array is accompanied by an online dashboard to monitor energy production.
We’re also reducing energy consumption through:
The Division continues to expand reporting initiatives by:
Every year on Earth Day, students and staff across the Division strive to reduce their carbon footprint and conserve energy. We challenge all schools and departments to turn off lights and other energy-consuming devices for at least an hour to increase awareness of our impact on the environment and help influence actions to reduce this impact.
At the end of each school year, Edmonton Public School students clean out their lockers before summer break. The Division EnviroMatters Office rolled out the Year-End Locker Clean-Out program to help schools collect, sort and recycle or reuse the materials cleaned out of lockers instead of tossing them in the garbage.
After the snow melts each spring, many schools participate in the City of Edmonton’s Schoolyard Clean Up program. Students clear litter from their school grounds, helping keep their school environments clean and safe.The program runs from March until June and schools compete to be the tidiest in Edmonton.
Since February 2015, the Division EnviroMatters Office has co-ordinated a free electronic waste recycling drive for all Centre for Education staff and their households. The event is held for two weeks, and staff members are encouraged to bring old electronic waste from home and their surrounding community. The program is such a success that it’s now an annual event at the Centre, and the program has expanded into Division schools as a fundraising and community engagement initiative.