The fourth annual Welcome Back Sustainability Challenge takes place next week, offering students a chance to win one of five prizes while learning more about making more sustainable choices every day.

Hosted in partnership with Blackstone Energy Services, the friendly competition asks new and returning students to log their sustainability actions, such as recycling or using a refillable water bottle, between 12 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 9 and noon on Friday, Sept. 13 to collect points. The app provides insights into the impact of each action logged and how it correlates with one or more of the 17 United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals.

The five students with the most points and actions logged at noon on Friday, Sept. 13 will be entered into a draw to win an Apple iPad, Apple Watch, headphones or one of two $50 Campus Store gift cards.

Students interested in participating must register by Sunday, Sept. 8 using the free Blackstone Energy EcoBoss app available on the Apple App Store or Google Play.

Once the app is downloaded, students will need to:

• Review and accept the privacy policy once in the app
• Create an account using their Brock email and enter Brock’s challenge code: badgers
• Click the badge icon to join the Brock “Welcome Back Sustainability Challenge”
• Hit the green “Join Challenge”

The challenge aims to teach students simple ways to be more sustainable through everyday activities at home and on campus as well as about the impact small actions can make on reducing individual and institutional carbon footprints. To date, previous challenges have amounted to a combined total of 242,000 kilograms saved in carbon dioxide, 14,000kg of diverted waste and 3.4 million litres of water saved.

Students with questions about the challenge can e-mail sustainability@brocku.ca