These days, it’s easier being green

Businesses finding success and savings with the help of groups such as Sustainable Waterloo Region

Justine Fraser

Observer Staff

GOING GREENER IS NOT ONLY good for the corporate image, it’s increasingly a boon to the bottom line. Helping businesses along that path is where Sustainable Waterloo Region (SWR) comes into the picture.

Executive director Tova Davidson helps businesses and organizations reduce their carbon footprint, consulting on how they can become greener and measuring the effects to help them see a return on investment.

“Oftentimes, the fastest and most effective thing a lot of businesses can do is insulation and windows.

It’s the stuff that we’ve been talking about for so many years, but the impact of that means that you’re using less electricity for air conditioning and the return on investment for that can be really quick,” said Davidson.

SWR has seen a growth in some of their programs from businesses around the region looking to be more sustainable in the future, understanding the effects of climate change.

“We’ve seen some pretty big growth in some of our programs. We focus on organizational sustainability. Helping businesses, public sector, private sector, not for profits, municipalities reduce

Changes at raceway College talks drag on

Grand River Raceway announced that Jamie Martin will be stepping down as director of operations but staying on as raceway manager. Martin joined the organization in 2017, taking over for Dr. Ted Clarke after spending 17 years at Woodbine Entertainment Group, retiring from his position as executive vice president of racing.

Some 15,000 Ontario college faculty who have been without a contract since Sept. 30 have opted for strike action, with 59.4% voting in favour of that option. Talks with the College Employer Council (CEC), which represents Ontario college employers, began in July.