Winter 2011
Waste Reduction Newsletter
Volume 15, Double Issue
News Near You Dawson Creek
Fort St. John
Brown’s Social House Takes Green Initiatives
Shed New Light on Energy Savings In an effort to provide business services that offer positive payback to owners, NEAT is adding energy audits to existing waste assessments through an innovative partnership with LiveSmart BC.
Brown’s Social House opened it’s doors in Dawson Creek on June 14, 2011. Since that time, business has been positive, and so has it’s environmental consciousness. The restaurant recycles all bottles, plastics, paper and cardboard. Employees take bottles and plastics to the Dawson Creek Recycling Depot. Cardboard and paper are picked-up by DT Disposal. The net result is a significant drop in waste headed to the landfill from your dining experience! You can take your left-overs home with a green piece of mind: take -out containers are made of 100% recycled paper board! Brown’s Social House stocks it’s shelves with 4 sizes of “Bio-Plus Earth” containers made by Fold-Pak. This packaging uses a minimum of 35% post-consumer reclaimed paper. Although the soup bowls are not made of recycled material, they are compostable. When dining in Dawson Creek, be sure to check your containers for the recycling triangle. A quick rinse & a toss in the composter or recycling bin could continue your favourite restaurant’s green initiatives.
Current waste assessments offer waste reduction recommendations based around the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle hierarchy. Helping businesses make positive purchasing and policy decisions means less waste to dispose of later. The LiveSmart BC: Small Business Program provides business owners with an in-depth snapshot of their energy usage and recommends practical changes that increase the bottom line. NEAT has a trained Business Energy Adviser on staff that is dedicated to reducing waste from small businesses by saving energy. The assessment process is easy, involving an onsite walkthrough which identifies inefficiencies within the building. Do you qualify? Privately owned and operated business located in BC? Spend less than $50 000 on energy (electricity & gas) per year? Operate a commercial energy account? Located in an existing building (not a new building)? If you have wanted to reduce your waste or energy bills and increase your profit but were never sure where to start, we can help. Call NEAT at 250-785-6328 or email jennifer@neat.ca.
Chetwynd A Blue Christmas It’ll be a ‘blue’ Christmas for those receiving food hampers this year in Chetwynd. Instead of delivering hampers in boring old laundry baskets (who wants to be reminded they have more laundry to do?), NEAT came up with the idea to put the food in blue box recycling bins. The bins are a good size for the food & will be functional for years to come. Eco-Advisor, Jen Brocke, said, “Right away, I thought of the blue bins. One of the barriers to recycling is that people don’t have the necessary ‘equipment’ to do so. It brightens peoples’ Christmas with the food & also encourages people to put their recyclables in them & take them to the Lion’s Recycling!” Karen Stewart called NEAT in October to say she was still interested. NEAT priced out bins from all over Canada but found the best deal at Canadian Tire in Dawson Creek. Because both NEAT & the Christmas Bureau are non-profit organizations, it was important to not only find the best price, but also to find a business to sponsor some of the cost. “This is a very important cause & I’m more than happy to help out” says Julia Nelson, Manager of the Pomeroy Inns & Suites. It was during a Chamber Luncheon which Jen & Julia both attended that the idea was put forth for the Pomeroy to help sponsor this project. Their generous $500.00 donation covered half the costs!