VALLEY CENTER, CALIF.—Harrah’s Rincon Casino & Resort has diverted more than 400 tons of recyclables, reduced Styrofoam use by 25 percent and cleaned up more than eight miles of San Diego County beaches. These conservation efforts are the result of the employee driven “Green Committee,” which meets bi-weekly in support of the company’s CODEGreen Commitment. “CODEGreen is our commitment to conservation and sustainability,” says senior vice president and general manager Janet Beronio.
The Green Committee is comprised of Harrah’s employees who want to make a difference. “There were so many ideas at the first meeting,” exclaims Brendan O’Kane, facilities manager and chairman of the Green Committee. “But rather than start a lot of different projects at once, we wanted to focus on the low hanging fruit and execute those projects well before moving on to the next opportunity.”
The first major green initiative was a partnership with Lime Energy, Inc., to retrofit major portions of the property with energy efficient lighting. More than 10,000 light fixtures were retrofitted with energy efficient lamps in 2008 and 2009, reducing energy demand by 3.1 million kilowatt-hours per year—the equivalent of taking 511 cars off the road.
“Everyone knows that green is good,” says Jill Barrett, vice president of finance. “But green is also good business. It makes sense financially.”
Lighting Costs Drop Dramatically
The lighting retrofit reduced the property’s annual lighting cost of $32.86 per square foot to an average annual cost of $0.59 per square foot. Thanks to rebates from San Diego Gas & Electric, the majority of the retrofits only cost the property the labor associated with installing the new bulbs. Other projects include:
• Recycling: Harrah’s Rincon Casino & Resort participates in a recycling program that has diverted more than 400 tons of recyclable materials from landfills since March 2008. A food waste compost program, which started in 2009, has diverted more than 6,000 pounds from landfills and turned it into reusable compost.
• Recycling for Habitat for Humanity: Harrah’s Rincon Casino & Resort donated assorted furnishings and construction materials valued at more than $46,000 to Habitat for Humanity for their San Diego Regional projects.
• Reforestation project: Employees planted more than 200 trees and shrubs in an area destroyed by the 2007 Poomacha Fire.
• Reclaimed water: The Rincon Tribe is using reclaimed water from Harrah’s Rincon to irrigate the tribal sports complex.
• Beach cleanup: Employee volunteers have donated more than 200 hours cleaning more than eight miles of beaches in San Diego County.
• “Bring your own cup” employee program: In 2009, Harrah’s Rincon Casino & Resort launched the “Bring Your Own Cup” program, which encouraged employees to bring a reusable cup and helped to reduce the amount of Styrofoam being used in the employee dining room by 25 percent.
• In-room programs: Harrah’s Rincon cleans the resort’s 662 guestrooms with green certified or environmentally preferred products. In addition, the property participates in the CodeGreen “set back the stat”, the “uncool” refrigerator program and a linen exchange program which saves thousands in energy costs and hundreds of thousands of gallons of water each month. Guests are also asked to request their complimentary daily newspaper which has helped to reduce the number of newspapers being used.
• Sustainable garden: Employees planted an organically sustainable herb and vegetable garden that is used by the culinary team in the employee dining room.
• Shipping containers returned to vendors: Harrah’s Rincon Casino & Resort now returns all shipping containers to its vendors, where they can be reused and/or recycled. This is diverting approximately 150 pallets and containers per month from landfills.
• Creation of carpool parking lot: Employees who carpool to work have access to a special “green” parking lot, ensuring front row parking.
• PC power down: All property PCs automatically power down after 10 minutes of non-use.
• “Put a little more ‘off’ in your office” program: Bright green faceplates have been installed on light switches in administrative areas, reminding employees to turn off the lights when they leave.
• Green corner recycling: Harrah’s Rincon Casino & Resort set up a small recycling collection center that allows employees to drop off items such as batteries, computer equipment, cell phones, and other small appliances and pays the fee to have them recycled. Since June 2009, they have collected more than 1,900 items.
• Earth Hour: Harrah’s Rincon Casino & Resort joined with Harrah’s Entertainment in “powering down” the California property and the world famous Las Vegas Strip for World Wildlife Fund’s Earth Hour on March 28, 2009. Every Harrah’s Entertainment resort in Las Vegas and 18 other Harrah’s casino resorts across North America participated in the event.
“Our conservation and sustainability projects have come from an economic, but more importantly an environmental need,” O’Kane says. “We are looking at all aspects of what we do, both here and within our own homes. We are challenging our employees to look at everything through a green lens. We have accomplished a lot, but there are still so many opportunities and we are just getting started.”
In August, the Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians, which owns Harrah’s Rincon Casino & Resort, broke ground on a solar field that will generate one megawatt of clean energy.
“We have a responsibility to join our neighbors in reducing greenhouse emissions,” says tribal chairman Bo Mazzetti. “As a government, we have a responsibility to our tribal members to plan and prepare for a sustainable future.” The solar plant, which is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2010, will be the first to be used to serve a tribal casino and will reduce the casino’s grid consumption the equivalent of powering 3,300 homes.
Kathy Box, training & development manager and member of the Green Committee, is excited about the solar plant and other upcoming projects. “It’s all about the little things that we can do, every day,” she says. “The Green Committee helps us remember that, and it gives passionate people a chance to come together and accomplish great things—for us and for the planet.”
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