TORONTO— Decreasing waste and improving sustainability is often a function of controlling cost and improving environmental stewardship. WasteLess Environmental Services Inc., of Calgary, is helping Canadian companies reduce waste and reach environmental improvement goals. ZeroWaste, a new program offering from WasteLess, takes this mission one step further. Instead of aiming to reduce waste created by corporations, it completely eliminates it.
Through consultative waste audits, new landfill diversion tactics and breakthrough recycling programs, the ZeroWaste application by WasteLess is capturing industry attention because of its design, implementation and results. Coast Hotels & Resorts in Vancouver, B.C., a WasteLess client, has received numerous accolades for the success of the program.
The new 220-room Coast Coal Harbour Hotel in downtown Vancouver is one of only a handful of ZeroWaste hotels in North America. Since implementing the WasteLess ZeroWaste program, the Vancouver hotel has successfully diverted all waste produced at the property from ending up in landfills. Guests staying at the hotel find not one, but three recycling bins in their rooms: one for recyclables, one for organics and a bin for non-recyclable products. In addition, 2.79 tons of organic waste generated in the hotel’s guestrooms, kitchen and restaurant are recovered every month for composting.
Transported Waste
The 5.38 tons of non-recyclable waste generated at the hotel every month is picked up and transported to the Greater Vancouver Regional District’s Waste-to-Energy facility in south Burnaby where it’s used as a fuel source to produce steam that drives a turbine generating 17,297 kilowatt hours of electricity per month—enough energy to meet the monthly power needs of approximately 18 homes. Other materials such as batteries, paint, electronic equipment, light bulbs, neon tubes, even old wooden pallets are collected on an as-needed basis and recycled. In total, the hotel’s zero waste program eliminates approximately 576 cubic feet of waste from going to the landfill space every month and saves 56 trees, 87,978 liters of water and seven barrels of oil on a monthly basis.
“ZeroWaste is the future of resource management,” said Don Lyster, president of WasterLess. “To have clients like Coast Hotels champion the program that requires guest participation, makes the success highly rewarding. Low-flow showerheads and toilets are not enough to be considered a sustainability strategy anymore. The public, our employees and the environment demand more.”
“The ZeroWaste program is indicative of both guest values and our own,” said Hans Von Blodeau, manager of the Coast Coal Harbour Hotel. “Our guests want their service providers to be highly engaged in sustainable business practices. We know this because of the program’s reception. The program requires genuine participation from guests to succeed, and we have received tremendous feedback, encouragement and participation from our guests. In addition, we have received numerous accolades for our environmental stewardship. This is a growing success and we’re proud to be industry leaders in the hospitality industry.”
Go to www.wasteless.com.
