Our Environment
Did you know that when we receive items that do not meet our quality standards for our programs and stores, we make sure that we divert as much as possible from the landfill. We do this by recycling all of the following:
- clothing and textiles
- paper
- cardboard
- soft plastics
- hard plastics
- cermaics and glass
- metals
- electronics and small appliances
- batteries
- wood, whicker, particle board
- styrofoam
Here are a few things we have done to take actions towards reducing, reusing, and recycling!
- We have completed our carbon inventory through Climate Smart for 2010 and will soon be undertaking our inventory for 2011. In 2010, on an annual basis our total emissions including all three scopes (electricity, heat, transportation, commuting and waste) was 131 tonnes of CO2 equivalent. Check back soon for the more details of the 2011 inventory on our website.
- Through our donations, we divert enough waste from the landfill to account for the avoidance of 732 tonnes of CO2 equivalent!
- Thanks to the implementation of our recycling practices in 2009-2010, we have further reduced our garbage by 26,130 kgs – which also translates into a savings of $5,250 compared to 2008-2009 that can be used towards our goodworks!
- We have completely retrofitted the Cook and Pandora stores with energy efficient lighting – replacing an amazing 190 lightbulbs!
- In 2009-2010, we used 15,000 fewer plastic bags in the retail stores than we did compared to 2008-2009– and the ones we do use are all bio-degradeable
- In 2009-2010, we used 52% less cardboard boxes compared to 2008-2009
- Since the implementation of our re-usable textile bags in 2008 – we have used 25,520 less garbage bags per year!
Also here are some facts to show you why buying second hand makes sense.
- It takes around 1,800 gallons of water to grow enough cotton to produce just one pair of regular ol' blue jeans. and releases 33.2kg of Carbon Dioxide. (treehugger.com and ecofx.org)
- Not as bad as jeans, it still takes a whopping 400 gallons of water and 700g of fossil fuels to grow the cotton required for one ordinary cotton shirt – and it creates 450g of landfill waste (treehugger.com and ecofx.org)
