Walkin’ the talk

There are various initiatives at WWF to make sure we are “walking the talk” of day to day environmental action in our offices.  For example, being an international organization leads some of our staff on many trips each year (lucky them!). In order to minimize our carbon footprint, we purchase carbon offsets and take less impactful forms of transportation (e.g. train) whenever possible.  Not to mention taking part in the Commuter Challenge not just one week per year, but every day!
Anyway, when I received that email last week, I wrote back to our administration manager to express my excitement immediately.  She informed me that this has been something we’ve been working toward relentlessly for years. [I love that – never giving up – it really reflects who we are as an organization!]  Anyway, I always wondered why we didn’t compost in the office. It seems so simple – clearly I didn’t know much about building management and independent waste removal. So I joined the Sustainability at Work committee (join yours today – or start one!) and in one week I’ve learned a landfill worth (hardy har) of information about composting in an office building.

Here’s the scoop:

• –Waste removal for an office building is not the same as city waste removal; we contract out to Wasteco (garbage, recycling, and now compost)
• –The wonderful Wastco workers will take our compost to their plant in Brampton where it will be processed before being taken to Seacliff Energy in Leamington, ON
• –The machines at Seacliff ‘digest’ these blocks to create fertilizer and biogas that produces electricity sold to the Ontario power grid!
• –AND the hot water coming from the machine’s engine is sold as thermal power!

 
It is such a neat process that harnesses our compostable waste to create energy, all the while helping us reduce our impact on the planet we’re working so hard to protect.