Category Archives: Waste

Composting at 100 per cent at Food Forest

It’s the end of the lunch rush and Food Forest Cafe is buzzing with conversation, so Adam Deck and Katie Tuma suggest we do our interview out back.

Turns out they were speaking literally. We head outside to an open area behind the Water St. restaurant. Three mismatched chairs, which I later learn likely came from a thrift store, are waiting for us.

Next to the chairs are a few orange, five-gallon pails. Katie says there would usually be a lot more. The pails hold food scraps that farmers and gardeners pick up and use for compost, returning the pails later. During an average week Food Forest gives away 18 pails of the stuff, or 90 gallons.

Deck waves toward a brick wall that separates the courtyard area behind this section of Hunter St. buildings from those along Water St.

On the other side of the wall is a large dumpster bin that other restaurants in the block share and pay to have hauled away.

“Because we’re a plant-based restaurant 100 per cent of our food waste can be composted,” Deck says. “So, at the end of the week we have less than one garbage bag.”

That’s less garbage than most households produce. It goes to the curb for pickup by the city, a big cost saving for them and a load off the landfill site.

Food Forest is vegan and gluten free. It’s no coincidence that the plant-based nature of their menu produce minimal garbage. Deck and Tuma are health and ecology advocates first and restaurateurs second.

They met while studying ecological restoration at Fleming College in Lindsay. Inspired by what they were learning. they looked for a way to make a difference on their own. A vegan restaurant run on strict environmental principles was a natural outlet.

Tuma describes their relationship as “partners in life and in the restaurant.”

Food Forest opened three years ago in a smaller George St. location just north of downtown. A year ago they expanded to the 32-seat Hunter St. site, where they have 10 employees.

The restaurant’s fun, quirky feel fits its clientele and its owners’ personalities, but it was put together with intent.

Pine boards used during the interior renovation are all recovered scrap, most of it sourced from Deck’s father, who owns Deck Transport, a third-generation local trucking firm.

“We also do a lot of thrifting,” Tuma says. “Most of our small pots and cups and teapots are from the thrift store. . . . We aren’t really fans of buying all new.”

When possible they go beyond re-use to “don’t use.”

They don’t give out cutlery as part of their busy take-out business. Take-out containers are made from cane juice pulp, not paper, but they would rather you not use them at all. They charge 25 cents per container and encourage customers to bring their own instead.

“After doing a couple hundred of those orders that saves a lot of waste,” Deck says.

“And gets the conversation going,” Tuma adds. “We have really strict policies – our non-straw in house policy; we don’t give out take-out cutlery – things like that those create conversations, which makes some people uncomfortable but it allows us to explain why we’re doing it and that causes them to think about things in a different way.” They buy their organic vegetables locally whenever possible – Jenny Ross of Earth Nook Farm is their main local provider – and manage the entire business with a mindset of being sustainable, waste free and low carbon.

But the key element, they say, is serving only plant-based food.

“In regards to climate change, wth animal agriculture, especially the intense factory farming that goes on, the greenhouse gas emissions are more than all transportation combined,” Tuma says.

They see no endpoint to their sustainable journey.

“It shouldn’t just stop at a green promise or something like that,” Tuma says. “We kind of assess what we can improve on and how we can get the community involved. It’s fun … fun having that role.”

This is one of a series of articles commissioned and paid for by Sustainable Peterborough and published in partnership with The Peterborough Examiner. By Jim Hendry, Peterborough Examiner, original article published Saturday, June 18, 2016.

Siemens is cutting its carbon footprint, locally and abroad

Sometimes, meeting a green goal is a simple as handing out a coffee mug.

Not just one mug, though.

Three years ago, an in-house team at Siemens that works to ensure the environmental footprint laid down by the Technology Dr. factory is as small as possible realized that their cafeteria went through a lot of paper cups.

“Employees were using a lot of paper coffee cups, and they were bringing them into the facility from Tim Horton’s etc., so we handed out reusable coffee mugs,” recalls Lori MacLeod, the plant’s environmental, health and safety manager.

“We also went a step further and said, ‘If you’re going to buy coffee in the cafeteria and use your reusable mug you get five cents off the coffee.”

Each of the 325 employees got a thermal mug. The result: in addition to whatever dent they made in paper cup consumption at local coffee shops, the cafeteria now buys 60 per cent fewer cups.

Similar employee participation initiatives help the local Siemens plant meet energy and waste reduction targets it gets from its national head office. But the impetus for green performance is ultimately driven by the international parent company.

Siemens AG, based in Germany, has 350,000 employees in 187 countries. One of its goals is to be the first world’s first major industrial company to reduce it’s output of carbon – the primary source of climate-change inducing greenhouse gas – to net zero.

The target date for a zero carbon footprint is 2030.

Scott Hoy is the facility and maintenance manager at the Technology Dr. plant. Since coming to Siemens from GE-Hitachi eight months ago he’s been responsible for a project to replace the large air handlers that heat and cool the 180,000 sq. ft. building, along with some of the rooftop HVAC units, with more energy efficient equipment.

“We can recover heat within the building, too,” Hoy says. “A lot of our processes give off heat, which would just be sent outside. We’re looking at a recirculation method and heat recovery to reduce that so we won’t have to use the gas fired heaters as much.”

Smaller efficiency measure are often suggested by employees through the company’s 3i program – ideas, impulses and initiatives.

“We had one employee up in the offices and one employee downstairs put in a 3i idea and I’ve approved it and it’s going through. It’s putting in motion sensors in the copy room and the coat room upstairs,” Hoy explains.

The sensors will turn lights on and off depending on whether someone is using the space.

“We could do that in the kitchen, too,” Macleod says, adding one more entry to the 3i file.

Macleod notes that the ubiquitous wooden pallets that arrive when equipment and supplies are delivered had been a problem.

“We had a real struggle finding someone who would use and recycle them. In the last two quarters we’ve actually diverted six tonnes of wood scraps into recycling.”

The skids are now recycled in Lindsay, an arrangement set up by Greenspace Waste Solutions, a Brampton based company that for the past year has mangaged the waste from the plant.

Following an extensive renovation of the plant’s offices, Greenspace is finding a home for less conventional “waste” that would otherwise end up in a landfill, Hoy says.

“We’re working with Greenspace and another company called CSR Ecosolutions. They will come in and take all the old office furniture, refurb it, fix it up, and then they donate it to charities that need it.”

Projects like that have helped push the plant’s waste diversion rate up to 73%, Macleod says. Ten years ago that figure was 61 per cent.

In January the plant received this year’s Environmental Excellence Business Award from Otonabee Conservation, recognizing Siemens employees for having planted 1,200 trees and shrubs around the city and county over the past five years.

Workers get paid time off to take part in those Earth Day tree planting projects, another example of Siemens’ commitment to a green agenda.

2015 Report Card

The 2015 Report Card is now available; it is Sustainable Peterborough’s 4th Report Card! It highlights just a sampling of our numerous collective accomplishments. For a full listing of all the sustainable successes reported by our partner organizations, please visit our Sustainable Activities Database.

If you would like a few paper copies of the Report Card, please contact us.

No trees were harmed in the printing of our Report Card. The 2015 Report Card was printed on FSC certified 100% recycled paper, using vegetable inks!

SGS Lakefield looks to standardize sustainable practices

LAKEFIELD – As we make our way back to the reception office at SGS Canada’s Lakefield facility, turning corners, choosing the right door to get to the next corridor, navigating a long flight of stairs, I jokingly refer to the web of connected buildings as a maze.

Madison Sieloff, one of nine members of the plant’s sustainability committee I’ve just met with, agrees. “I call it that too.”

The corporate structure within the SGS facility is almost as complex as the buildings.

Tyler Nolan is the company’s program development manager for health, safety and environment, both at the Lakefield site and nationally. A Trent University environmental sciences grad, he was instrumental in pulling the sustainability committee together.

He notes that “we run almost three different businesses on this facility” – a sprawling, fenced-in compound at the south end of Lakefield.

The committee, formed in October, will determine how well “sustainable” practices already underway work and then standardize them across the entire facility, Nolan says.

Lillian Kuehn, national business services manager for the SGS minerals side, clarifies that there is no “almost” – SGS Lakefield contains three separate businesses with 371 employees.

Two relate to mineral testing. The geochemistry lab measures the mineral content of ore samples shipped in from around the world. The metallurgical testing business determines how minerals can be removed from the ore economically.

The third arm is an environmental lab that can analyze anything from drinking water, metals in air and sewage to acid rock drainage.

A support group works with all three business lines, moving materials from one area to another and taking care of maintenance.

The full 14-member sustainability committee meets once a month.

Sieloff, who chairs the committee, says a meeting will typically focus on one topic. That might be plastics recycling.

“Each department member will speak on how it impacts their specific department. From Corin’s standpoint being from environmental she sees different consumables that are used and how we need to go about recycling there,” Sieloff says.

“From the maintenance side, Amanda can help us with services on site and how we need to organize everything. From geo-chem, same kind of thing.

“We can see the different groups, how it can all come together into one formal system.”

Basic recycling is not new to SGS. Having a single, cross-facility committee has made the old methods more effective.

Plastics pails, for example. Hundreds were being recycled each year along with other plastics – a truckload or more of large, empty containers roughly four times a year. Now, as a result of cross-talk between departments, many pails are reused instead of recycled, a step up on the sustainability scale.

Reuse is also taking hold in smaller ways. Instead of getting rid of old file folders each business now takes them to a common room. Everyone in the facility knows that if they need a folder, that’s the place to go.

Not surprisingly, a company full of highly trained technicians also has more innovative and specialized sustainability projects on the go.

One client manufactures catalytic convertors for the automotive industry. SGS does tests to make certain the right amounts of lead and precious metals go into the convertors.

They recently started testing leftover “haz waste” to determine if it contains enough valuable metal to justify reprocessing. If the results are positive their client will buy back what was once shipped out and stored as hazardous waste and treat it to recover those metals.

The sustainability committee grew out of an annual survey SGS conducts across its worldwide operations – 1,800 offices and 85,000 employees working in at least 10 different industries, according to the company website.

Last year’s survey revealed that many employees felt sustainability was a priority but weren’t sure exactly what the term meant.

“Just having the committee point out some areas where everybody can participate to improve upon our sustainability, thats a big factor,” says Corin Forrester, a senior laboratory technician. “And it’s a lot better when it comes from the community as opposed to senior management.”

Sustainable Peterborough Partnership Recognition Awards

In order to recognize the numerous sustainable achievements of our partners, Sustainable
Peterborough launched of the Sustainable Peterborough Partnership
Recognition Awards in 2015!

There were eleven winners, one in each of Sustainable Peterborough’s theme areas, and
three honourable mentions. Awards were presented during the Sustainable Peterborough
Partnership Recognition Awards and Climate Change Action Plan Launch Event on March 1,
2016 at Market Hall.

Congratulations to all the winners and thank you for your continued commitment to sustainability:

Agriculture and Local Food

Elmhirst’s Resort – winner

Elmhirst’s Resort is committed to sustainability and displays a strong “living off of the land”
mentality. They strongly believe in providing customers with the freshest food and produce
harvested directly from 240 acres of their land. They provide customers with a seasonal menu
that features hydroponic garden herbs and preserved heirloom tomatoes in the winter, locally
bred and raised cattle and duck, and 100% local grape wines, among other items. Elmhirst’s
strive to involve local farmers and producers from the surrounding community in their food
production processes as much as possible.

By the Bushel Community Food Co-operative – honourable mention

By the Bushel Community Food Co-operative is an innovative co-operative. Small-scale food
producers and processors, dedicated staff and a community of consumers work together
toward rebuilding our relationship to the land, healthy, sustainable, ecologically-responsible
food and community. In 2015, their 13 growers were operating within 100 kms.

Climate Change

For Our Grandchildren (4RG) – winner

For Our Grandchildren (4RG) actively encourages younger generations to become more
engaged participants in a greener community and climate change issues. In November 2015,
4RG collaborated with other local organizations to host a community meeting supporting the
Global Climate March and the COP21 conference being held at the same time in Paris. The
meeting encouraged community members to consider decisive actions to reduce the
production of carbon emissions that are contributing to climate change. Citizens who attended
the event were encouraged to take part in a post card writing campaign to be delivered to six
political leaders at all levels of government.

Cultural Assets

Lang Pioneer Village – winner

Lang Pioneer Village serves to protect and promote the rural history of Peterborough County.
The museum has become a regional leader in the preservation and interpretation of our
cultural assets. In 2015, Lang partnered with Hiawatha and Curve Lake First Nations to
establish the Aabnaabin First Nations site at the museum. Lang also completed a shoreline
naturalization project in partnership with the Otonabee Region Conservation Authority, Tree
Canada and Siemens Canada. They planted 272 trees and shrubs. Species included
shellbark hickory, hazelnut, chestnut, elderberry and chokecherry which were used by early
settlers for food, furniture, shelter, and dyes. Collectively, these projects provide great
opportunities for future programs.

Economic Development & Employment

Transition Town Peterborough – winner

The focus of Transition Town Peterborough is on reducing our dependence on fossil fuels
while increasing local resilience and self-sufficiency with economic localization. In an effort to
build the local economy, they introduced the local currency called Kawartha Loons. In
collaboration with other community organizations, Transition Town Peterborough runs several
successful annual events that bring together the community, food growers and producers, local
artisans, entertainers and health practitioners in order to build and support the local economy.
In 2015, Transition Town Peterborough, in collaboration with Farms at Work, successfully
spearheaded the initiative to declare September as Local Food Month in an effort to bring
awareness to local food providers and strengthen the local economy.

Energy

Township of Douro-Dummer – winner

The Township of Douro-Dummer has consistently been a leader in municipal energy
management. It was the first municipality to implement an energy management plan and
strategy. They have retrofitted their facilities for energy efficiency and, in 2015, completed the
conversion to LED streetlights. Their energy efficiency improvements have resulted in cost
savings and greenhouse gas emissions reduction. The Township of Douro-Dummer continues
to lead by example.

Healthy Communities

Camp Kawartha – winner

Camp Kawartha has been involved in numerous innovative stewardship initiatives over the
past decade. Reaching over 11,000 participants per year, the camp teaches children, youth
and adults about sustainable living, habitat protection and environmental responsibility. New in
2015, the Camp offered 5 one-week environment camps and two weeks of kindercamp at the
Environment Centre. This resulted in an additional 250 campers learning about nature,sustainability and stewardship. Thanks to a grant from the Gainey Foundation and a crowd source funding campaign, new nature playscapes structures were designed and constructed at the Camp Kawartha Environment Centre in 2015.

Seeds for Justice, a Kawartha World Issues Centre Youth Program – honourable
mention

Seeds for Justice is a youth-led program that brings youth together around common interests
and projects, with a focus on empowerment to affect individual lives and local communities
while building a culture of volunteerism and global citizenship. In 2015 over 300 youth had an
opportunity to build confidence, knowledge, skills and experience.

Land Use Planning

Otonabee Region Conservation Authority – winner

In 2015, the Otonabee Region Conservation Authority (ORCA) updated the Watershed
Planning and Regulation Policy Manual. The updated manual resulted in a document that is
easy to understand and to use. It consolidates all of ORCA’s watershed planning and
regulatory policies. This document also provides municipalities, applicants and their agents,
private landowners, special interest groups and ORCA staff with a clear understanding of
ORCA’s role, mandate, responsibilities and requirements regarding permit and planning
applications. At the same time, it offers an updated, comprehensive and complete set of
watershed planning and regulatory policies that can be incorporated into Official Plans and
Zoning By-laws.

Natural Assets

Kawartha Land Trust – winner

Kawartha Land Trust is dedicated to protecting the forests, fields, wetlands and shorelines of
the Kawarthas. Boyd Island, a 1,170 acre island, is the largest undeveloped and unprotected
island in Southern Ontario. It is home to unspoiled wetlands, old-growth forests, wildlife and a
wide variety of plant species. It has rich historic, natural and cultural value to the region, as
well as to the indigenous community which can trace back use of the island some 10,000
years. To ensure the island’s protection, Kawartha Land Trust urged the community to achieve
a fundraising goal of $1,000,000 in 2015. Nearly 600 pledges were received to accomplish the
goal of preventing private development on the island. Now preserved and protected, the island
will remain a great natural asset for many generations to come.

Transportation

Peterborough County/City Paramedics – winner

In 2015 Peterborough County/City Paramedics have demonstrated leadership in sustainable
transportation initiatives by implementing the ECO-run system in vehicles to reduce idling time.
The ECO-run system enabled them to reduce excessive idling time by 26%, thereby saving
1,918 litres of fuel, 8,717 pounds of CO2 and amounting to a cost savings of nearly $2,500.

Waste

The Food Forest – winner

The Food Forest Café’s produces less than 1 bag of garbage per week! Since the restaurant
is plant-based, they are able to compost 100% of leftover food and scraps. In 2015 they
expanded their composting program by donating nearly 90 gallons of kitchen scraps per week
to local farmers and gardeners, including St. Peter’s Secondary School for their garden.
Furthermore, the Food Forest is able to compost all paper products, since they exclusively use
unbleached biodegradable paper products and napkins. In renovating their new downtown
location in 2015, they re-used and re-purposed pre-existing materials. They continue to
encourage customers to bring their own takeout containers or charge a small fee for
biodegradable containers.

Holy Cross Secondary School – honourable mention

In 2015 Holy Cross Catholic Secondary School earned a Platinum level certification from
Ontario EcoSchools. In partnership with Calvary Church, the school maintains a community
garden that has helped the school reduce their amount of green waste, as cafeteria and
garden green waste is being repurposed and used in the form of compost.

Water

GreenUP – winner

In 2015, GreenUP ran the Depave Paradise project with support from Green Communities
Canada, RBC Blue Water Project, Sammy and Sons Ltd, the City of Peterborough, other local
organizations and volunteers. In the parking lot of Wireless Solutions over 250m2 of asphalt
were removed and a large rain garden with 730 native plants and trees was planted. The
project aids in storm water management and water quality improvement by allowing 178,000
liters of water per year to be diverted from the grey stormwater infrastructure by soaking into
the ground and naturally removing 23kg of contaminants annually. Depave Paradise is helping
to reduce risks of flooding while creating habitat, green space and building community.