Demonstrating long-term commitment towards sustainability and making their communities greener through a variety of environmental projects and activities, this year’s winners of Greenest School in Canada competition are nurturing the next generation of green building leaders.
First Place Winners (Tie)
Lacombe Composite High School in Lacombe, AB
A key goal for Lacombe Composite High School, an 850-student school located in a small central Alberta city, is to cultivate student leaders and provide them with the opportunity to make a difference for the environment, their school and community. With this in mind, the school offers green programs as part of its curriculum and encourages students to create their own innovative, sustainable projects.
Case study on a TRUE Zero Waste certified project, prepared for the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) / GBCI Canada.
A comprehensive, employee-led strategy leads to one of Canada’s first TRUE certifications
Location: Mississauga, Ontario Certification level: Gold Per cent of overall diversion achieved: 93.59 per cent Certification date: October 2017
When Richard (“Doc”) and Amelia Farmer founded business supplies provider Cintas in 1929, the Great Depression was just beginning and they were out of work. Doc Farmer came up with a plan to collect, launder and reuse soiled shop rags from local factories, a simple green idea that started a rich heritage of environmentally sustainable practices still continuing nearly a century later.
The Cintas Toronto Distribution Centre (DC), which became Canada’s second TRUE certification in October 2017, traces its roots to that humble beginning. The 60,000 sq.ft. Mississauga facility achieved its zero waste goals through innovative vendor partnerships, the dedication of its Green Team, and complete engagement among its 56 employees, or “partners” as they are referred to within Cintas. A combination of large changes to overall processes and individual partner actions contributed to the distribution centre’s success, lending itself as an excellent example of how a zero waste strategy can be implemented in any type of organization.
The result of this work was a TRUE Gold certification, which acknowledged the distribution centre’s work in diverting 93.59 percent of waste from landfill. It is one of five Cintas facilities so far to achieve TRUE Gold certification in North America, with more planned in the near future.
The following case study provides a closer look into the strategies, challenges and specific actions involved in Cintas’s Toronto DC’s achievement.
Case study on a LEED-certified project, prepared for the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC).
With a focus on sustainability and innovation throughout its business, it’s fitting that Mountain Equipment Co-op’s head office in Vancouver has achieved LEED Platinum certification. Spanning 112,000 square feet over two intersecting three- and four-storey buildings, the office features the post-and-beam construction that has become a hallmark of the outdoor lifestyle retailer’s architectural brand, with a wood, steel and glass superstructure on a concrete basement foundation. The building, which is on a former brownfield site in the False Creek Flats area, is designed to create a collaborative, active workplace for its staff of roughly 450 employees and to be an energy-efficient site with minimal impact on the environment.
The building received its LEED Platinum certification in November 2017. CaGBC spoke with Tim Southam, Public Affairs Manager at Mountain Equipment Co-op, about how the new head office embodies the retailer’s corporate values and culture.
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