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Green Business Initiatives

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Today on Authors Read radio we have Lian Gouw coming in to read an excerpt from her novel - Only A Girl - at 10 AM (pacific). To access this author's reading simply click on the hyper-link above.

-- Positive Eco-News --

Source: Zero Waste San Diego Group

I received an article recently that described the actions of a single business who has made a huge step to making the world a better place:

"The Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians, which owns Harrah`s Rincon Casino & Resort, broke ground on a solar field that will generate one megawatt of clean energy. "We have a responsibility to join our neighbors in reducing greenhouse emissions. As a government, we have a responsibility to our tribal members to plan and prepare for a sustainable future," says Tribal Chairman Bo Mazzetti. ...The resort has diverted over 400 tons of recyclables, reduced Styrofoam use by 25% and cleaned up over eight miles of San Diego County beaches. These conservation efforts are the result of the employee driven Green Committee. ... Over
10,000 light fixtures were retrofitted with energy efficient lamps, reducing energy demand by 3.1 million kilowatt-hours per year - the equivalent of taking 511 cars off the road. ...The lighting retrofit reduced the property`s annual lighting cost of $32.86 per square foot to an average annual cost of $0.59 per square foot."

The article also mentioned the resort's initiatives in other areas:

* Recycling: diverting over 400 tons of recyclable materials from landfills since March 2008. A food waste compost program, which started in 2009, has diverted over 6,000 pounds from landfills and turned it into reusable compost.

* Recycling for Habitat for Humanity: Harrah`s Rincon Casino & Resort donated assorted furnishings and constructions materials valued at over $46,000 to Habitat for Humanity for their San Diego Regional projects

* Reforestation Project: Employees planted over 200 trees and shrubs in an area destroyed by the 2007 Poomacha Fire

* Reclaimed Water: The Rincon Tribe is using reclaimed water from Harrah`s Rincon to irrigate the tribal sports complex

* Beach Clean-Up: Employee volunteers have donated over 200 hours cleaning more than eight miles of beaches in San Diego County

* "Bring Your Own Cup" Employee Program: In 2009, Harrah's Rincon Casino & Resort launched the "Bring Your Own Cup" program, which encouraged employees to bring a reusable cup and helped to reduce the amount of Styrofoam being used in the Employee Dining Room by 25%

* In-Room Programs: Harrah`s Rincon cleans the resort`s 662 guestrooms with Green certified or environmentally preferred products. In addition, the property participates in the CodeGreen "set back the stat", the "uncool" refrigerator program and a linen exchange program which saves thousands in energy costs and hundreds of thousands of gallons of water each month. Guests are also asked to request their complimentary daily newspaper which has helped to reduce the number of newspapers being used.

* Sustainable Garden: Employees planted an organically sustainable herb and
vegetable garden that is used by the culinary team in the Employee Dining Room.

* Shipping Containers Returned to Vendors: Shipping containers are returned to vendors for reuse or recycling, diverting approximately 150 pallets and containers per month from landfills

* Creation of Carpool Parking Lot: Employees who carpool to work have access to a special "green" parking lot, ensuring front-row parking.

* PC Power down: All property PCs automatically power down after 10 minutes of non-use

* "Put a Little More `Off` in Your Office" Program: Bright green faceplates have been installed on light switches in administrative areas, reminding employees to turn off the lights when they leave

* Green Corner Recycling: The resort set up a recycling collection center for employees to drop off items such as batteries, computer Equipment, cell phones, and other small appliances and pays the fee to have them recycled.




Find Dave & Lillian Brummet, excerpts from their books, information about their radio shows & free resources & articles at www.brummet.ca

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