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Red River College
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Red River College employee
Chosen as one of Canada's Greenest Employers for 2013:
By Richard Yerema and Julien Gagnier, Mediacorp Canada Inc. staff editors
(Apr 21, 2013)
Some of the reasons why Red River College was selected as one of Canada's Greenest Employers (2013):
- developed an in-house "Environmental Sustainability Policy" that mandates the College to consider environmental, social and economic impacts of its day-to-day operations as well as building renovation and new building construction
- its Continuing and Distance Education departments recently formed an EverGreen committee to address environment impact of student mailings, switching from paper and postage to providing information online – through this initiative, the college reduced printing and paper costs by approximately $40,000
- created the "Sustainability 365" work plan that is overseen by sustainability working groups, with input from staff members and students, outlining forty-two targets to advance sustainability at the college, ranging from the creation of a green building tour program for students and staff to increasing annual expenditures on Fair Trade, regional and organic foods – the ambitious plan included a timeline of one year to complete most of its targets by summer of 2013, which the college is currently on track to achieve
- recently created the executive position of Vice President of Human Resources Services and Sustainability and maintains a "Sustainability Office" staffed by two employees, including a Manager of Sustainability and a Sustainability Coordinator -- the new office oversees green projects and raises awareness with employees and students through a variety of initiatives, from hosting presentations to departments on how to reduce their own footprints to regular tours of the College's recycling and composting programs
- the College's Applied Research & Commercialization department is currently in the middle of a research project to offset energy use, which includes the installation of parabolic solar troughs on campus to test performance in cold northern climate, and the campus's Heavy Equipment Transportation Centre has recently been retrofitted with a geothermal heating system and nine passive "solar wall" panels that preheat outdoor air before entering the ventilation system -- the building has recently been certified Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver
- in addition to offering secure bicycle parking and shower facilities, the College subscribes to an online carpool matching service to help reduce the number of single-car commutes every day
- introduced the "Hall It!" waste reduction and recycling program, which removed all garbage and recycling bins from classrooms in favour of centralized collection points -- in addition, the college also introduced battery recycling and e-waste collection programs and expanded its onsite composting program for organic waste, capturing more than 300 pounds of organics every day
- operates a sophisticated biodiesel processing facility that converts used kitchen oil from its Food Services and Culinary Arts program, and blends with diesel fuel to power the College's maintenance vehicles -- in addition, a by-product of this process is glycerin, which is made into a special degreasing soap product for use at the College's Heavy Equipment Transportation Centre
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| ©2013 Mediacorp Canada Inc. All rights reserved. Used by Eluta with permission. For comments or questions on this employer review, please contact Mediacorp's editorial team.
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