Have You Heard …?

The BIZ is Going to the Worms – Red Wriggler Worms To be Exact!

As part of the Downtown BIZ's ongoing wellness program as well as being a Workplace in Motion and watching our physical and emotional wellbeing, the BIZ is also concerned about the environment and our influence on it.

In order to minimize our personal carbon footprint, the BIZ is embarking on an internal environmental adventure. One of the areas of concern is the food waste a staff of 50+ healthy eaters can accumulate each day, week, month and year. We needed a small solution for the remnants of all our “healthy” eating habits. There is a lot of fruit and vegetable waste at the BIZ. As we swat at the fruit flies between garbage trips, a great idea has been hatched, namely, to bring in the worms! Perhaps they can handle this buggy problem that pours out of our garbage bins, soon to fill the dumpsters.

The BIZ is entrusting our waste to the worms – red wriggler worms to be exact! We received one pound of hungry worms from the Red Wriggler Haven and are depending on them to eat our leftovers. The BIZ mixes fruit and vegetable matter with used printing paper, feeding it to our new “pets” and in return we get nutrient rich vermicompost to use in our spring plantings.

In addition to vermicomposting, the BIZ has signed up for a monthly recycling pick-up service. What do you do with your recyclable business waste?

Another area in which the BIZ is environmentally prudent is transportation, specifically how the BIZ employees get to work. We are proud to report that almost two-thirds of the BIZ staff walk, cycle (seasonal), and bus to work. The BIZ supports the Winnipeg Transit Eco Pass program and participates in a cost-sharing program with the staff. Did you know that Stefano Grande, the BIZ executive director, bikes to work all summer from East St. Paul? No wonder we can’t keep up with him as he runs from one meeting to the next!

Talking about meetings, BIZ business and committee meetings will see an environmental change as well by reducing the amount of paper being used for copied materials. The new initiative will see presentations done through PowerPoint, flipcharts, and conference calls. The fewer copies being printed means less paper being thrown out. Did I mention how much BIZ information is printed on recycled paper?

And how about the committee lunches! The BIZ is now a Styrofoam-free zone, so no Styrofoam plates, cups or fast food containers are allowed. We use permanent glass dishes and cutlery to decrease the disposable waste and are implementing a “no canned drinks” policy at our meetings. The number of drink cans flowing out of the board room garbage can was a real eye-opener. Large tetra packs of juice and filtered water will always be available.

The whole staff at the Downtown BIZ is making an effort to be environmentally responsible and hopes you will join us in changing your own habits. Just think of the healthier environment we are creating if we all do our part to reduce our carbon footprint. Get on board and join the BIZ environmental initiative! By the way, do you want to know a great place to pick up some of the hungriest worms…Red Wriggler Worms to be exact?!

Deb Tomiski
January 2010