Burnaby Board of Trade

Burnaby Board of Trade

201-4555 Kingsway
Burnaby,BC
V5H 4T8
http://bbot.ca
604.412.0100

The Burnaby Board of Trade created the Pledge for a Sustainable Community as an initiative of its Environmental Sustainability Committee, as a resource to help its membership and the local business community improve its environmental performance.

energy

• Turn off lights when not in use
• Turn off workplace electronics when not in use
• Put reminder stickers on light switches to turn them off
• Use natural lighting whenever possible
• Unblock heat flows by moving furniture
• Develop mini campaign for energy throughout the year.

water

• Encourage staff to use efficient rinsing techniques
• Provide refrigerated drinking water
• Develop mini campaign for throughout the year.

travel

• Encourage carpooling to company events and offsite meetings
• Hold events along the frequent transit network
• Share trip planning tools – TransLink trip planner, Next Bus, Mobile Site/Apps, cycling route planner
• Engage employees in regional campaigns like Bike to Work Week, Carpool Hero, etc.
• Our goal in the next year (September 2014 to September 2015) is to reduce our employee single occupancy commute to work by 5% by collectively taking 70 less car rides.
• We are implementing a policy that for downtown meetings we will commute by Skytrain – 10 times per year.
• We will implement a policy to carpool to all events and meetings.
• We’ll create a chart which we’ll post in the office area that shows our collective efforts towards reaching our targets.
• We will select one event (enviro forum) and challenge attendees and participants to bike or take transit.
• We will provide transit maps and routes for all of our events.
• Twice a year we will take part and promote Burnaby Business Car Free day. Our first “car free” day will be September 8. We will invite and encourage our member businesses and pledge takers to take part.

waste

• Set printers to ‘double sided’
• Print only necessary documents
• Minimize paper usage in meetings
• Provide recycle stations at key locations
• Donate outdated electronics
• Use washable cutlery and plates
• We participate in the ZERO WASTE recycling program through our office building.

Our goal this year is to reduce our paper waste by doing the following:

• buying 30 to 50% recycled paper
• Meet with producers of our Burnaby Business Now to review recycled paper content and print runs.
• Talk to the publisher of our Directory to ensure we’re not doubling up on our distribution list.
• Explore the possibility of increasing the recycled content of the Directory.
• 2015 Reduce Paper Campaign for Pledge Takers and members.
• Internally we will review ZERO WASTE to ensure everyone knows what goes where.
• Label bins more clearly for staff and guests.
• We are going to buy cutlery, glassware, plates etc for the kitchen.
• We will recycle styrofoam containers.
• Eliminate use of bottled water internally.
• Ask vendors about food sourcing, recycling and food waste policies.
• Ask caterers and hotels to provide jugs of water.
• Source Fair Trade and local where possible.
• Ask for recycled content plates/napkins for catering. Use dinner ware internally.
• Develop Mini Campaign for waste during the year.
• Develop mini campaigns around

purchasing

• Purchase FSC Certified or 100% post consumer recycled paper
• Purchase long life, re-fillable and re-usable products
• Purchase organic, fair trade coffee and tea