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PARTICIPATING STORES

Years

2020-2021

Status

Ongoing

The Zero Waste challenge has been in operation since 2018, helping families in the borough to reduce their waste—and now it’s expanding!
The borough of Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie approached Earth Day and asked us to come up with a tailor-made project to support businesses in the borough that wish to adopt an eco-friendly approach and reduce waste at its source. That’s how the Zero Waste Challenge – Business Edition was born!

As the project is being rolled out in stages, it will become available in certain areas at different times. Discover the first attested businesses.

SUPPORT THAT ENCOURAGES REDUCING AND RECOVERING

The goal of the challenge is to raise awareness and support participating businesses as they optimize their waste management practices, reduce waste at its source and take eco-friendly actions.

Two levels of support can be provided, depending on the degree of commitment and motivation of the business:

Basic support for all businesses includes:

• An initial assessment of the business, including a discussion with the person in charge of the business to find out what their needs are and what improvements they would like to make;
• Support in implementing strategies for source reduction, reuse and recovery of residual materials adapted to the business;
• Sorting training and advice on the implementation of new collections (recycling, compost, etc.).

 

For the second year of the challenge, personalized support is available for a maximum of 70 businesses that wish to receive regular follow-ups from Earth Day. This includes:

• Basic support;
• Analysis of existing measures, setting of zero waste objectives and identification of new eco-friendly actions;
• Support in the quantification of residual materials generated by the business
• Accompaniment in the implementation of the various measures retained by the business and follow-up of the progress made;
• Assistance with and processing of the request for certification;
• Action/Reduction^®certification and communication materials.

 

COMMITMENTS AND EVALUATION CRITERIA

Businesses that are receiving personalized support will be issued the Action/Reduction^® certification by Earth Day Canada once they have met the following 5 criteria:

• Signed the charter of commitments;
• Set up new collection methods, such as collecting recyclable materials and/or compostable materials, as long as these collection programs are available in the borough;
• Appointed a person in charge or a committee that will ensure the proper functioning of the actions undertaken by the business, in particular by participating in the quantification of the residual materials generated;
• Made sure that collection equipment is properly identified and positioned to make it easier for employees and/or clients to sort waste;
• Implemented zero waste and/or eco-friendly actions from those listed below.

 

The certification is valid for 2 years and may be renewed if the business continues to meet the criteria.

ECO-FRIENDLY ACTIONS

To qualify for the Action/Reduction^® certification, businesses must implement as least 3 of the 20 suggested actions.

The eco-friendly actions are divided into 3 categories (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle/Recover) and have been assigned a rating according to the level of difficulty of implementing the measure. Those with the highest level of difficulty have been assigned a rating of 3 stars.

REDUCE

REUSE

RECOVER