Joining the Green Rush

LAKE LOUISE, AB—You don’t have to be big to join what Michal Wasuita of Jasper’s Pine Bungalows affectionately terms, “the green rush”.

Wasuita spoke to delegates at the AHLA conference held in Lake Louise from April 5-7, 2008, along with Jackie Budgell, environmental systems manager for the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise.  The result was a study in both contrasts and similarities.  Lake Louise is  now an even larger property thanks to the new wing added recently.  Fairmont was one of the pioneers in energy and environmental efficiency—their environmental program is both sophisticated and comprehensive.

While 72-cabin Pine Bunglows is a much smaller property, the approach to energy and environmental efficiency is also comprehensive. You don’t have to be big to go green. Wasuita’s family has been involved with Pine Bungalows since he was a baby almost 50 years ago.   He now runs it along with his mother, Connie.

Here are some excerpts from Wasuita’s speech.  Budgell’s tips on going green appear in separate article.

Growing up, I had a big dog and the freedom to roam, throw rocks in the river, visit the campground next door, climb trees, chase bears, get lost in the surrounding forest and scare the Jesus out of my parents. In the winter I was making snowmen and I always had my own hockey rink; hot chocolate and cookies are fond memories.

So you see my connection to the land or my sense of place I like to call it, is very strong. It helps to make decisions of what’s right for the land and our business. A by-product of what we do has increased sales because people are now looking for “green properties.” It also gives me a chance to educate staff and guests about the three “r’s”: reduce, recycle and reuse. It’s great that other properties are recycling now but that is only a small part of the “Green Rush.”

Starting at the top

The environmental movement must start with the owners and managers and trickle down from there. At Pine Bungalows every department is involved. We even go so far as to encourage our staff to bring their recycling from home and put it in our bins. Everybody on the site will recycle.

Why? Because I said so!

Next we turned our attention to their guest rooms. Now everything gets recycled… mixed paper, newspapers, cardboard, beverage containers. The staff gets all the money from this. I get peace of mind. Aluminum, metal, tin, glass, batteries, milk containers (waxed and plastic), the bags the firewood comes in, wood, tires, computers, furniture, appliances, lawn chairs, Styrofoam coolers, fluorescent tubes, toners, aerosol cans, and plastic grocery bags (we use them in some rooms.)

Do you really need a garbage bag in the bathroom? We have soap and shampoo dispensers instead of bar soap. The groceries not sold in our store by the end of the season are donated to the food bank. Staff are picked up in a van every morning in town. This means they all come to work at the same time and leave at the same time. This eliminates more cars and reduces emissions.

In our housekeeping department, health issues are still a number one concern. Cleanliness and sanitation is the most important issue. Protection of our staff and guests is also a concern.

What is put down the drain and sprayed into the air have been converted to ‘green products’. Soap and shampoo dispensers have replaced  almost all of the ‘bar’ soaps. If anyone knows where we can recycle the used bars, please let me know as our previous customers can’t take them any more.

Other measures include only replacing towels the guests put into their tub, providing a blue recycle box for each room, replacing light bulbs with more compact fluorescent ones, replacing carpets with laminate flooring for allergy control and using washable mop heads. Swiffers are a dirty word! Salt and pepper shakers are refilled. This eliminates more waste.

No idling vans
Because Pine Bungalows is on an 11-acre site the staff must use vans when cleaning the cabins. They are encouraged not to leave these vans idling when they stop to clean a cabin. “Turn the key, Jasper’s Idle Free” is now a municipal by-law. We are looking for electric vans for our cleaning staff and all our housemen use electric golf carts. We have no TVs or phones in our rooms. This helps to eliminate ‘noise pollution’, and there are no old TVs going into our land fill.

In our laundry department, we have replaced all washers and dryers with newer more efficient ones with timers, and controlled soap and softener dispensers.
We got rid of old hot water tanks and removed an asbestos covered holding tank to the proper recycle area. I added two more windows for more natural light and better ventilation.

Thin linens recycled

When our linens get thin, some of them are used in our staff accommodations, some are bagged and taken to garages and bicycle shops in town for rags, others are taken to a women’s shelter along with used furniture and kitchen supplies. Even old bedspreads and mattress pads are taken to the local veterinary clinic to line the animal cages! You would be amazed what is brought into our local vet.

In administration and front office, all paper is recycled. Copy paper is turned over and the back is used in-house. Bill payments are sent in plain recycled envelopes and pencils are used to the max. Staff are encouraged to lower the office temperature and wear sweaters, and to turn off lights when the day’s work is done. Our night watchman uses a flashlight with rechargeable batteries.

We give each guest a copy of our Pine Bungalows Bugle, an in-house publication which contain some family history, activities, phone numbers, ‘Neat-O-Nature Notes’, do’s and don’ts in a national park, a church directory and the correct tourist initiative, such as Year of the Great Bear, Year of Water, etc. And for me the most fun, the manager’s message.
 
Electric golf carts and veggie- based oil for chain saws

Our maintenance department is environmentally friendly too. We have replaced gasoline golf carts with electric ones. They are much quieter and give off no emissions.
When felling trees in and around the property all chainsaws use a vegetable based bar oil, not a petrochemical oil. We installed a double walled gas tank on the property thus eliminating future gas spills. Used oil is taken to a local garage who use it for heating their shop.

Before a building is demolished it is gutted of all appliances, all finished reusable wood, pipes, wiring and fixtures. We pay prompt attention to maintenance problems and look for and research systems to better what we already have. I demand that suppliers sell us products in bulk to reduce the packaging, even if it costs a little more. We have reduced wattage on exterior lights and have reduced the amount of street lights in keeping with Parks Canada’s “Dark Sky’ policy. So when you step out of your cabin at night you can actually see the stars.

No more grass mowing

Our groundskeeping department has stopped mowing lawns. The benefits are: no more grass clipping, no spilt fuel, no wages for someone to do it, water savings, no fertilizer, no pesticides, no engine repairs or maintenance. And best of all, no noise! We have stopped using poison as a form of pest control to eliminate the danger to those animals higher up on the food chain. Problem animals are live trapped and re-located.
We’re planting native grass seed, a Montane mix, which is drought resistant. A lot of non-native grass died during the drought of 2003. To a lot of people it looks scruffy and unkempt. The elk and deer don’t think so.

We’ve removed non-native trees and shrubs. No hanging baskets or flower beds. The elk and deer eat them anyway. Do you know that I get free labour from Parks Canada? The elk, deer and bears provide free fertilizer and the squirrels are free tree planting crews. We work closely with Parks Canada’s FireSmart/ForestWise Facility Protection Initiatives and also with their weed crews.

Compost a bear magnet

OK, we are not perfect. Some plastic and compost are two things we don’t recycle.  Only in the last four years has Jasper began to recycle plastic jugs with necks, no loose stuff. No Styrofoam, or polystyrene. Jasper has a composting system in place and it is a real dilemma for me as it is a bear magnet. Pizza boxes in the cardboard are bad enough.   

But we try.

I’ve recently completed a new Conference Centre. It is well insulated, with efficient toilets and shower heads, lights on timers, compact florescent fixtures, state of the art air conditioning units and laminate flooring. All paint and stain is vegetable oil based.
Because of the seasonal business, payback on solar systems would take twice as long. I don’t have corporate money behind me and banks will only lend so much money. I’m not complaining—these are just the obstacles that we face.

Having Parks Canada as a landlord to some might be overwhelming; too many rules; so much bureaucracy; always watching what we do. But special places need special rules. I’ve been able to meet them halfway on lots of issues.
 
For example, in our master plan (it’s on our website), we got what we wanted—2700 square meters of land in a swap, permission to build a Conference Centre, relocation of some buildings and most important a new 42 year lease. They got what they wanted in the land swap—some riparian (river front) land. Crown land that has a paved road on it will be relocated and will be built inside the leasehold. The number of rooms will be reduced by removing 22 individual cabins within 10 years to reduce our footprint. I sure will miss the revenue! It must be difficult for Parks Canada to resist development and exploitation of national parks and to try to maintain intact ecosystems.
 
Over the years we have been the recipient of different awards including runner up in the ALTO Awards for Sustainable Tourism. In the Terra Choice/Audubon International Greenleaf Program, we have four leaves out of a possible five. We are a four key out of five in the Hotel Association of Canada Eco ratings. It’s great to be recognized by these organizations but I believe the bar should be set higher, maybe send out inspectors to see if what you say you do, you actually do. I’m in it for the long run.

Investments today will pay off later. I am a volunteer member of the Jasper Environmental Association (against development), Jasper Motel Association (for development) and I help to organize Environment Week.

Environmental stewardship is worth the costs

Even though the cost and time associated with being an environmental steward may seem high, the number of guests who return year after year are proof that we are doing the right thing. We offer a unique holiday experience as well as taking care of our surrounding environment.

Don’t do these things to save money. The motivation has to come from a desire for all of us to play a part in the greening of our property.
 
In conclusion I am very lucky to be born to a family of hard working parents that set me up for life in an area that is a UNESCO Heritage Site. In the big picture we are only here for a short time, let’s try harder to leave this place a little better than when we found it.
 
It all comes down to the bottom line; How much money do you need/want? If you are paying down a big mortgage or planning a major project, you are saving everything you can.

Economics plays a big part in the ‘green rush’. Our industry is ‘low impact’ compared to some and we should all try to lessen our use of resources by making those investments and tough decisions on what we are doing.

Is it possible to put the environment before profits? We baby boomers are now in a position to make a difference. Are David Suzuki and Al Gore wrong? I’m not leading the crusade, just joining the ‘green rush’.

One last question. Can we afford not to do anything?