Catering and Group Sales goes with 100% Recycle Paper Product!

As our current stock of meeting room pads was coming to and end, we decided that just replacing the par stock with a re-order wasn’t the best course of action. With that in mind we sourced through our current printing suppliers a 100% recycled paper product that could be used to produce our meeting rooms note pads. These pads are provided for customers to use and take notes while attending meetings at our venues. They also serve as a marketing tool for when people take them home or use them at the office. As of Friday, July 18 the new 100% recycled product has begun circulating through our meeting rooms.

In addition to the meeting room pads, we’ve also switched to a 100% recycled paper product for our new Catering and Group Sales letterhead. The new letterhead is just another step in the branding of Woodbine Entertainment Group's consolidated sales efforts for all our event venues. With the successful launch of our new group’s website in the fall of 2008 (www.hostyourevent.com), our current letterhead was providing conflicting brand messaging. We felt the time had come to complete the circle by moving to the new letterhead and doing so within an environmentally friendly manner. Even though we still have some of our old letterhead in stock it won’t be finding the recycle bin just yet as we intend to use up the old stock with in the office to run internal reports.

Joseph Araujo

Director, Catering Sales

Catering & Group Sales Set To Cut Printing and Paper Use

The Catering Sales Office is changing it’s practices in an effort to reduce printing and paper use by at least 50%.

As of July 8^th the Catering Sales Department will stop carrying printed working copies of future Banquet Event Orders (BEO's) in our main event filling cabinet. With the number of revisions that are regularly made to upcoming BEO's, the practice has always been to print and reprint these changes multiple times in order to keep the working copy up to date, translating into a lot of waste. Although some of the paper is reused in the office as scrap paper and for printing internal reports, the amount being wasted is still rather high. Over the past couple of years the Catering Department has been working with IT to ensure that key operational departments such as Banquets, Kitchens and Accounting gained access to event information through our electronic uploading system and directly through Delphi (Catering Sales Inventory and Sales Software). With stream lining information being distributed, automating most of the distribution through the internal uploading system and providing access to Delphi the need to have hard copies is virtually become a thing of the past. Although we’ll continue to carry the current week’s distribution in a hard copy form as back up to avoid any issue in the event network problems occur, the amount of printing and paper used will be slashed substantially.

In addition to reducing the need to print BEO’s, Catering Sales will also stop printing copies of the client sign back (copy signed by client binding the BEO). Moving forward all sign backs received from the client for each BEO will be attached electronically to the booking through the system activities traces in Delphi. We started attaching electronic copies of invoices and letters a while back and we feel this is another step that needs to be taken in order to retain signed copies for the company’s protection while reducing the amount of printed material generated.

WEG In Support Of The Ontario Power Authority’s Call For Energy Curtailment


Woodbine Entertainment Group (WEG) will reduce energy consumption at its Woodbine and Mohawk facilities between 2:15 pm and 6:15 pm today as part of the Ontario Power Authority’s (OPA) Demand Response Program (DR3). The recent hot temperatures and humid conditions put tremendous pressure on the Province’s electricity grid. An overly stressed electrical grid can result in “brown-outs” or in worse case situations, “black-outs”. As well, it prevents the need for importing expensive power from the U.S. to keep up with the demand, or the need to use coal powered plants to produce more electricity.

As a preventive measure, the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) created its Demand Response Program. This is a contractual peak load shedding agreement between the OPA and energy aggregators like Direct Energy with the objective of reducing electricity usage when Ontario’s electricity grid is overly stressed. Businesses are compensated in two ways: for being on standby to shed power during selected hours and for reducing their power consumption when asked.

Direct Energy, in partnership with its clients, including WEG, have committed to reducing electrical demand by 25MW when requested by the OPA. This is enough power to ensure that 10,000 homes will have a consistent electricity supply.

WEG’s curtailment strategy will be initiated through Woodbine’s Building Automation System (BAS) and manually at Mohawk. “The use of automation allows for a smooth and controlled transition from normal operations to a more efficient mode, which can only be sustained for brief periods of time.” states John Marhong, WEG’s Director of Infastructure and Energy Efficiencies.

In addition to increasing equipment set points, shutting down non-critical equipment and cycling some units on/off, employees are asked to do their part by turning off any unnecessary lights, equipment etc. in their work areas during this time.


For more information contact

John Marhong
Director of Infastructure and
Energy Efficiencies
jkm@woodbineentertainment.com
416 675 3993 ext.2494

What you need to know about recycling!

A question that is often asked: "What types of waste can be recycled and into what types of containers should they be deposited?" Based on WEG's current recycling program, the following should be used as a guideline. If you have any questions or require more detailed information, please post your questions or comments on this blog and I will respond in kind. Every bit that you do, no matter how small it is, goes a long way in saving our planet. With everyone's help, we will make WEG one of the "greenest and most sustainable companies" in the industry.

PAPER TOTES

Acceptable

Copy Paper
Computer Paper
Carbonless Forms
Cardboard
Envelopes (not padded)
File folders (no metal)
Newsprint
Magazines

Unacceptable (do not include in Paper totes)

Bottles
Cans
Carbon Paper
Food
Metal
Plastic
Styrofoam
Any Non-Paper Items


BEVERAGE CONTAINER TOTES

Acceptable

Cans
Plastic Bottles
PS 1- PS 6
Glass
Metal Tins
Food Prep Containers

Unacceptable (do not include in Beverage totes)

Cardboard
Paper / Styrofoam
Drinking glasses
Food
Plates/ Mirror


ORGANIC TOTES

Acceptable

Coffee Grinds /filter
Vegetables
Fruits
Prepared Foods
Baked Goods
Paper Towels

Unacceptable (do not include in Organic totes)

Cardboard
Paper / Styrofoam
Drinking glasses
Plastic
Plates/ Mirror
Cans/ Glass

Turf Lounge Starts Organic Waste Recycling Program

On June 1, 2009 Turf Lounge in conjunction with Avison & Young Building Management starts it's organic kitchen waste recycling program. In 2008 Woodbine Entertainment diverted over 329 metric tonnes of organic kitchen waste from landfills through it's organic recycling program at Woodbine Racetrack. With the companies strong commitment to green initiatives, Food and Beverage operations is looking to expand it's kitchen organic program to all its facilities by the end of 2009.

Turf's recycling program is an important step towards achieving this goal due to the logistical challenges presented by being located in the core of the financial district. Woodbine is currently in discussion with Upack Recycling (Woodbine's principal partner in all its recycling initiatives) on rolling out an organic kitchen waste program for Mohawk Racetrack as the next key step to reducing organic waste being sent to landfills.

Food containers, recycable or not?

One of the most common questions asked; "Is it possible to recycle paper pizza trays, paper plates or similar products?"

Answer: "Yes. As long as the paper products, such as, paper pizza trays, paper plates, etc. are not contaminated with food waste or plastics, they can go in the recycle bin. For example, if the paper trays have mild oil stains then they are recyclable. However, If there are heavy oil deposits, food products like cheese, etc. stuck to the material or plastic stuck to it, then they go in the regular garbage. What the recyclers are looking for, are products that are as clean as possible. Too much food contamination not only degrades the material but it also attracts rats and other critters at the collection facilities.

There is a level of contamination that is acceptable, however, I have deliberately avoided attaching a percentage to that because what one individual perceives as 10% may be seen differently by another. The message to get out there is to try and have as clean a product as possible, that way the chances of contaminating an entire 7-ton bin of recycable material and have it re-routed to a landfill site, is minimal."

Woodbine Adds A Kubota To Its Fleet

Woodbine Racetrack Gets A Little Greener!

Kubota's heavy-duty, high performance utility vehicle has joined Woodbine Entertainment Group's (WEG) fleet inventory. Security Officers at Woodbine will soon be seen patrolling the backstretch in this compact, efficient and technologically advanced vehicle.

Providing all the durability to tackle the toughest tasks on a variety of terraine but using 50% less fuel. This is one more example of WEG's commitment to reduce its carbon footprint.