RICHMOND, British Columbia, April 19, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Western Canadian retailer and eco-leader, London Drugs, is celebrating Earth Week and Earth Day with several significant environmental milestones. For the past decade, London Drugs, their customers and recycling partners have kept over 113 million pounds of waste from entering landfills across four provinces.
“We are thrilled to see the cumulative work of our recycling programs and are impressed by the dedication of our staff and customers in supporting these initiatives,” said Maury McCausland, London Drugs Retail Operations Sustainability Expert. “Since we began tracking our waste diversion rates, we have continued to see growth year over year. We are pleased to announce London Drugs achieved a 93.9% diversion rate in 2017.”
This Earth Week, London Drugs also celebrates its 10-year commitment to recycling and waste reduction with the anniversary of the What’s the Green Deal? program. Prior to 2008, London Drugs was quietly recycling plastic shopping bags, silver from film canister processing and cardboard.
The launch of What’s the Green Deal? brought a new corporate focus and commitment to recycling and sustainability, and has steadily increased both store and customer recycling rates. What began as a simple blog and online resource in 2008 for recycling and green products available at London Drugs, became a movement shared across Western Canada. The Bring Back the Pack program encourages customers to bring packaging from items purchased at London Drugs back to the store for proper recycling.
By the Numbers
After ten years tabulating store-by-store data, London Drugs is thrilled to share they have kept 113,232,830 million pounds of waste from entering landfills. That’s the equivalent of 50 Olympic sized swimming pools or enough to fully load two 700-foot container ships.
“Our goal at London Drugs has been to make recycling accessible to our customers,” said McCausland. “Through our vendors and sustainability partnerships we continue to strive to find ways to divert waste from landfill sites. We work with individual stores on increasing their waste diversion rates and are happy to acknowledge our St. Albert, Alberta store with its 99.7% waste diversion rate.”
In 2017, London Drugs recycled:
- 122,780 lbs of batteries seeing a 5% increase over 2016
- 3,711 lbs of cell phones seeing a 32% increase over 2016
- 42,155 lbs of fluorescent lights seeing a 9% increase over 2016
- 370,761 lbs of computers and electronics seeing a 10,000 lb increase over 2016
Recognition
“Over the past ten years I am proud to be part of this London Drugs story,” added McCausland. “During this time we have received 27 awards recognizing our achievements.”
London Drugs has received 11 national awards and 16 provincial awards over the past 10 years. Awards of note include the 2012 Retail Council of Canada Best Corporate & Social Responsibility, a 2013 Canadian Stewardship Award, 2015 Call2Recycle Leader in Sustainability Award and a 2018 City of Vancouver Award of Excellence in the Greenest City Leadership category.
How to Recycle at London Drugs
Customers can recycle the following items anytime at any London Drugs location:
- Electrical and electronic goods (TVs, VCRs, computers, monitors, printers, small appliances, etc.) are recycled through Global Electric Electronic Processing (GEEP) and e-Cycle. All electronic products are recycled back to their basic components before being shipped. London Drugs works diligently to ensure that our electronic recyclables are not shipped to sub-standard offshore facilities.
- Styrofoam is recycled through FOAM Only.
- Plastic overwrapping and foam packaging is recycled through RecycleBC (BC only)
- Plastic and cardboard packaging from our products
- Cell phones, PDA and rechargeable batteries are recycled through Call2Recycle.
- Alkaline Batteries
- Compact Fluorescent Bulbs (CFL’s) incandescent or LED light bulbs, Christmas lights and fluorescent light tubes up to 4-foot lengths
- Disposable cameras
- Ink jet cartridges
- Laser cartridges
- Metal film canisters
- Plastic shopping bags
- Pop bottles and cans (BC only)
- Insurance plastic folders
For more information about London Drugs’ sustainability and recycling initiatives visit www.greendeal.ca.
ABOUT WHAT’S THE GREEN DEAL?
London Drugs is part of the communities we serve. We know we have a part to play in helping make our world more sustainable. ‘What’s the Green Deal?’ is our commitment to continue searching for better, greener ways to do business, and to help our customers find answers. We address sustainability through a four-pillar approach: Energy & Operations, Waste Reduction, Upstream Purchasing and Communication & Education. We will keep asking the tough questions and looking for answers, because sustainability is a journey, not a destination. www.greendeal.ca @WTGreenDeal
ABOUT LONDON DRUGS
Founded in 1945, London Drugs has 81 stores in more than 35 major markets throughout British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba including its online store www.LondonDrugs.com. London Drugs offers consumers a range of products from digital cameras and cosmetics to computers and televisions. Renowned for its creative approach to retailing, the company employs more than 7,500 people with pharmacy and health care services being the heart of its business. Committed to innovation and superior customer service, London Drugs has established itself as a reputable and caring company and continues to position itself for future growth and development. @LondonDrugs
For more information or to arrange an interview, contact:
Cynnamon Schreinert
Media Relations
604-802-2733
cynnamon@hartleypr.com