Green Deal

June 30th, 2018

Some Great Green Canadian Products For Your Canada Day

When July 1st arrives in all of its red and white splendour, Canadians have a lot to celebrate. Including some innovative and sustainable products that are designed and manufactured by companies right in our own back yard. Here are just a few of our favourites:

Que Pasa Organic Tortilla Chips and Salsa Made in sunny Delta BC, these chips are made from organic corn, ground with volcanic mill stones. Their salsa varieties are the perfect complement, for a weekend at the cabin or a party on your apartment balcony.

Nature’s Path Organic Cereals and Granola From humble roots, this BC-based company is now North America’s largest organic cereal producer. And they remain committed to the principles of organic farming, respect for the land and reducing waste. From Organic Steel Cut Oats to Love Crunch granola (with dark chocolate!) there are too many varieties to list here. Just pick one and dig in.

Earth Group Coffee The Earth Group is based in Edmonton Alberta, and through a worldwide agreement with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) donates 100% of their profits to WFP to fund school meal programs. That’s a coffee that’s pretty nice to wake up to.

London Orchards Pure HoneyAs a proud Canadian company ourselves, we are pleased to offer you this 100% Canadian honey, made by 100% Canadian bees. True Source Certified through the supply chain to the country of origin and the beekeeper that harvested the honey from the beehive.

London Naturals Organic Syrup What could be more Canadian, eh?

Green Beaver Shampoo, Toothpaste, Deodorant, Lip Balm and Sunscreen This family owned company created the first Canadian organic mineral sunscreen with the help of the National Research Council and is dedicated to using certified organic Canadian ingredients in their whole product line. And there’s a beaver on every label.

Bag-to-Earth Waste Bags Collect your food scraps right with these 100% Canadian, 100% Compostable bags. They contain no plastic, so they are compatible with the most municipal collection systems.

Nellie’s All Natural Products From their home base in North Vancouver, Nellie’s has been making biodegradable, non-toxic natural-ingredient based laundry and household cleaning products since before green was cool.

Sugar Sheet Copy Paper This forest-free ‘paper’ is the best alternative to not printing at all. Made from residue waste of sugar cane, this enterprise was started by a printing company in New Westminster, BC. Saving trees – now THAT’S the real Green Canadian Deal.

April 25th, 2018

London Drugs Saskatchewan Recognized for Waste Minimization – Congratulations!

It was a very rewarding evening for the hard working representatives of our four Saskatchewan stores, as they accepted the 2017 Saskatchewan Waste Minimization Award in the Corporation category.

At the award podium were Greg Hern – HR Manager, Environment from SaskTel, John Van Koll – London Drugs Store Manager, Sheandra Stewart – London Drugs Store Manager, and Dustin Duncan – Saskatchewan Minister of Environment.

Winning this award was no small feat. In 2017, Saskatchewan London Drugs stores diverted 455,753 lbs. of waste from landfill, including; 29,093 lbs. of electronics; 13,603 lbs of batteries; 54,039 lbs. of small appliances; 32,493 lbs of food donations; and 14,047 lbs of organic waste.

“I’m honoured to accept this award from the Saskatchewan Waste Reduction council.” said Sheandra Stewart, “I’m so proud tonight for London Drugs to be recognized for all we do at our stores and corporately, for the betterment of our planet, our staff and our customers.”

London Drugs has a long history in Saskatchewan and remains committed to our continued journey toward sustainability by reducing waste and providing greener shopping and product options for our customers.

On behalf of the roughly 350 people working and serving to bring an exceptional shopping experience to Regina or Saskatoon every day, we say congratulations, and thanks – you are the real Green Deal!

April 22nd, 2018

London Drugs Prince George Racks up the Pounds at the Recycling Tour on Earth Day 2018.

As the snows recede and things begin to green up in northern BC, London Drugs Store Manager Christian Schenk welcomed Prince George recyclers to celebrate Earth Day with their annual Recycling Tour event.

Christian and the Prince George London Drugs team have been running this event since 2014, and this years results show the citizens of Prince George are pitching in.

“We received two full recycle boxes of batteries, two full cages of electronics, Styrofoam, cardboard and more,” says Schenk, “Everyone was quite impressed and thankful for our recycling efforts.”

Christian and the Prince George store team are also walking the talk themselves, with a red-hot 97.76% waste diversion rate.

Way to go, Prince George! You are the REAL Green Deal!

April 21st, 2018

Nanaimo Recycles BIG TIME at the Recycling Tour on Earth Day Weekend

Maybe it was the spring cleaning feeling in the air, or the excitement of Earth Day, but whatever the reason, the citizens of Nanaimo came out in force to support the London Drugs Recycling Tour on April 21st.

“It was a spectacular turnout,” Says London Drugs Retail Sustainability Specialist Maury McCausland, “We received 5 big cages full of electronics, 8 skids of Styrofoam and 10 skids of soft plastic. ”That’s all good, usable material that may otherwise have ended up in regional landfills, so it’s a win-win when it gets recycled right.”

Thanks to everyone who came out! If you want to gather up your own recycling, the Recycling Tour continues throughout the spring and summer with events in Courtenay, Campbell River, Squamish, Gibsons, Richmond, Surrey, Airdrie, Burnaby, Calgary and Lethbridge.

Click here for all the details.

And remember – you don’t have to wait for a special day to recycle at your local London Drugs. Here’s a list of the materials you can bring back to your local store any day.

April 21st, 2018

Recycling Tour Meets Pancake Breakfast in Downtown Vancouver.

It was a sunny spring day in the atrium of the Woodward’s building on Abbott street, where long tables were set up with flowers, linens and settings for the PHS Community Services Pancake Breakfast. Assistant store manager Robert Rogers and Green Deal blogger Lorne Craig were on hand to welcome the crowd, spread the word about London Drugs’ recycling and accept items as part of our 2018 Recycling Tour series. People brought in computers, light bulbs and more.

“It’s a great location for a wonderful community event,” said Craig, “And even some of the more dedicated recyclers were surprised at some of the things we take back. So it’s always good to connect.”

The Recycling Tour continues throughout the spring and summer with events in Courtenay, Campbell River, Squamish, Gibsons, Richmond, Surrey, Airdrie, Burnaby, Calgary and Lethbridge.

Click here for all the dates and details.

April 19th, 2018

Take the #BringYourbag Challenge with RecycleBC and you could win Whitecaps tickets.

On Wednesday April 18, London Drugs and Save-On-Foods teamed up with Recycle BC to launch the #BringYourBag Challenge.

Take the one-week #BringYourBag challenge at RecycleBC.ca/BringYourBag, and see if you can go one week without using a single-use bag. Sign up, engage on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, and you can enter to win a pair of Vancouver Whitecaps FC tickets.

Maury McCausland, London Drugs Retail Sustainability Specialist,was on hand for the launch. “We started charging a bag reduction fee in January 2018 and have reduced our bag use at London Drugs stores considerably as a result,” says McCausland. “We are happy to do our part to help reduce plastic bag use even further.”

Over two million plastic bags are thrown in the garbage every week in the City of Vancouver alone, and Canadians use between nine and 15 billion plastic bags every year.

“We all need to work together to reduce the use of single-use bags,” said Allen Langdon, Managing Director of Recycle BC. “By sharing a common goal, and through a combination of incentives and education, we’re encouraging positive behaviour change to keep plastic bags out of our landfills and oceans.”

So, can YOU go without single-use bags for a week? Take the #BringYourBag Challenge!

March 25th, 2018

10 years of recycling – What does 113 Million pounds of recycling look like?

2017 marks our 10th year of tracking our recycling by store, diversion rate and materials. So here are some of the highlights from the year and the decade. It’s a record of which all our employees and recycling customers can be extremely proud.

So how much IS 113 million pounds?

The weight of 50 Olympic Sized Swimming Pools 1
or
Enough to fill a 12 kilometer freight train 2
or
Two full container ships3

Any way you look at it, it’s a lot! So what did that decade of recycling include?

492,000lbs of styrofoam
714,000 lbs of batteries
870,000 lbs of computers

All recycled responsibly, thanks to our recycling customers, hard-working employees and recycling partners – you are the REAL Green Deal!

Awards and recognition over the past 10 years:
2008 Recycling Council of BC Private Sector Recognition Award
2010 Saskatchewan Waste Reduction Council Corporate Leadership Award
2011 Recycling Council of Alberta Corporate Leadership Award
2012 – Finalist, Canada’s Greenest Retail Practices Award, GLOBE
2012 – BC Hydro Powersmart Excellence Award
2012 – Retail Council of Canada Best Corporate & Social Responsibility
2012 Call2Recycle Leader in Sustainability Award
2013 – Airdrie Eco Edge Award
2013 – Canadian Stewardship Award
2013 – Alberta Environment Emerald Award
2016 – Quest Food Exchange, Most Valuable Partner
2017 – Surrey City Awards, Green City Category
2018 – City of Vancouver Award of Excellence, Greenest City Leadership
2018 – Saskatchewan Waste Reduction Council, Waste Minimization, Corporation

2017 Stats at a glance

Average London Drugs waste diversion rate, all stores and warehouse: 93.9%
+1.1% over 2016 Diversion Rate

We continue to work with individual stores to improve recycling, and find solutions for new materials, such as wooden pallets, which we now recycle. Our top stores go above and beyond, sorting their garbage, and have been able to completely remove their bulk waste bins. More than half of London Drugs stores are over our goal of 95% diversion.
Best single London Drugs store recycling – St. Albert Alberta, with a 99.97% waste diversion rate!

In 2017 we recycled:

3711 lbs of cell phones – That’s about the weight of a fully grown White Rhino, and an increase of 32% over 2016
42,155 lbs of fluorescent lights – Keeping dangerous toxins like mercury out of our landfills – a 9% increase over 2016 Recycling Partner LightRecycle
122,780 lbs of batteries – Thats weight equivalent to 2.3 MILLION AA size batteries, and a 5% increase over 2016 Recycling Partner: Call2Recycle
370,751 lbs of computers and electronics – That’s equivalent to about 5300 old style 27” TVs, and a 10,000 lb increase over 2016

ONE LESS BAG
Since 2006 we have been reducing plastic bag use through education and reusable alternatives. In 2018 we introduced a 5¢ Bag Reduction Fee to help reduce bag use even further.

We share this success with customers who bring recycling to our stores, employees who track every piece of waste and anyone who brings back their packaging to their local London Drugs.
Together we can make a real difference in waste reduction.

The Math

1 The weight of an Olympic swimming pool, filled waist deep, is estimated at 220,000lbs Austin Bugden, Engineering Technologist
https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-visualise-a-1-million-kg-What-on-Earth-is-this-heavy
2 Average weight of freight in a Canadian rail car: 83.5 tons https://www.railcan.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Rail_Trends_2016.pdf Based on average of 88 60-foot freight cars per mile https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100209154253AALKlg4 113,000,000 lbs / 167,0000 lbs per car / 88 cars per mile x 1.6 = a freight train of approximately 12.3 km
3 Because of the wide variety of cargo, there is no ‘average‘ freighter ship. But Ed Enos, State & USCG licensed Harbor Pilot, estimated that if a 700-foot ship carries 1000 containers, each holding 25 tons of goods, the payload for one such vessel would be 25000 tons, or 50,000,000 pounds.
https://www.quora.com/Approximately-how-many-tons-can-the-average-large-cargo-ship-carry

March 12th, 2018

Reducing Toxins in our Electronics and Packaging

When you see a computer, monitor, printer, or even a mouse pad, you may not immediately think to ask about toxic ingredients. But the London Drugs technology buyers do. That’s because the manufacturing high tech lifestyle products can include the use of lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium and other ingredients of concern.

So when it comes to ordering components and products for London Drugs’ Certified Data, Tree Frog and other in-house brands, merchandise Manager Cedric Tetzel has made it a priority to go above and beyond Canadian standards for toxic materials. When ordering from Asian factories, Cedric and his team demand products be made to the European standards of RoHS (Reduction of Hazardous Substances) or REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals). They have also worked hard to minimize packaging and replace non-recyclable PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) with 100% recyclable PET plastic.

“The result is not just cleaner products and packaging,” says Cedric, “But the factories that produce to RoHS and REACH standards usually deliver higher quality products as well.”

Thanks for setting a higher standard and looking out for toxic materials, Cedric. You are the REAL Green Deal!

February 12th, 2018

London Drugs wins Vancouver Award of Excellence for What’s the Green Deal Sustainability Program

Choirs were singing and civic dignitaries were shaking hands as on February 8th, The City of Vancouver recognized citizens and organizations who made a difference for 2018. London Drugs’ eleven Vancouver stores took home the award for Greenest City Leadership in the organization category, for helping citizens recycle everything from batteries to light bulbs to small appliances, and helping Vancouver reach its Greenest City goals.

One and a half million reasons.

The Vancouver stores alone diverted over ONE AND A HALF MILLION POUNDS of waste from landfill in 2017, including e-waste, batteries, light bulbs, ink cartridges and other recyclables that can contain toxic materials. Our teams were also recognized for promoting local products, recycling in our warehouse and networking to promote sustainability with vendors and government.

This award belongs to all of us. And YOU.

Dave Woogman, Manager of the London Drugs at Broadway & Cambie in Vancouver, accepted the award, but we share it with all London Drugs employees who do such a great job of sorting and diverting waste throughout our organization. We also recognize our customers who recycle more and more every year. And the leadership of London Drugs deserves credit for going above and beyond regulations to demonstrate true leadership in the retail category. This is the second major civic award for What’s the Green Deal this season, as our Surrey stores took home a 2017 Greenest City award in that city in December.
We were in some amazing company, as citizens received awards for diversity, accessibility, health and civic volunteering. Congratulations to all winners at the City of Vancouver Awards of Excellence. You are the REAL Green Deal.

January 2nd, 2018

Ready to do your part to reduce plastic bag waste?  Our 5¢ Plastic Bag Reduction Fee is in effect, as of January 1, 2018.

Now, when you come to London Drugs, bring your bags – or bring your nickels. Canadians use up to 15 BILLION plastic bags every year.(1) That’s a lot of potential to negatively affect our environment, waterways and wildlife. Together, we can do better.

Why a fee? Because fees work to reduce bag waste. When the UK started charging for bags, Wales and Ireland saw a 75% – 90% DECREASE in single-use plastic bags.(2) Research also shows 53 per cent of Canadians feel stores should charge a fee for plastic bags.(3)

Do we charge for every bag? Regular plastic bags are the majority of bags we hand out. So our fee is focused on reducing their use. Specialty bags in the cosmetic and pharmacy departments are not affected.

Where does the money go? Our plastic bag reduction fee goes to cover bag costs, and to help support our What’s the Green Deal recycling programs. We take back more items for recycling than any other retailer in our category. (Around 11 Million pounds a year!) Proceeds from bag fees will help us grow our Green Deal programs and keep recycling free for our customers.

Remember, you can also recycle plastic bags and other soft plastics, right at your local London Drugs store. When you do have plastic bags to get rid of, bring them to us. With millions of Canadians shopping every day, if we each used even ONE less bag, (and recycled the rest) that would save a LOT of plastic waste.

(1) Source: Greener Footprints Society http://www.greenerfootprints.com/plastic-bag-facts/
(2) Source: Article – The Telegraph, October 2015 – http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11912052/Plastic-bag-charge-the-unintended-consequences-of-the-5p-deterrent.html
(3) Source: Angus Reid Poll, Canada, 2012 http://angusreidglobal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/2012.06.13_Bags_CAN.pdf

Some Great Green Canadian Products For Your Canada Day

London Drugs Saskatchewan Recognized for Waste Minimization – Congratulations!

London Drugs Prince George Racks up the Pounds at the Recycling Tour on Earth Day 2018.

Nanaimo Recycles BIG TIME at the Recycling Tour on Earth Day Weekend

Recycling Tour Meets Pancake Breakfast in Downtown Vancouver.

Take the #BringYourbag Challenge with RecycleBC and you could win Whitecaps tickets.

10 years of recycling – What does 113 Million pounds of recycling look like?

Reducing Toxins in our Electronics and Packaging

London Drugs wins Vancouver Award of Excellence for What’s the Green Deal Sustainability Program

Ready to do your part to reduce plastic bag waste?  Our 5¢ Plastic Bag Reduction Fee is in effect, as of January 1, 2018.

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