Earth Week Showcases Environmental Commitments
ARAMARK is creating and participating in dozens of Earth Week events to create awareness of and demonstrate our commitment to long-term environmental programs and policies in purchasing, building operations, resource conservation, transportation and waste management.
Earth Week provides an opportunity to engage in hands-on activities that showcase our individual and collective commitment to the environment. A sampling of our Earth Day activities and environmental intiaitives are below:
"Earth Week with ARAMARK” Parks and Destinations at Lake Tahoe has become one of the area’s most popular events. ARAMARK hosts more than 350 fourth graders from local schools who participate in a three-hour environmental education cruise aboard a paddle boat. ARAMARK invites other agencies, like the US Forest Service, to participate. During the cruise, students learn about the lives of trees, water conservation, and the natural surroundings of Lake Tahoe.
ARAMARK Uniform Services will recognize Earth Week with the hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) in its fleet, purchased with help from a $2.7 million U. S. Department of Energy Grant. When all the vehicles roll in, the AUS fleet will include 68 HEVs. Each HEV, when compared to a standard diesel truck, reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent, and generates fuel efficiency gains of between 20 and 40 percent.
More than 100 of ARAMARK Higher Education’s campus dining partners have implemented a reusable ‘to-go’ container program in residential, retail and catering programs diverting over 2 million disposables from the landfill during a one year period. This program, which was piloted and launched during the 2009-2010 school year, is another initiative in Higher Education’s plan to strive for zero waste and support the sustainability goals of its college and university partners. The re-usable ‘to go’ containers are dishwasher-safe and go through the same cleaning process as the dinnerware used in campus dining halls. Student feedback has been very positive. The entire campus community campus understands the reduction in landfill waste, when compared with a traditional, disposable container. Our program also commits to recycling these re-usable products at the end of their useful life.
ARAMARK Ireland recently introduced its first electric car, which will be used to transport personnel and goods throughout the Intel business campus in Leixlip. The car can travel 50 miles between charges. This is one component of an environmental effort with Intel that includes composting more than 750,000 tea bags a year, replacing paper cups with reusable travel mugs, and introducing single-napkin dispensers.
At Austin Convention Center in Texas, our Sports & Entertainment employees say that every day is Earth Day. They provide compostable plates, silverware and cups, and set up recycling centers next to bars and food stands. Our team stays up to date on what is recyclable and/or compostable, and makes a point of sharing their knowledge with guests who may be confused by the many waste receptacles.
ARAMARK recently announced an environmentally friendly “Blue Cleaning” program that uses electrically activated water instead of chemicals to clean floors, carpets and hard surfaces. A low-level electrical charge is applied to tap water, which creates a cleaning solution that breaks apart and lifts dirt from surfaces. For us, it’s the next step in our environmental commitment - Blue Cleaning goes beyond the use of environmentally preferable cleaning chemicals to an environmentally benign approach. Read the press release.