The Cochrane RancheHouse has been a lot greener in the last year thanks to the company Executive Mat Service.
The RancheHouse was part of a paper towel landfill diversion project pilot program for six months from July – December 2013. The pilot project was very successful and they have continued with the service and have now used it for nearly a year.
“We focus on things that typically go to landfill and find strategies to divert that from landfill and create another use for it,” explained company president and Cochrane resident Kim Caron.
Executive Mat Service installed paper towel and soap dispensers along with an eco-green collection bin in the RancheHouse in July 2013. Caron explained that instead of paying someone to come and dump their dumpster with all of the paper waste, Executive Mat Service comes and picks up the bin when they are changing the mats out.
“There is no extra cost or carbon footprint associated with it,” said Caron.
But the interesting part of this operation is what they do with all of the paper towel waste.
Caron said that they bring the paper towel waste back to their plant in Calgary, where they shred and mulch it into a mash with other biomaterial and they make energy pellets out of it.
These pellets are then fed into a bio mass boiler or gassifier that heats the water in their laundry.
“We use our customers waste to heat our laundry water,” explained Glen Smith, Southern Alberta sales manager with Executive Mat.
According to data put together by the company, approximately 2,200 pounds of CO2 landfill (methane equivalent) emissions were reduced during the pilot project at the RancheHouse.
They also found that by diverting bulky paper towel waste they were able to reduce the frequency of garbage service by 26 ‘tips’ over the pilot project period, and this would equal 52 ‘tips’ a year.
They estimated that the Cochrane RancheHouse would save $3,300 in direct waste removal costs, plus $3,060 in product costs for a total of $6,360 per year. The RancheHouse also reduced its carbon footprint by an annualized 4,484 pounds.
The program was saving money for the RancheHouse and also helping the environment – a win-win.
“We’re trying to do this with a lot of our customers. We’re trying to be a company that if we provide it to you, we will be responsible for the waste that comes of it,” explained Smith.
Smith said that in Cochrane, Ducks on the Roof and the Town of Cochrane Operational Facility on Griffin Road also run this program, along with a number of places in Calgary, including McMahon Stadium.
Caron started the business in 1996 and moved to Cochrane in 1997. He said that the business was definitely not an overnight success and the road to where they are today was anything but easy.
He said he sold everything he had and he put all of his money into the business, and away he went.
The business now has locations in Vancouver, Kelowna, Vancouver Island, Edmonton and Regina/Saskatoon.
“Our core business is mat service and, over the years, it has expanded into other areas and that’s where more of the environmental stuff has popped up,” said Caron.
Another environmental element to the company, in addition to the paper towel program, is a shop towel-cleaning program.
Caron said that they have developed a system to extract hydrocarbons out of industrial shop towels and use the recovered solvents from the hazardous rags as a fuel source in their plant.
“It runs our boiler 100 per cent off of material that used to get flushed down the sewer by our competitor,” explained Caron.
So why take the time and effort for all of the environmental endeavours?
Caron said it is because we need to take responsibility for our actions in the places we live. Taking this responsibility, for Caron, has led not only to a successful business, but also recognition for Executive Mat’s environmental work.
They have become Canada’s only ISO 14001 Certified textile rental company, which according to the Standards Council of Canada, indicates that a company has a strong commitment to monitoring, managing and improving its environmental performance.
They were also the winner of the 2012 Emerald Award for environmental innovation and a finalist for the 2012 Ernst & Young entrepreneur of the year.
“No one else is willing to invest the time and energy to build a system like we have built,” said Caron.
For more information visit executivemat.com.
