March 28, 2024

BY BRUCE CHESSELLIMG_1396

On March 22 Conestoga integrated marketing communications students held an event at Fairview Park Mall to spread awareness for Cadillac Fairview’s “Green at Work” initiative.

Working in collaboration with Sustainable Waterloo Region and sponsors such as THEMUSEUM, the students aimed to display the five pillars of the “Green at Work” initiative which are energy, waste management, environmental protection, sustainable procurement and communication.

On Fairview Park Mall’s website they describe the five pillars as such:

“1. Energy: A key focus is on energy conservation and efficiency and the incorporation of renewable energy sources, with a long-term goal of net-zero emissions from buildings.

2. Waste Management: Our goal is to generate zero waste by implementing a consistent and dedicated approach to waste diversion and waste minimization.

3. Environmental Protection: Our goal is to eliminate adverse impacts at our properties wherever our activities, products and services interact with the environment, while ensuring compliance with governmental regulations.

4. Sustainable Procurement: Wherever possible, we will utilize environmentally-friendly products, services and best management practices at all properties.

5. Communication: Our comprehensive Green Communication Plan has been designed to inform, engage, educate and share green best practices with our employees and tenants so that we can work together to make a difference.”

The students set up five stations around the mall, each symbolizing a different pillar of the initiative and each one featuring a different activity or information. For example, the energy booth featured an interactive area where kids in the mall could exert energy by riding around on small tricycles, while the parents got information on energy conservation as well as a free set of energy-efficient light bulbs.

“Fairview Park and Cadillac Fairview has a sustainability program corporately called Green at Work, so we’ve been looking at ways to promote all the great work that we do in this program,” said Leah Landriault, marketing manager for Fairview Park Mall. “What Conestoga College has done is come in and brought that to life. They’ve taken a corporate document and corporate strategies and things that we kind of do behind the scenes and they have brought that to the public in a very interactive way.”

Since 2008 Cadillac Fairview has reduced their energy consumption by 76 million equivalent kilowatt hours, as well as reduced greenhouse gas emissions by over 14,000 equivalent tons of carbon. They have also diverted 39,000 tonnes of landfill waste, saved over 600 megalitres of water (enough to fill 243 Olympic-size swimming pools) and improved their lighting by over 933 kilowatts. Also, 100 per cent of their cleaning products are “green” and their total cost of savings for Canadian properties is more than $31 million.

“Fairview Park Mall essentially came to us and said we need a fun and dynamic event for families and this is what we have created,” said Karly Rath, one of the project managers for the event and a student in the post-graduate integrated marketing communications program.
“And what we’re trying to do is promote the initiative. One of the ways we’re doing that is by highlighting the accomplishments that Fairview Park Mall has achieved because they really have done quite a lot to reduce their ecological footprint.”

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