Hello everyone. John here. I’d like to share with you some hard numbers and a picture of the past, the present and the future of garbage, compost and recycling at our stores, specifically our Delta Oaks and Willamette locations.

Background
Real-time composting began in April and August 2009 and at our Delta and Willamette stores, respectively. Since then, we have compiled several months of data.

Over the last nine months, our employees have made a concerted effort to compost more matter, creating many, many happy microbes and feeding the belly of huge recycling machines off site.

While both stores previously recycled, the amount composted was much less due to the containers we used previously. Larger receptacles installed last year have catapulted our recycling numbers and lowered the amount of garbage going into the landfill.

At Delta
Prior to composting, the Delta store generated an average of 16.78 tons per month. After we began composting, the garbage tonnage dropped to an eye-opening 9.31 tons per month on average, and redirected an average of 7.47 tons of compost and recycling materials per month. A great big hand to the Delta employees for sustaining the program.

At Willamette
The Willamette store, the largest of all our stores, also did well. With no composting program in place, Willamette generated an average of 33 tons of garbage per month. With lessons learned at Delta, the newly implemented composting program we redirected a whopping 13 tons per month. Garbage was reduced to an average of 17 tons per month.

All said, we redirected 16 tons per month through composting and accelerating our recycling. Hooray for our Willamette employees and the program!

In Summary
To wrap up this numbers game, we redirected approximately 27 percent of our total tonnage to compost and recycling at Willamette and Delta after the program began. In 2010, we are looking forward to compiling a full year of statistics for both stores allowing us to report more concise numbers. So be sure to check back. And we are looking forward to implementing robust composting program at our other stores in the very near future.