LFS owners and employees this is a challange. Let’s hear it. What are you guys doing or planning on doing in the near future to go green?
Where I got the idea:
http://delreefclub.org/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=28&topic=3658
YahoO
Who will be the first person to speak up to say, “Just Billy’s Eastside Premium Pet Bowl Zoo†went to the dollar store and picked up an extra bin to use for recyclables and we’ll actually take them to the right place, vs dumping them in with the rest of the trash�
Why store will feature or promote their green friendly products?
Which store will change pumps to a smaller pump vs using a ball valve to dial them back and cut down on the amount of electricity they use each month?
Which store promises to keep an aquacultured marine animal in their stores 24/7 365 or all frozen foods goes half price until they fix it?
Recycle cardboard boxes? Reuse styrofoam boxes? Donate styrofoam boxes to another company to be reused? Employees that carpool to work? Purchase fish from responsible collectors?
We have some green geeks around here, forum members chip in with other ideas!
I suppose i will be the first to touch on a few of these issues, simply because we were able to make some changes when we moved. Mainly lighting stuff…
pulled out the old school mobile base halides over the coral section in the store and installed t5ho fixtures. Saved some electricity there…
all lfs, afa i know, donate the styrofoam boxes back to the same or another distributor week after week. Kinda blows when shipping in from cali and paying 5.50 per box, then giving them away. But its better than trashing them.
Aquacultured stuff is still extremely limited to clownfish, sans ora. But there’s no reason for any clowns to be wild caught anymore as i see it.
Most of the time, i don’t control or even know who collects the fiah im buying. There is a middle man (the distributor) between the lfs and the collectors.( if not, more than one man inbetween us) so for the most part, we have no idea. Just buy from responsible distributors and hope they r buying from responsible collectors.
We do take large quantities of cardboard to recycling centers, but nowhere near 100% of the recyclables make their way there… i really wish we all had the time to separate every single thing that enters the trash at the store… unfortunately there r other things that tend to get in the way. Like running a store.
we have donated a few bulbs to the drc recycling program. This is something i would like to focus on doing alot more of… note to self.
All i can think of right now…
Oh… one more thing.
we don’t “advertise” any of these things to be trendy, or drum up business. We just do it. Only reason u know now, is because u asked.
Thanks for chiming in BJ! Hopefully some of the other stores will speak up soon.
Seems like you guys already have a good bit in place.
Single stream recycling was implemented a year ago, so no need to sort through things later. Just set out two bins, one for recycling one for trash. When you go to pitch something if you can remember it is recyclable put it in the recycling, if you can’t remember pitch it in the other one. When you take it to the recycling collection place you just dump it in one of the bins, doesn’t matter if it’s brown glass, or white plastic, all goes in the same place.
This actually will be required of fast food places in the near future in the state. I don’t think the law stretches to retail stores that don’t sell food, but my memory is horrible. I know we won’t be having trash police like they’ve tried in PHL that pick through your trash to make sure you are recycling everything possible and hitting you with heavy fines.