Environmental Stewardship Award winners announced

The town’s greenest citizens and businesses have been selected to receive Jasper Environmental Stewardship Awards.

Kirsten Schmitten, chair of the Environmental Stewardship Advisory Committee said businesses and individuals in Jasper deserve recognition for being excellent environmental stewards.

“This is a way to celebrate them and hold them as role models so people can strive to involve different environmental initiatives into their own businesses or own personal lives,” she said.

Sawridge Inn and Conference Centre won for the Energy Conservation and Efficiency category for actively participating in the federal government’s Energy Savings program, and, for example, purchasing coffee from local fair trade coffee supplier Rocky Mountain Roaster, and implementing a restricted towel and bed sheet replacement program.

Maligne Tours Ltd. received the Green Design award for its installation of a solar-powered washroom facility on Spirit Island on Maligne Lake.

The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge was recognized for the Waste Reduction category because in the municipal Waste Audit and Waste Composition Study only 38 per cent of its landfill load was divertible, compared to the sample group of town hotels where 64 per cent could have been diverted.

Evil Dave’s Grill also won for Waste Reduction for participating in the municipal commercial composting program, buying locally to support Jasper businesses, recycling daily, and using biodegradable take-out containers and compact fluorescent light bulbs.

École Desrochers received an Environmental Awareness and Leadership award for its proactive students who put a display in the Enviro-Fair, started a composting and recycling project, participated in wild Wacky Walking Wednesday for Clean Air Day, had a green graduation with compostable foodware and raised funds with environmentally-friendly cleaning products and fair trade chocolate.

Bob Covey also received an award for Environmental Awareness and Leadership for reporting on environmental issues during his tenure as editor of the Fitzhugh.

The winners, who will be given trophies shaped like mountains made of recycled glass, were announced at the council meeting Tuesday.

“We wanted these awards to be beautiful, recycled, something they would want to display,” Schmitten said. “Because people are pretty savvy now when they travel in a national park, so it means something when they see that award.”

The number of entries increased by more than 50 per cent this year, a trend Schmitten hopes will continue.

“It would be great if every business put in a nomination and we could celebrate everybody, that would be telling,” she said. “We’re hoping definitely to build on this.”