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Environmentally
Friendly Industries
Program
Area
This activity
is designed for the Grade 9 Self and Society Program. It best
fits into the unit of study on Tertiary/Service Industries in
Canada with a link to the environment unit.
Learning
Outcomes
Teaching,
learning and evaluation will focus on student's ability to:
- Understand
some differences between tertiary industries;
- Discover
some of the processes involved in providing a product or service;
- Discover
the concerns for our environment that are held by company officials.
Students may appreciate the dilemma faced by those industries
who wish to keep profits high and their environmental impact
low;
- Discern
between a green company and corporate hype;
- Articulate
the issues of excess packaging, juice box recycling, newsprint
recycling, and environmentally friendly products;
- Write
a letter of appreciation to industry officials to thank or criticize
them for their roles in our environment.
Classroom
Development
This lesson
should follow your introduction to primary (extractive), secondary
(manufacturing), and tertiary (service) industries. Divide your
class into groups of two or three. Brainstorm examples under the
following heading in bold type (Circle the listed examples after
the brainstorm exercise).
Food
Service Industry
Coca Cola
Foods, Loblaws,
McDonalds
Petroleum
Industry
Consumers
Gas
Newspaper
Publishing
Toronto
Star Toronto, Sun
Service
Industry
Black's
Photography, The Body Shop,
Revlon
Note:
A number of other companies also fit the above categories and
have also undertaken environmental initiatives. Many companies
are proud to share their reports and information with your students.
An address and a contact person for the above are listed in
the Networking Contacts section of The Green School.
Allow
each group to select the company that it wishes to adopt during
its cooperative group learning. Through group discussion, consultation
with the teacher, referencing from the library, and reading
the statement made by their adopted company, each group must
complete the EFI Assignment and Group Presentation.
Additional
Sources
Pollution
Probe. The Canadian Green Consumer Guide. Toronto: McClelland,
1989.
Carson,
Patrick. Green Is Gold. Toronto: Harper, 1991.
Timing
- 10 min
to read and discuss the initiative
- 30 min
to design and produce the company poster
- 15 min
to prepare a skit
- 20 min
to write the letter to a company official
- 15 min
to prepare the questions
Homework:
the scrapbook of newspaper articles/advertisements
Resource
Each of
the industries will mail you more detailed information on their
environmental initiatives. To show a different perspective on
these industries you may wish to contact:
- Greenpeace
185 Spadina Avenue
6th Floor
Toronto, Ontario M5T 2C6
(416) 345-8408;
- Pollution
Probe
12 Madison Avenue
Toronto, Ontario M5R 2S1
(416) 926-9876;
- Public
Focus
(416) 967-5211
Photocopy
and cut the statements on the accompanying sheets so that each
group only receives its own Industry Environmental Initiative.
The following information was gathered from telephone conversations
and examinations of requested company documents (annual reports,
newsletters, environmental statements to the public).
Food
Service Industry: Coca Cola
We are acutely
aware of current environmental issues specifically relating to
packaging materials. In response to the need for recyclable packaging
methods, we have established an in-house environmental task force
to determine how to quickly and effectively ensure that all materials
used for Minute Maid and Five Alive products are 'environment
friendly'. A number of our products are currently 100% recyclable,
the balance are under review in an attempt to upgrade all products
to 100% recyclable packaging. Tetra Paks, the aseptic cartons
used for the above beverages, are now being recycled in a beverage
box and mixed plastic recycling program in over 800 schools across
Canada. Students in over 150 schools in York Region and 350 schools
in Newfoundland are now collecting Tetra Pack cartons and shipping
them to the Superwood plant in Mississauga. Superwood takes the
drink boxes and mixes them with other plastics to make a plastic
lumber for picnic tables and fences. -Frances D. Bilecki Consumer
Services (416) 756-8105
Food
Service Industry: McDonalds
We follow
a rigidly controlled policy of sourcing our beef locally to ensure
that beef from the Amazon rainforest is not used here. We do not
use nor have ever used beef from South or Central America. We
have helped to protect the ozone layer by phasing out polystyrene
packaging and switching to paper hamburger boxes in all of our
locations. Many locations are reducing our packaging by serving
drinks and sundaes without lids. Over 50% of our restaurants are
recycling cardboard. Consumers will soon see a recycled brown
paper bag for all carryout and drive-thru orders. -Susan Pennie
(416) 446-3610
Food
Service Industry: Loblaws
We are focusing
on excess packaging which is our most visible solid waste problem.
We encourage our suppliers to reduce the amount of materials that
go into packaging. All cardboard shipping boxes are bundled and
shipped to a recycling manufacturer. We were the first supermarket
group to use recycled paper and vegetable oil based inks for our
advertising flyers, which we have also reduced in size. We turn
off all nonessential lighting and use timers on refrigeration
units to control defrost cycles and allow appliances to run more
efficiently. We are replacing CFC12 with more environmentally
friendly refrigerants as stores are serviced and renovated. We
introduced a 100% cotton string shopping bag, and have asked our
suppliers to use as much reclaimed plastic in the shopping bags
that they produce. In January 1989 we introduced a line of 100
environmentally friendly products called Green products. -Patrick
Carson (416) 960-6931
Petroleum
Industry: Consumers Gas
The Ontario
Natural Gas Association has made significant progress in promoting
more efficient uses of energy, conservation of energy sources
and protection of the environment. We are committed to conducting
all of our operations in an environmentally sensitive manner and
promote awareness of environment issues. We also promote the use
of natural gas as an preferred fuel and will continue to invest
in the development of technologies to improve efficiency. Substituting
natural gas for other fossil fuels would reduce acid rain. Our
fuel produces about 30% less CO2 during combustion than oil, and
about half that of coal or wood. For Earth Day 1990, we created
an essay competition and a poster contest for school students.
Marika Hare (416) 498-2978
Publishing
Industry: Toronto Star
We are
now purchasing and using recycled paper from Atlantic Paper in
Whitby. As the supply increases, more and more of The Star will
be printed on recycled paper. We and other newspaper publishers
are contributing $10 million to expand the Blue Box Program. For
the past 50 years we have been recycling unsold newspapers and
waste newsprint. In our buildings we also recycle ink, printing
plates, wood skids, letters, computer printouts, and pop cans.
Our Newspaper In Education Department has developed a teaching
kit which will help teachers to use newspapers as the most current
source of information on environmental problems. Just ask us for
"Planet In Peril". We have also co-written an educational
package for Earth Day called "Give Earth A Chance."
Diana Griscuks, Aubrey Samuels (416) 869-4141
Service
Industry: Black's Photography
System
Crystal is Canada's first environmentally friendly photo finishing
process. We would like to show initiative and help our environment
by encouraging our customers to bring their unprocessed film to
us. It is inevitable that government legislation will restrict
the use of water and natural resources in the future. Since we
have used 60 million litres of water per year during the film
developing process we wanted to conserve water by reusing it.
Our patented "Aqua Flow System" washes water and is
reused for the developer, stabilizer and bleaching chemicals.
Our price tag so far has been $3 million. -Dave Bonary (905) 475-2777
x242
Publishing
Industry: Toronto Sun
We recognize
that being concerned with the environment is fashionable for some.
However, our concerns are sincere. Our entire publication is made
from recycled newsprint. The Toronto Sun and The Financial Post
(our sister publication) have become the leaders in researching
and finding markets for ONP (old newspapers). Until a few years
ago only one company called Ontario and Quebec Paper in Thorold,
Ontario, had the facilities to de-ink newspapers for recycling.
In the near future, there will be seven mills running to meet
the demand. Until construction is complete, much of the ONP that
you put into your Blue Box will be sold to recycling markets in
Europe. To make 310 t of recycled newsprint the Thorold plant
requires 190 000 t of ONP. They add 50% virgin fiber (fresh pulp
fiber) to 50% of the ONP. Since there are strength limitations
to the recycled paper fiber, the industry usually removes it after
five runs through the stream. In essence you could read from the
same newsprint five times over the course of a couple of months.
Recycled newsprint does not cost any more than virgin newsprint
and it is just as good. -Jim Tighe (416) 947- 2340.
Service
Industry: The Body Shop
Since our
beginnings in 1976, we have operated with a non-exploitative approach
to the world in which we all live and work. We do not sell or
use skin and hair care products which will:
- consume
a disproportionate amount of energy during manufacture or disposal;
- cause
unnecessary waste;
- use
materials derived from threatened species or from threatened
environments;
- involve
cruelty to animals;
- adversely
affect other countries, particularly in developing countries.
In addition,
we question our suppliers on the environmental performance of
the products and encourage them to have the same ethical and environmental
practices as our own. We also support and promote the work of
environmental groups such as Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace
and The Kenya Wildlife Fund. Vanessa Kennedy (416) 441-3202.
Service
Industry: Revlon
We expect
each employee to assume personal responsibility and control of
environmental issues on the job. Our goal is to operate our business
in compliance with all applicable environmental laws and regulations.
We will work toward reducing the impact of our product packaging
by taking steps to:
- eliminate
heavy metals, inks and colourants which leave hazardous residues
when disposed of;
- reduce
the volume and weight of our packaging;
- use
recycled and recyclable materials in our packaging;
- support
efforts to educate consumers on how they can become part of
the recycling solution;
We will
also evaluate owned and operated property to identify significant
environmental issues and volunteer to clean up contaminated locations,
as may be appropriate. -Sherry Abbott (905) 276-4500.
EFI Assignment
and Group Presentation
Company
Name: ____________________________________
Group Members:
__________ __________ _____________
Instructions
Prepare the following for your group presentation:
- A poster
that explains all of your adopted company's environmental initiatives
(5 marks);
- A one
minute skit that illustrates how your product is manufactured/extracted
(5 marks);
- A letter
that you have written to an official in the company thanking
the company for trying to help our environment (5 marks);
- A scrapbook
of five newspaper articles/ads relating to one or more of the
following: environmentally friendly products, excess packaging,
environmental concerns (5 marks);
The scores
that you obtain from the other quizzes will be averaged to give
you a mark o
- A five
(5) question quiz with answers to be given to the rest of your
class (5 marks);ut of five.
Total
Group Mark: Knowledge /5 Skill /10 Application /10
Homework:
Bring a sample of your company's product for tomorrow's class.
Evaluation:
This assignment can be evaluated jointly by your teacher and your
peers. Peer and self-evaluation should be considered.
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