In The News

The Huffington Post interviews Debbie Baxter, VP of Corporate Sustainability for the Toronto-based company LoyaltyOne. Baxter has spearheaded a number of green initiatives at LoyaltyOne--a company that advises business on customer loyalty prgorams--earning her two green awards in the past year. An excerpt from the interview:

"Tell me about some of LoyaltyOne's sustainability initiatives."

"We have a passionate environmentalist as leader (Bryan Pearson, President and CEO), and that makes all the difference. But much of what we do begins in a grassroots way: people suggest and we respond. All the things you might imagine, like a recycling program that diverts up to 90 percent of all waste, and an environmental fair to help people learn about the issues and green products and services.

We've partnered with local transit authorities so that employees can take public transit to work -- and when our people told us that meetings in the middle of the day meant they still had to drive downtown, we struck a deal with a local autoshare company, and now team members drive around in branded Smart cars. Plus, by the end of this year, 85 percent of our staff will be working in LEED certified spaces (LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council). Our Mississauga-based Customer Care Centre is a LEED gold building. And the solar system on its roof is the largest of its kind in Canada."

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original source Huffington Post