Every year the Vancouver Airport Authority / L'Administration de l’aéroport de Vancouver acknowledges the efforts, commitment, and enthusiasm of our business partners in environmental management and sustainability through the annual Waste Wars competition and YVR Green Excellence Award. YVR’s President and CEO, Tamara Vrooman announced this year’s winners for both initiatives at the annual Waste Wars and Green Excellence awards ceremony hosted at YVR on December 16.
Waste Wars
Waste Wars is a friendly competition designed to engage terminal food & beverage tenants in proper waste management and recycling at YVR. The competition’s main objective is to increase outreach and education on how to sort properly and divert waste from going to landfill, encouraging tenants to help us reach our target of 60 per cent waste diversion by 2024.
YVR’s waste warriors battled the bins, and after seven weeks of intense binning, digging, and sorting, YVR’s best bins were declared!
Full-Service Restaurants:
- 1st Place: Vino Volo (U.S. Departures)
- 2nd Place: Vino Volo (Domestic Departures)
- 3rd Place: Urban Crave
Quick Service Restaurants:
- 1st Place: Pacific Coast News
- 2nd Place: Banh Shop
- 3rd Place: Subway (International Departures)
To mark Waste Wars’ return after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, two new categories were created to acknowledge new tenants to the YVR food scene and those who demonstrated considerable improvements compared to previous rounds of competition.
- The Best New Tenant: Hiker’s Outpost
- The Most Improved Tenant: Pajo’s
These winners displayed exceptional sorting skills and true dedication to YVR’s waste management practices. We were truly impressed by their consistent efforts, enthusiasm, passion, and remarkable progress over the course of the competition. As a result of their hard work, less waste is going to the landfill and more is being recycled.
YVR Green Excellence Award
Since 2011 the Vancouver Airport Authority / L'Administration de l’aéroport de Vancouver has been recognizing exceptional Sea Island businesses for their commitment, enthusiasm, and innovation in minimizing the environmental impact of their operations with our annual YVR Green Excellence Award. This award has been given to Sea Island businesses for everything from reducing carbon emissions and waste to improving water efficiency and ecosystem health on Sea Island.
This year, we are pleased to announce that the 2022 YVR Green Excellence Award winner is Dufry. Two honorable mentions were also awarded to SkyTeam Lounge and Air Canada.
- Dufry has taken steps to reduce energy consumption, such as replacing lighting with energy-efficient models and powering down electrical systems when stores and warehouses are not in operation. Dufry has also eliminated plastic bags since January 2022, reduced single-use plastic usage by 91% by using reusable netting, and expanded their recycling program..
- SkyTeam Lounge has, 92% of their employees take public transit with carpool arrangements available.
- In 2022, Air Canada has continued to implement several energy and waste reduction initiatives to improve their environmental footprint. From EV Charging stations and electric buses to HVAC and roof upgrades, as well as radiant heating and smart meter installations, Air Canada is taking great steps to reduce their emissions.
Congratulations to the winners, and a big thank you to all businesses who submitted a nomination for the 2022 YVR Green Excellence Awards. We look forward to continuing to work together with the Sea Island business community to reduce our collective impact on the environment.