REDUCE, REUSE, RELAX, RECYCLE WITH URBAN IMPACT
Urban Impact is BC owned and operated
 
Urban Impact

Truck
Urban Impact Gives Back
Carbon Neutral
Urban Impact Recycling Ltd. has embraced Corporate Social Responsibility.

Corporate Social Responsibility (or CSR) as an important business practice for our company.

Our management and employees have used elements of CSR since our inception, but we now feel that it is time to formalize our commitment to CSR.

The Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR) defines CSR as "a company's commitment to operating in an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable manner, while recognizing the interests of its stakeholders, including investors, customers, employees, business partners, local communities, the environment and society at large."

Urban Impact's Mission Statement embraces the basic principles of Corporate Social Responsibility:

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  • treating our customer as we would like to be treated ourselves.
  • operating in an environmentally friendly and responsible manner.
  • offering our customers outstanding value and reduced overall disposal costs.
  • finding environmentally sensitive end-uses for all materials.
  • treating employees with respect and help them develop their individual skills.
  • using our customer's services and products whenever possible.
  • Supporting the community we live in.

Here are some highlights of Urban Impact's current CSR initiatives:

Environmental Leadership

Urban Impact is committed to reducing the environmental impacts of its business operations and believes that a commitment to the health of the planet is the responsibility of all people and businesses. Our business and operating practices speak to that commitment, for example : |

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  • All collection vehicles are washed only with biodegradable soap.
  • State-of-the-art lubricants and oils are used in servicing all vehicles.
  • We endeavor to recycle almost everything we receive at our processing plant and have a comprehensive in house recycling program - in fact we throughout less than .05% of what we receive and collect.
  • We encourage all of our customers to scheduled service, so that their pickups are accommodated in a routed and efficient fashion. All customers that call in for extra service are scheduled on routed days in the specific geographic area - and to encourage this activity customers are given discounted pricing, this not only makes economic sense, but environmental sense and makes sure their recycling program is delivered in an efficient manner .
  • We are also moving our customers to e billing - to reduce paper, envelopes etc - again, what is making business sense is also making environmental sense and delivering recycling services in the most eco friendly way. Where e billing is not an option, we are moving customers to quarterly billing which reduces paper use, postage costs, processing costs by 3 times.
  • Our invoices are printed on paper that is 100% PCW (Post Consumer Waste) , FSC certified ( www.fsccanada.org ) , process chlorine free, acid free and Green E certified
  • Urban Impact also allocates several hours per week for our staff members to clean up in our neighborhood. An Urban Impact staff member picks up garbage and debris in front of our facility and on the dyke behind our facility. Our property backs onto the Fraser River and we feel it is important to contribute back by make sure our foot print is clean and tidy .
  • Urban Impact has also initiated Recycling 101. Recycling 101 is a free program for all customers and non customers alike. The goal of Recycling 101 is to provide an educational experience and enhance the customer's knowledge of recycling and waste reduction both at work and at home. We feel that education and understanding of environmental issues will improve our society's use of valuable resources and environmental sensitivity . For more information visit www.recycling101.ca

Community Involvement


Urban Impact participates in a number of initiatives to promote environmental awareness in the community. Urban offers free recycling to a variety of local charities. They have also provided free recycling pick up at community events such as:

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  • Big Sisters of Canada Gala Event
  • Canadian Cancer Diamond Ball
  • Burns Bog Society - International Bog Day

Urban Impact has also committed 1% of pre tax profits to non-profits and charities who require recycling services for their offices or events. Through the Charitable Giving Program it is our intention to help reduce charities operating costs by providing free recycling programs, reducing their garbage costs while not incurring recycling costs. This allows them to use their scarce funds to do what they do best, help others. .

Some of the participants in our Charitable Giving include:

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  • Autism Society of BC
  • BCPWA
  • Brock House Society
  • Canadian Cancer Society
  • Loving Spoonful
  • Richmond Youth Services
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  • UNICEF
  • Vancouver International Writers Festival
  • Vancouver Chamber Music Society
  • Vancouver Theatre Sports
  • Youth Co. Aids Society

Urban Impact has also made itself available for school tours and action research programs. The company has hosted hundreds of children at its facility over the years to assist in the development of environmental values for young children and get them excited about the recycling process.

Kids Recycle

Photo - Kids in Garage

Here is a great photo emailed to us by a parent of two of our recent Tour participants. Adam and Willy toured our facility with a group and when he got home he built his own recycling facility in his garage at home.

It's pretty hard to get mad at your kids for making a mess when this is what they are doing!

Making Urban a great place to work

Urban Impact's current staff team is comprised of 25 dedicated and almost exclusively full-time employees. All employees who have been with the company for 1 year share 10% of our annual profits equally. They also earn medical, dental, disability and life insurance benefits after three months employment. Paid time-off is given for new parents or for other personal issues.

Wage rates compare favourably with other firms in our industry, particularly at the entry level where we start an untrained worker at 20% above minimum wage. Staff can access 'no questions asked' salary advances up to twice annually helping them avoid the use of usurious payroll advance services. We also provide financial assistance for wellness programming (E.g. stopping smoking). In addition, Urban Impact has a company RRSP program and matches 50% of each employee's yearly contribution.

We also encourage all of our employees to work a flexible four-day schedule in order to reduce their impact on our urban environment. We also allow flextime for all of our office staff to accommodate any of their personal schedule needs and they're commuting times.

We have regular unscheduled staff get-togethers after work where people who work in different areas in the company can interact with each other and exchange ideas with everyone from the president to the newest sorter. Often funny stories about the odd things that happen in business are told and these stories eventually become part of the lore of Urban Impact, perpetuating the sense of belonging and community.

Ethical Business Practices

As a company, we are genuinely guided by our mission statement, particularly by the golden rule of treating our customers as we would like to be treated ourselves.

Urban Impact is transparent with customers and does not attempt to unfairly change service contracts after they have been signed; we seek long-term contracts that offer customers certainty around pricing and flexibility to meet changing needs. This also helps the company build a route that will minimize the impact of our trucks on the road.

Urban Impact has a reputation for providing high quality recyclable materials to end-markets and processors.

All suppliers are paid in a timely fashion.

Here are some of things we are working on for our Urban Impact's commitment to initiatives:

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  • Setting up a bank of rain barrels to capture the rain water from our warehouse roof (40,000 square feet of roof). The captured rainwater will be used to clean our vehicles, reducing water consumption and reusing water we collect.
  • Compost system for our staff's lunch waste. We hope to use the compost in our warehouse and entrance gardens.
  • Review of our power consumption both in the office and warehouse.