Going green backfires at sports facility in Kamloops
The Tournament Capital Centre's switch from paper towels to cloth wipes causes huge pile-up of laundry
It was with the best of intentions that the world-class Tournament Capital Centre in Kamloops, B.C. swapped out paper towels in its workout rooms for yellow reusable cloth wipes.
But instead of an improvement in its sustainability goals, it saw a huge pile-up of dirty laundry that quickly began sucking up water, power and staffing.
"It resulted in a lot more laundry, which has put a strain on our resources and other costs associated with doing laundry, like energy," said Glen Cheetham, sustainability services supervisor with the City of Kamloops.
The idea was part of the recreational facility's 'zero waste' initiative.
It was designed so that each guest uses one cloth per visit to wipe down equipment, but Cheetham says that hasn't been the case.
Draining staff time
Instead staff are spending a good chunk of their time doing laundry.
"They have some other very important duties to do through the day, providing supervision, support, orientation for new clients," he said, "so laundry support is in some cases compromising their ability to fulfil their other duties."
The facility is now working with suppliers to look for other green alternatives.
With files from the CBC's Daybreak Kamloops and Tara Copeland.
To hear the full story listen to the audio labelled: Tournament Capital Centre irons out zero waste cloth-wipe program.