The Shooting Star Casino, Hotel and Event Center in Mahnomen has implemented a long-term sustainability program with the goal of reducing its overall carbon footprint.
Working closely with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Shooting Star's "green" program will have long-term benefits that include a considerably large reduction in operating costs, reduced waste, increased energy efficiency, and an improved quality of life for its customers and employees.
To reduce waste and promote recycling and reuse, Shooting Star has implemented an extensive recycling program that salvages cardboard from shipping, food boxes and drink cartons, glass such as used light bulbs, and metal such as used batteries.
The casino has also begun providing metal eating utensils rather than disposable utensils to reduce waste at its dining facilities, and has also replaced Styrofoam containers with compostable or biodegradable containers.
Most recently, Shooting Star implemented a new housekeeping-recycling program that was developed in partnership with Clean the World Foundation, Inc., in which all discarded soap, shampoo-conditioner and lotion products are collected, sorted, processed for recycling, and delivered to domestic homeless shelters and impoverished countries suffering from high death rates.
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Shooting Star's green program also includes the reduction of energy and water consumption.
To improve energy efficiency, the casino has installed more than 20,000 energy-saving, compact fluorescent light bulbs and lamps inside and out.
To reduce water consumption, its commercial plumbing products, such as faucets and toilets, have been replaced with water-saving, low-flow fixtures.
Shooting Star is now even using "green" chemicals and plant-based, biodegradable cleaning products, which are significantly more environmentally responsible and less toxic than typical household cleaning chemicals and products.
"We take pride in our sustainability efforts and the significant effort that has gone into becoming environmentally conscious at every level of our business," said marketing director Bill Marsh.
Shooting Star has also partnered with Clean World to ensure it continues to investigate and implement green and alternative energy sources and products that maximize efficiency and reduce its carbon footprint for future generations.
Initiatives that will soon be executed include installing variable frequency motors to reduce the consumption of electricity, a new food scrap recovery policy to increase the quantity of food scraps donated, reused, and composted, a paper recycling program, and a new biomass heating system that will utilize woodchips, which have less of an effect on the environment than fossil fuel chips.
