The Delaware casino Dover Downs is going green and is hoping other casinos will follow its lead in its effort to help preserve the environment. In an announcement made on Monday, the Dover Downs revealed its plans to start composting food waste which would make it the first casino on the East Coast to do so.
President of Dover Downs, Ed Sutor: “If you talk to anybody about conservation efforts, of course there’s a component of doing the right thing, good corporate citizen, but I’d be lying if I told you there wasn’t an economic development too,” – Newsworks.
The move to go green, according to Sutor, was due to high landfill tipping fees which led him to look into cost-saving measures and composting serves to save the casino more than $2,000 in tipping fees.
“The biggest component of our trash is the weight of food…So it worked out for both sides. We have less tonnage, it’s saving us money, and it goes to composting, which is going to be recycled into the environment.”- Newsworks.
Waste Management, an investor in the organic recycling center, will now transport the nearly 50 tons of Dover Downs food waste to The Peninsula Compost Group in Wilmington.
Dover Down didn’t just stop at composting, rather the casino has gone fully green by taking other steps towards energy efficiency, including the installation of 26-thousand energy saving light bulbs, water saving faucets and toilets. Additionally, all styrofoam containers have been replaced with eco-friendly ones and Dover Downs is now even using “green” chemicals for cleaning.
Dover Downs has certainly upped the green ante on the East Coast and while the move benefits the environment, it’s helping the casino too.
According to Sutor: “In these tough times, you have to do whatever you can to save money. And fortunately if you’re paying attention to your recycling and other environmental things — cutting back on electric usage, gas usage — all that’s environmentally good, but also saves the company money,”- Newsworks.
