Media Release
In an ongoing effort to embrace the principles of sustainable tourism, Blue Heron Cruises conducted its first waste audit on Saturday June 21st.
Waste from all cruise locations, including vessels, indoor, outdoor, and administrative operations, was collected for the entire first day of peak season. Sailings were at 80% of capacity, despite the sometimes overcast skies and two substantial cloud bursts.
Waste was first counted: 25.5 bags, and weighed: 96.5kg. After the initial count and weight, all bags were opened and sorted into six categories: (1) landfill; (2) non-recyclable packaging including food containers and wrapping; (3) food waste; (4) recycling waste; (5) ponchos; and (6) miscellaneous (for example, broken sunglasses, a bungee cord, a piece of rebar).
One key takeaway was determining where most waste is deposited. Two locations stood out: the harbour boardwalk and the parking lot at the corner of Highway 6 and Carlton Street. Significantly, it also emerged that there was potential for over 50 percent of the waste collected to be diverted from landfill.
On the day 13.4 percent was sorted as recyclable and diverted immediately. A potential daily win. Going forward Blue Heron Cruises will install additional visible, well signed recycling bins at multiple indoor and outdoor locations.
Food waste represented 14.9% of the waste and with improved municipal infrastructure around composting could be diverted in the future.
Over 20% of the waste was packaging waste. This offers a huge opportunity for change: suppliers and customers opting exclusively for compostable or recyclable containers and wrapping. Picnicking visitors opting for reusable containers and using natural wraps like beeswax covers.
In addition to ramping up recycling stations, Blue Heron Cruises plans to increase sustainability messaging with visitors, championing “pack in and pack out” messages and are on the hunt for a competitively priced sustainable rain poncho for the 2026 season.
Participating in the audit were four Blue Heron Cruises staff members Ryan Rehorek and Hazel Smith, as well as Kelly George, who has considerable experience participating in international waste audits, and Josie Gelinas, a summer student studying Environment, Resources and Sustainability at the University of Waterloo.
Blue Heron Cruises is in its third season of working with GreenStep Solutions to achieve internationally verified sustainability certification.
