Learn all about Canada's Wonderland diversion and recycling programs.

Honouring Earth Day on April 22nd this year may hit home a little different. Many of us have had more time to be outdoors, we haven't driven as much and we’ve had more time to appreciate what we have around us. That appreciation for our natural resources does not get taken for granted at Canada’s Wonderland. 

Everyone may know the park for its roller coasters and funnel cake, but did you know we’re serious about being green? We’ve had conservation programs in place since the day we opened, but the effort has continued, and policies improved upon these past 40 years. We want to do our part to keep the planet healthy for generations to come, and here’s some fun facts as to how we’re doing that! 

Reduction & Reuse Efforts:

We place a great emphasis on purchasing materials made with recycled content and taking steps to eliminate single-use plastics in the park. We do this by:

• Using recyclable paper plates
• Using compostable PLA straws and eliminating polypropylene plastic straws
• Using wooden stir sticks
• Using paper bags and reusable fabric shopping bags at all stores

The use of electric hand dryers in public washrooms saves approximately 5 million feet of paper towel per year (that’s like stretching paper towel from Toronto all the way to Thunder Bay). 

Recycling & Diversion Programs:

We’ve consistently met and exceeded all Provincial target goals for 3R’s compliance (Reduce, Recycle & Reuse). It all started back in 1989 when we began recycling cardboard, over the years we have instituted programs to help recycle numerous items some of which include: cardboard and paper, glass and plastics, metals, organics (food and fryer waste), oils and solvents, wood /construction debris, electronics and lighting waste.

In 2018 we took another big step forward to send the remaining volume of non-recycled waste to a nearby Energy-From-Waste facility (EFW). At this location the waste is incinerated in an environmentally clean and government certified manner. In turn it produces both industrial-use steam and electric power which is added to the provincial grid. 

Canada’s Wonderland can proudly proclaim that we have zero waste to landfill, thanks to our ongoing recycling programs and the EFW programs.
 

What do these efforts translate to? Here are some of our annual environmental benefits from our diversion and recycling program:

Conservation:

All of our major buildings have Wonder Mountain to thank for their air conditioning! The water that flows over the falls cools the park’s chiller and the chilled water circulates underground to each of our buildings cooling each of these buildings down. Approximately 30,000 gallons of water flows over the mountain every minute. Now that’s COOL!

Other fun facts about our water and energy conservation efforts include: 

• The pond near Behemoth is actually a storm water retention area that supplies water irrigation across the park
• Approximately 6,000 trees and 75,000 shrubs exist within the park that help to cool the property and midway areas 
• In an effort to reduce the use of fresh water, the refrigeration equipment in our smaller restaurants use air-cooled refrigeration systems and our larger freezers in our food warehouse have a cooling tower. The water is recycled in a closed loop instead of relying on fresh water sources and these changes provide an estimated reduction in our drinking water by approx. 37,000 cubic metres per year!
• All manual hand-operated faucets and washroom flush units have been replaced by automatic, electronic units that are low-flow certified and completely touch-free. This has reduced our water use by approximately 4,000 cubic metres per year. 
• Canada’s Wonderland is also committed to an ongoing effort to replace lighting with energy-efficient LED lights and reduce electricity consumption with occupancy sensors and automated lighting controls.

There’s still much to do, of course and we accept the challenge to find new ways to make a difference! Every bit helps.