Shooting Star Casino, Hotel and Event Center in Mahnomen, Minnesota, is aiming to reduce its carbon footprint by implementing a variety of sustainability initiatives. An extensive recycling program salvages cardboard from shipping, food boxes, and drink cartons, as well as glass such as used light bulbs, and metal such as used batteries. Metal utensils replace their disposable counterparts at dining venues, while compostable or biodegradable containers are used instead of Styrofoam.
To improve energy efficiency, the casino has installed more than 20,000 energy-saving, compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs and lamps inside and out. The property is tackling water reduction by replacing plumbing products such as faucets and toilets with low-flow fixtures. The housekeeping program uses plant-based, biodegradable cleaning products that are less toxic than typical cleaners. In addition, 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, courtesy of a partnership with Clean the World Foundation, Inc.
Future sustainable efforts will 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/or composted; a paper recycling program; and a new biomass heating system that will use woodchips, which have less of an effect on the environment than fossil fuel chips.
