Sweet! Which one is it??

they compost food waste from their staff's lunches, the compost is on the balcony at the Calgary store. yes they make money to make purchases, pay their staff and CEO, pay for their buildings and build new ones - but it has no independent owners or stockholders, every member who shops there is an owner (and there are 3 million of them), so there is no single owner making a profit. furthermore they have an elected board that get paid NOTHING that make decisions regarding how the co-op is run. so really if you have a problem with MEC you need to take it up with its 3 million members, because technically they make the call in how it operates, or you could join MEC and then run for the board of governors to have a say in its decisions. if you want to live in a country free of co-ops call your local MP and let them know, or better yet, run for office and make some changes. this spells it out pretty clearly: http://www.mec.ca/Main/content_text.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198674104564&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302884190&bmUID=1257040061179 that's great that other shops recycle, but MEC pushes the envelope as far as retailers go in the sustainability department. I don't know of many other stores that do as much as they do. action the co-op has taken includes: rooftop gardens, geothermal heating, run off of windpower, use solar lighting in offices with no windows, recycle everything possible, build new stores out of reclaimed materials, run information sessions on backcountry responsibility, donate warranty return items that are still of use to shelters for distribution, purchase recreational land that is at risk of being developed, have several clothing items made out of recycled polyester / nylon, manufacture cotton clothing using only organic cotton, hold sustainable trail building training sessions and do a lot more that I probably don't know about. http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=d7729874-1dde-4785-ba4e-2980e52a714b.

Kudos to your bike shop for taking those initiatives and really to all bike shops - they all get people riding. MEC also supports not driving to work with shower and locker rooms, and large bike room. I obviously am a fan of how they operate - keep in mind all of the things I have listed are actions they do take - they are walking the walk, not just trying or talking, they consistently win national awards recognizing their initiative. http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=d7729874-1dde-4785-ba4e-2980e52a714b. Of course there is always room for improvement, and we can all make changes; nobody is perfect. That being said I like to support businesses that are making headway in these areas and unfortunately to my knowledge none of the Edmonton shops are really pushing the envelope in these regards.