“Scarborough Town Centre celebrates Earth Day every day,” is this year’s motto at the mall’s annual Greening Scarborough Town Centre event, and they certainly will be living up to their word.

The Centre’s operation manager, Steven Minielly, invites everyone in the community to take part in the day-long activities.

“This is all about letting Scarborough know what STC is doing to be green along with our partnered companies,” Minielly said. “This is our sixth Earth Day event and we continue to do it to show our commitment to taking care of where we live, work and play.”

The event is to be held on April 20 in advance of Earth Day, and will showcase the shopping centre’s latest green initiatives. One of the highlights will be the unveiling the ORCA Green Food Digester.

The machine will mulch it so finely that it literally becomes water.

— Steven Minielly

The ORCA Green Food Digester is a system that recycles food waste and turns it into usable water. There will be special containers located in the food court where people can dispose of their food waste after they’ve finished their meals.

“The machine will mulch it so finely that it literally becomes water,” he said.

The resulting nutrient rich gray water will be used to water the plants inside the mall, as well as the exterior landscaping. This process will significantly reduce food waste and food disposal transportation costs for the STC, the first shopping mall in North America to implement this technology.

“STC was the first shopping centre to contact Totally Green about the ORCA,” Minielly said. “I investigated it and it was then decided that this would be a great addition to our Greening Plan. Other companies are starting to hear about it and will be using it soon, too.”

Besides the unveiling of the ORCA, there will be a community clean-up of the Centre’s surrounding area, tree planting, a visit from “Miss Earth” Cynthia Loewen, and a neighbourhood barbeque.

STC will demonstrate its Goslyn grease recovery system and show how it captures solids and removes fats, oil and grease from waste water.

There will also be displays and presentations from environmentally conscious community groups, like Flurries, which are partnered with Soles4Souls and the STC.

They will be collecting used shoes for people in need, and everyone who donates three or more pairs will receive 10 per cent off their purchase in the Flurries store.

Minielly says the STC will continue to be innovative and creative in keeping sustainable and as green as possible for the future.

“We are excited to take on new challenges and are not afraid to be leaders when it comes to being green.”