Security at Silverwood Theme Park becoming more sustainable

Silverwood Theme Park isn’t just about fun and games; it’s about how great leadership can have a ripple effect and lead to big change. Ron Brewer, the park’s internal control manager, noticed park owner Gary Norton cycling from home to Silverwood often, and sometimes throughout the park. Norton’s choice to hop on his bike, rather than take his car or one of the park’s utility vehicles, the traditional mode of transportation for Internal Control, Maintenance and various other departments in the park, gave Brewer an idea. “It made me start to think about how we could be doing that as well, and how it could really benefit the park,” said Brewer. Previously trained by the Law Enforcement Bicycle Association in Las Vegas, Brewer already possessed the knowledge necessary to implement this switch and educate his team. “It just makes sense on so many levels…‘Where can I lower my budget?’ ‘How can I lessen my carbon footprint?’ ” said Brewer. A trial switch to the bicycles started last summer with the evening shift, and proved to be highly effective. “Bicycles are just a much more tactical response for night security,” said Zachary Rec, I.C. officer. Brian Allen, another Silverwood I.C. Officer, said the staff uses headlamps for more focused light control. “So in addition to being much quieter, we’re also not lighting up such a big area as the headlights do on the [park utility vehicles],” he said. This summer, the IC department switched to bicycles full-time and realized other benefits as well. “The bikes make it much easier to communicate with the guests…you just hop down and you’re able to talk with them,” said Brewer. “It’s also much easier to maneuver through the crowds, it makes it more peaceful for the guests without all the noise, and it’s much healthier for the air, for our guests, as well as our employees.” “I don’t mind being paid to exercise,” said Rec, with a chuckle. Other park personnel, such as operations and tech support have also made the switch to bikes. Before the “bike trial” last summer, I.C. was using two park utility vehicles a day, which used approximately 36 gallons of fuel each week. Now they may have to fill up the two vehicles once a week, lowering the amount of fuel used to 8 gallons or less. In addition, considerable savings are seen in lower maintenance of the vehicles due to lesser use. Looking to save even more money, instead of forking out $600 to $2,000 for a specially designed “security bike,” Brewer came up with a different plan. “We’ll purchase two bikes at a time from Walmart for $60-$70 and when one breaks, we donate them to Goodwill,” said Brewer. So far, they’ve purchased four bikes, donating one of them. He said the change has been “a win-win for everyone,” said Brewer. “Right now we’re looking at other things we can do, but it’s really unknown just where we can take this thing, Silverwood is always looking at ways we can do things better, it’s a continuous effort.” Earlier this year, this effort led to Silverwood teaming up with PepsiCo to recycle plastic bottles. After looking for several years for a viable recycling program for plastic, Nancy DiGiammarco, Silverwood’s director of marketing, sales and public relations, said the partnership unexpectedly came together at a meeting with PepsiCo regarding park promotions. “We are thrilled with the partnership…and we are the first theme park in the country and the first company in the Northwest to have implemented such as a large recycling program,” said DiGiammarco. On Earth Day, 2010, PepsiCo launched its“Dream Machine” recycling initiative which consists of providing partners with blue recycling receptacles and interactive recycling kiosks that reward guests for turning in plastic bottles in the form of coupons to attractions around the country, as well as points for PepsiCo merchandise. Waste Management, a partner in the initiative, collects the bottles for recycling. So far the beverage giant has placed 2,500 Dream Machines at businesses and public spaces in 22 states. At Silverwood, a total of 150 new blue recycling receptacles are now placed throughout the park, plus two interactive recycling kiosks, one in the arcade area and one right inside Boulder Beach Water Park. The park expects to collect 200,000 bottles just this year alone. In addition to recycling plastic, Silverwood also recycles cardboard and aluminum, and in 2009 started recycling cooking oil from their on-site restaurants as a means to fuel the steam train that runs through the park, reducing their oil purchase by 17 percent. The park also constructed its own sewer treatment plant three years ago, and has been using the treated waste water to irrigate alfalfa fields, which feeds the park’s resident bison herd. The water will additionally be used to irrigate lawns and gardens when upgrades to the plant have been made later this year. Plans for the future of the park include recycling the uniforms to be turned into paper and recycling more kitchen waste into large compost areas. “Streamlining how we do things and making them sustainable is very important to us,” said DiGiammarco.