Daycare makes every effort to be green
The Daily Bulletin (Kimberley)
December 17, 2008
By: Bonnie Bryan

The First Steps Daycare in Kimberley takes care of about 24 different children who range in age from birth to 36 months old. While the four care providers who work there care for the children, they are also doing their best to care for the environment.

One of the first things you notice when you pull into the parking lot of the daycare is the anti-idling signs, asking people to turn off their vehicle's engine when they go inside or as they wait. If there wasn't snow on the ground you might also notice that the grass might have a few weeds in it as well since they don't use pesticides. Daycare manager Edwina Peacosh, who has been at the daycare since it opened, said they simply put up with the weeds.

…. In this building every effort is made to do things the environmentally friendly way.

"We do things like turning off the lights when we don't need them, making sure the dishwasher is full when we run it, the temperature is controlled, we don't use the fluorescent lights," Peacosh said. "We encourage parents to pack their child's lunch using recyclable plastic containers and bottles."

That is just the beginning of what the daycare does. The disinfectant used on all surfaces and toys is natural, not bleach.

"Even though it is more expensive, it's not as harsh on us or the kids as bleach," Peacosh said. "It does all the things bleach does."…

Everywhere you turn in the daycare there is an example of reducing, reusing, or recycling.

"We recycle everything we can, paper, juice boxes, pop bottles, and cans. The things we can't bring in to be recycled we re-use here," Peacosh said. "We buy our toys from Togs and Toys and take some toys to the re-use it part of the transfer station or take it to the thrift store. When we get an overabundance of clothes we donate those to other families or take them to the thrift store."

Peacosh said it hasn't been a difficult thing to get used to and that the family of the children in the daycare like what they are doing.

"I don't think it's that difficult because it becomes habit after awhile, especially recycling," she said. "We get a lot of support and we maybe open their eyes a bit. I don't like to force my beliefs on people, it's better to be a good example and then maybe we trigger something in people who see us doing this."…

Staff goes over certain things with the children, like not turning the tap on full blast while they wash their hands, and Blaisse Shaw, a care provider at the daycare, said it's good for the children to be exposed to the environmentally friendly way of doing things….

The First Steps Daycare is a Summit Community Services Society daycare and has been operating for 12 years. It currently has a waitlist of 17, which Peacosh said is big for the community and the daycare only started having a waitlist two years ago.