Buffalo Business First recently did a feature story on Deb Friedel, Delaware North’s director of sustainability. An excerpt from the story can be found below.

As director of sustainability, Friedel oversees the GreenPath and LeanPath eco-friendly initiatives.

Her mission: to look at company operations and determine how Delaware North can reduce excess products and lower the amount of waste generated.

Friedel spends about 25 days a month traveling to evaluate sites. She is based in Bozeman, Montana.

Based on her recommendations, venues have donated more than 200,000 pounds of food to local food banks and pantries.

That includes donations from the corporate headquarters in Buffalo and operations at KeyBank Center and New Era Field.

The Gideon Putnam hotel in Saratoga Springs instituted changes that diverted more than 31,000 pounds of waste from a landfill, sent excess food to pantries and cut down on overall waste.

At Miller Park, the Milwaukee Brewers’ baseball stadium, 28,000 pounds of waste were redirected.

At Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, 30,000 pounds of manure is now recycled to help fertilize plants. Another 145,000 pounds of food is shifted away from landfills.

GreenPath and LeanPath are centerpieces of a Delaware North effort to reduce waste by 90 percent within six years.

The buy-in started at the highest levels of leadership and made its way through the entire company.