Thanks to Coca-Cola, Washington, D.C. will be a little greener.
On April 29, Coca-Cola, the National Park Foundation, the National Park Service and the Trust for the National Mall publicly announced a partnership to develop an effective recycling program for the National Mall and other Memorial Parks.
Coca-Cola has spent $1.1 million on a going-green initiative in National Parks, including the National Mall, with the hopes that others will follow. According to Coca-Cola, “The
Coca-Cola Company and Coca-Cola Enterprises will demonstrate their environmental leadership through a series of innovations designed to reduce the Coca-Cola system’s environmental footprint at each step in the manufacturing, distribution and sales processes.”
Of the $1.1 million, $500,000 will be spent on the National Mall alone. The other $600,000 is to be spent continuing the National Park’s Active Trails program, which was responsible for the enhancement of seven National Park trails in 2008. The plan for 2009 is to enhance an additional nine National Park trails.
Part of the plan for D.C. includes hybrid electric delivery trucks and tractor-trailers, climate-friendly coolers and a recycling program at the National Mall.
“With more than 6 million visitors each year, there is no better place to launch a comprehensive greening effort than here in the nation’s capital where people from all walks of life celebrate our country’s rich history and enjoy our beverages,” said Sandy Douglas, president of Coca-Cola North America. “We are exploring new ways to protect the environment, and Washington, D.C. is a visible demonstration of the innovation that Coca-Cola is implementing around the country.”
Outside of Washington, 1,400 climate-friendly coolers and vending machines will be used at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games. An additional 400 coolers and vending machines will be used throughout North America.
According to Coca-Cola, “The new climate-friendly Coca-Cola coolers use carbon dioxide (CO2), a natural refrigerant gas and HFC-Free insulation, eliminating 99 percent of the direct green house gas (GHG) emissions.”
In the last year, Coca-Cola has deployed 20 hybrid trucks in the D.C. area. These trucks use approximately 30% less fuel when compared to standard fuel trucks and produce about 30% less emissions. These trucks also come equipped with technology that drastically reduce emissions when they are sitting in traffic or idle.
The recycling program for the National Mall is still in the development stages. NPS and TNM, along with Coca-Cola Recycling, will be working together to assess the waste stream at the Mall to ensure that an effective and sustainable plan will be set in place.
The main goals of the program are to reduce the waste during special events and to educate visitors about recycling.
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