Recycling

Airports and airlines celebrate America Recycles Day

Environment,

Tomorrow, Saturday Nov 15th, is America Recycles Day – a day dedicated to encouraging Americans to recycle and purchase recycled products.

The folks at Kansas City International Airport (MCI) are already celebrating. Today they’ll be handing out discount coupons from The Paradies Shops and HMS Host airport concessions to reward customers “caught” recycling in the designated bins in the terminals.

Some airlines are getting into recycling as well. According ot the Delta Air Lines blog, since January Delta’s In-Flight Recycling program has collected more than 500,000 pounds of plastics, paper and aluminum.  The program operates on flights into ABQ, ATL, BWI, ORD, CVG, CLE, DEN, RSW, FLL, LAX, MIA, JFK, LGA, PDX, RDU, SMF, SLC, SFO, SEA, TPA and DCA and this past September, airline employees used proceeds from the program to help construct a home Habitat for Humanity Home

Some airports go green; others go white as snow

Environment

Remember putting snowballs in the freezer during the winter so you’d have them to play with once summer rolled around?

This story about snow-recycling from the Telegraph is sort of like that: A new airport being built in Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido will collect winter snow, keep it insulated and on ice, and then use the old snow to chill the liquid used in the airport’s cooling system during the hot summer months.

Government officials predict the project will save 2,100 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

I predict giant summer snowball fights.

Recycled fashion at Pittsburgh International Airport

Art, Fashion, ,

Would you wear clothing made out of old newspapers, crushed glass, old detergent bottles and bits and pieces of aluminum cans?

If they looked like the duds Nancy Judd makes, you just might.

Judd is an environmental artist who makes award-winning fashion out of the stuff most of us throw away. And from now through the end of the year you can see her custom-designed recycled garments in the Recycle Runway exhibit at Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT)

Here are a few samples:

(Photo courtesy: Nancy Judd) This outfit is made of old phone book pages woven together and made into a skirt and vest. Woven directories also cover the cowgirl boots and hat.

(Photo courtesy: Nancy Judd)

For this outfit, plastic detergent bottles were cut into circles and hand-sewn onto a vintage bathing suit and shoes.

PDX gets green beer

Alcohol, Food

Hungry, environmentally-conscious travelers at Oregon’s Portland International Airport(PDX) now have another place to drink organic beer and dine on organic meals, including the “Tree Hugger Scramble.”

Already wildly popular in Portland, the Laurelwood Public House and Brewery has just opened a second airport branch. This one is on Concourse E. The menu includes Oregon-brewed organic beers and dishes prepared with beef, chicken, pork and produce from local farmers.

It’s a good fit for PDX, which is already known as one of the most environmentally-friendly airports. In addition to an aggressive recycling program, the airport turns used cooking oil into biodiesel fuel and converts table scraps and coffee grounds into compost.