Mommy Goes Green

I’m having a great time up at the Olympics this week and have noticed that Canada has taken several steps to ‘green’ the 2010 Winter Olympics.   There are recycling bins on every corner and in all the venues.  Not only are they recycling bottles, cans and paper but they have compost bins as well.  The concession areas have 100% recycled napkins and ecotainers for drinks – they are totally compostable.

Coke is a huge sponsor of the Olympics and has committed to being carbon neutral and recycling 100% of the plastic containers. The coolers and vending machines has new efficient refrigerant technology that has never been used in North America that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 5,600 metric tons – equivalent to taking about 29,000 cars off the road for two weeks during the games or about 1,200 cars off the road for a year.

Even the clothing has gone green.  We picked up rain ponchos for a super rainy evening ski event and surprisingly, they weren’t plastic – they were polyester and great for years of use.  The Coke employee clothing is made of recycled bottles and several of the products in the Olympic clothing line are made from bamboo or recycled polyester.

While sometimes inconvenient, you can’t park personal vehicles at the facilities so we are taking public transportation and walking a lot.  All of the Olympic communications and guides are online – they even have it in an iPhone app and I’ve noticed there isn’t much swag to be found which, in the end, is probably good since that is the kind of stuff that gets tossed once you get home.  The only swag I’ll be taking home are the reusable bags we’ve received when purchasing something at the Olympic venues or at local stores – I’ve hardly seen a plastic bag since I’ve been here.

Even the winning athletes are taking home eco-friendly gold, silver and bronze medals – they contain recycled metal recovered from end-of-life electronics.