US conventions in battle to become the ’greenest’

Archiv – The battle for who is greenest of them all is taking place in in the US cities of Denver and St. Paul as both the Democrat party and the Republican party vie for leadership in holding the most sustainable convention.
It’s a close call, to be sure, and part of the reason stems from the public’s growing appetite for sustainability and the parties’ desire to look green in light of soaring energy prices. The difference between them may turn out to be negligible, since a good deal of the green stuff Denver is getting this week St. Paul will get a week later.United States | The battle for who is greenest of them all is taking place in in the US cities of Denver and St. Paul as both the Democrat party and the Republican party vie for leadership in holding the most sustainable convention.
It’s a close call, to be sure, and part of the reason stems from the public’s growing appetite for sustainability and the parties’ desire to look green in light of soaring energy prices. The difference between them may turn out to be negligible, since a good deal of the green stuff Denver is getting this week St. Paul will get a week later.
Even the Republican National Convention, whose members arguably haven’t been among the sustainability movement’s leaders over the past decade, has stepped up to the recycling bin with an impressive strategy and a new found urgency.
’It is one of our priorities to be a green convention,’ says Melissa Subbotin, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Convention. ’We are trying to maintain eco-friendly, environmentally friendly processes throughout the convention.’
So what does that mean? For one thing, the Republican convention office in downtown St. Paul uses recycled office equipment and supplies, from chairs and computers to file folders and paper, according to Subbotin. Press releases and other information will be printed on both sides of pages, and most news clips will be distributed electronically to reduce printing, she says.
Even the thousands of balloons sent skyward will be biodegradable and stay within the confines of the Xcel Center, where they will be picked up by clean-up crews. And the RNC and host committee’s offices are climate-controlled, shutting down when workers leave for home, according to Subbotin.
Waste such as the cans and bottles used by the 45,000 expected attendees will be recycled, according to McFarland, through a collaboration of Coca-Cola Recycling LLC ‘€’ the recycling arm of Coca-Cola Co. ‘€’ and Waste Management, Inc., both named as ’Official Recycling Providers’ for the convention.
The close-looped system will employ Waste Management to collect the waste and send it to its Minneapolis facility for storage for sorting, McFarland says. From there the plastic bottles and aluminum cans will be transported to Coca-Cola’s bottling plant in Eagan, where they will be recycled into new containers. Waste Management will take care of recycling boxes, cardboard and other paper products under the arrangement.
Other green efforts include banner graphics printed with water-based inks with no heavy metals, according to Subbotin, as well as recycled paper. The convention has put a priority on purchasing products, as much as possible, from local vendors to benefit the Twin Cities economy while reducing potential greenhouse gases emitted in the transportation, she says.
To save on paper and transportation the host committee used e-mail to send both Republican delegates ’welcome’ packages and local convention volunteers digital training information, according to McFarland. All housing confirmations and reservations were made electronically, she notes.
’Republicans are the party of Teddy Roosevelt, the first American president to consider long-term efforts to use our resources more efficiently,’ Subbotin says. ’This convention will show Republicans have a growing environmental awareness.’