A Fun Day Trip to Connecticut

Yesterday Matt, Melissa (our very own talented GLR poster), and her three boys visited the Mystic, Connecticut Aquarium and Seaport. It was a great day full of exciting marine life sightings, toy boat construction and lots of laughs playing games in the car. In addition to the wonderful beluga whales, penguins, sharks and tall ships we had the joy of photographing, all three of us adult types were happy to see that there were separate recycle bins for plastic, cans and glass in both locations, but I was most impressed on the way out of the Aquarium when we came across this:

It was a simple little bin at the exit doors but the amount of paper, and everything associated with creating each map, it likely saves made it my favorite sighting of the day. Well, okay, maybe second favorite next to the sharks. We took full advantage of this and tossed our two maps inside before heading back to the car. Admittedly we are all eco-police types and would have no doubt recycled them at home but it was nice to see the option available right there for future visitor’s use. Thanks Mystic Aquarium for going that one step further toward saving the planet!

It Is Showing Up Everywhere

Last night I went to my first event in about five years at the TD Banknorth Garden here in Boston. The Bruins were playing Atlanta and we were invited to go because my Aunt had inadvertently purchased two extra tickets. On the way in we were running a little behind so we managed to get to our seats in just enough time to watch the B’s take the ice.

The game was fantastic, although I am not much of a fan of the sport because the penalties are a mystery to me (I do not even really know what icing is sorry to say!) and other than the puck ending up in the goal of the opposing team I am blissfully unaware of much else going on. When that puck entered the other net four times last night though I definitely cheered.

The Bruins, who are currently in first place, won the game 4-2 and we hung around for a few extra minutes after the end to ensure the largest of the crowd dissipated before we made our way out. As soon as we came out of our exit from the stands I spied something excellent placed all around the outer rim of each level of the Garden:


Cool! These bins are for bottles and say on the side “A Greener Garden”; the word Garden is in the standard yellow lettering on the outside of the venue. These would be hard to miss while walking around due to their fun shape and on the front is a slot just big enough for a bottle to slide through. There would be no way to confuse this with a trash can.

They are sponsored by the owners of the Garden & Bruins, Delaware North Company a hospitality management firm. I have searched all over the internet for what company actually produces these fun bottle shaped recycle bins but to no avail. Well whoever you are bottle shaped recycle bin creator I am giving both you and the Garden a Three Leaf Rating for your innovation in design and installation, encouraging even the largest crowd of crazed hockey fans (or basketball, concert goers) to do the environmentally responsible thing. Outstanding!