Times Square Gets a Little Greener With Help from Coca-Cola

Times Square shone brightly on New Year’s Eve thanks to Coca Cola and wind power. Coca Cola’s iconic Times Square billboard was given a green overhaul in preparation for the big event. The big red billboard, which has been a landmark in Times Square since 1932, is now being illuminated by clean wind power.

Coca-Cola lead the way to a unanimous shift to eco-friendly wind power, followed by the owners of about 30 other billboards in the famous New York City intersection. The green switch was made on New Year’s Eve. Collectively, the billboards will prevent 1,886 metric tons of CO₂ from being released into the environment annually. Coke’s billboard alone will represent the equivalent of taking 75 cars off the road or converting 38 homes to clean energy for one year.

Coke’s billboard now showcases their “Refresh. Recycle. Repeat.” campaign, which symbolizes their long-term goal to recycle or reuse 100 percent of the aluminum cans and PET plastic bottles sold in the U.S.

Consumers are invited to exercise their green new year’s resolutions January 10-11 in NYC, when the Coca-Cola Recycling team will be on hand to provide information on recycling, display items made from recycled materials, provide ways consumers can keep the environment clean and offer recycling trivia and interactive games.

Live Positively

This event is the latest example of Coke’s commitment to “Live Positively.” The company’s new site, Livepositively.com, highlights seven areas where the soda giant and their consumers can have a positive impact in their communities. From recycling and climate protection to water conservation and product innovation, the website highlights valuable programs and innovations worldwide. Here are some highlights:

Recycling- Coke wants the plastic bottle or aluminum can that houses your soda back.

• Plastic can be recycled into a variety of new products like backpacks, t-shirts, rugs and, of course, new bottles.
• Making an aluminum can from recycled material rather than virgin material uses 95 percent less energy.
• The approximate value of all PET and aluminum wasted annually is $1.5 billion.

Get Crazy

The National Recycling Coalition (NRC) and Coca Cola have teamed up for the RecycleMania competition. Colleges and universities nationwide compete to see who can reduce, reuse and recycle the most materials, while also finding creative ways schools can educate students and deal with recycling issues.

Balanced Living- Check out the Rails-To-Trails program. It is an innovative way to recycle old train corridors into trails for hiking, biking, jogging and rollerblading.

Water Conservation- Reduce, Recycle, Reuse… and Replenish? Coke has added a fourth “R” to the famous recycling mantra. To balance the use of water for Coca Cola beverages, healthy watersheds and sustainable community water programs are being supported worldwide.