Green Business: Green Business Guides

See Venus Williams, Billie Jean King and the Bryan brothers talk about the importance of being green.

NRDC has launched a multi-year initiative to help the United States Tennis Association to "green" the 2008 US Open and other USTA events. Greening means reviewing your organization's operations and supply chain with an eye fixed on reducing ecological impacts. Previously, NRDC launched "greening" partnerships with Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, the Academy Awards, the GRAMMYs and many major corporations.

The results can be seen throughout the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.

Among the initiatives:

• Powering the three weeks of the events with renewable wind power.
  
  
• A plastic and aluminum recycling program aimed at collecting more than 500,000 plastic bottles and 20,000 aluminum cans, with more than 80 new recycling receptacles placed throughout the center grounds.
  
  
• Recycling 20,000 Wilson tennis ball cans used at the tournament and donating up to 60,000 used tennis balls for community and youth programs.
  
  
• Switching virgin paper products to ecologically preferable paper products made from post-consumer recycled paper, including switching 2.4 million napkins to 90% post-consumer content.
  
  
• The distribution of 100,000 wallet-size eco-tips to US Open attendees.
  
  
• The distribution of 3,000 metro cards to attendees to encourage the use of public transit.
  
  
• Public Service Announcements by Venus Williams, Billie Jean King and the Bryan brothers, encouraging fans to green their game.

Find out more about what you can do by clicking on NRDC's Greening Advisor website, and check out what tennis is doing at the US Open website, where you can read NRDC's eco-tips and watch an interview with NRDC's Allen Hershkowitz.

last revised 8/31/2008