Moody Gardens adds solar-powered recycling stations

Moody Gardens adds solar recyclingMoody Gardens, an educational and recreational family destination in Texas, is enhancing its recycling program with the installation of several solar-powered recycling stations, trash compactors and maintenance carts.

The new equipment is aimed at helping the destination reduce its landfill-bound waste production by 75 percent in the next two years.

Moody Gardens features an outdoor water park, golf course, aquarium and small zoo in Galveston, Texas.

“It’s rare for Texans to look forward to the hot, sunny days of summer, but this year, Moody Gardens knows that all of that sunshine is making a difference for us, and for our planet,” Robert Callies, Moody Gardens general manager, said in a statement. “We’re excited to kick-start our new recycling program with the help of the Sun Club.”

Sun Club is the nonprofit arm of Green Mountain Energy, a long established national renewable energy retailer. The Sun Club allows people and businesses to donate to a fund designed to help nonprofits add solar and other renewable energy generation to offset utility expenses and make their operations greener.

Moody Gardens received $50,000 from the club to help pay for the new solar-powered recycling equipment. The donation includes educational signage that explains both how the equipment works and the benefits of solar energy.

“This is a unique application of solar energy, and we’re thrilled to see it come to life at an organization as environmentally friendly as Moody Gardens,” said Tony Napolillo, Sun Club program manager.”

Much of the experience at Moody Gardens is based on science education, according to the release. Signs throughout the destination aim to educate visitors about everything from how primates or penguins live and die to how water cycles through the environment.

“Moody Gardens incorporates a love of nature into all that they do,” according to the release, “and teaching visitors about preserving the environment will now have added solar educational content.”

Moody Gardens was also awarded a spot in the Sun Club Hall of Fame for solar leaders who have taken on advanced projects and can be names as influences and leaders for the organizations and businesses that come after.