Bentley Prince Street Provided All-Star Game Red Carpet
Friday, July 18, 2008
New York, NY, July 18, 2008– Bentley Prince Street provided one of the longest–and greenest–red carpets ever for the 2008 Major League Baseball (MLB) All-Star Game Red Carpet Parade. The eco-friendly carpet that stretched across 18 blocks of Manhattan and made from 100% recycled fiber content and 100% of the electricity used to produce the carpet is made renewable through an on-site solar array and the purchase of Green-e certified renewable energy certificates.
The carpet is part of a series of initiatives MLB has implemented in partnership with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) to make the 2008 MLB All-Star Game the greenest event in MLB’s history. MLB and NRDC have partnered together since 2005 on a league-wide environmental initiative, both for League events and also to help individual Clubs build on the good environmental work they have been doing for years.
“Major League Baseball takes great pride in showcasing these environmentally-friendly practices on one of the biggest stages ever – All-Star Week in New York City,” said John McHale, Executive Vice President, Administration and Chief Information Officer, Major League Baseball. “With the guidance of our partners at the NRDC, these efforts surrounding the All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium are Major League Baseball’s grandest demonstration of our commitment to going green.”
MLB’s ‘green’ carpet was produced at Bentley Prince Street’s California manufacturing facility, which is the first in the country to receive a silver rating from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Buildings (LEED(R)-EB). The carpet is also designated as an environmentally preferable product, certified as Sustainable Choice Gold by Scientific Certification Systems (SCS).
Through Bentley Prince Street’s sustainable manufacturing processes, MLB avoided the use of 6,300 pounds of petroleum-based fiber and 162,000 gallons of water during production. In addition, the climate impact of the carpet has been offset, from the purchase of 480,000 lbs of verified emissions reduction credits. Bentley Prince Street purchases offsets from several aggregators including Native Energy, Blue Source and 3 Degrees.
“MLB is using its market influence and cultural visibility to send environmentally meaningful signals to the market place.” said Dr. Allen Hershkowitz, senior scientist with NRDC. “All Americans should take pride in what the League is doing. By using recycled fiber and clean energy for this giant carpet, MLB is making an important statement that we all need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and help reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that we cause to be emitted. This should be used as the model for all red carpets to come, at any event.”
“Bentley Prince Street is proud to partner with Major League Baseball and the Natural Resources Defense Council to support the greening of the All-Star Game and League,” said Anthony Minite, president of Bentley Prince Street. “We’re excited to have the opportunity to create a first-of-its-kind two mile long ‘green’ carpet, made with 100% recycled fiber and 100% renewable electrical energy. None of this carpet will ever wind up in a landfill. After the event, all 45,000 pounds of carpet will be recycled into new carpet through our ReEntry 2.0 reclamation program.”
Along with the environmentally-friendly red carpet, MLB has called on Chevy, who will provide transportation for the players and their families on the red carpet in FlexFuel Chevy Silverados. In addition, MLB has implemented a series of measures to limit the game’s carbon emissions, which include using post-consumer recycled content in its paper products and bio-based products, investing in renewable energy offsets, promoting recycling through NRDC “Green Teams” that will be at All-Star events and shuttling fans to certain events via hybrid buses.
