The Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center’s previous “Sea Beyond the Surface” marketing campaign featured billboards with colorful images of sea turtles, seals and a spotted eagle ray.
The ads included static banners that were placed in several cities in Hampton Roads. Now, you can find touches of the images on reusable bags and notebooks for sale inside the gift shop in the aquarium’s north building.
The aquarium used the recycling services of a company called Ecologic Designs of Boulder, Colorado. The project was spearheaded by the Virginia Aquarium’s Green Team, which is an internal committee of staff members responsible for the aquarium’s sustainable practices and initiatives.
The Virginia Beach Aquarium sent seven banners equal to 1,992 feet of vinyl. They were transformed into 250 items including notebooks, zipper bags, wallets and purses. Additionally, 34 wetsuits of varying sizes and thicknesses were transformed into 500 insulated sleeves with the aquarium logo to keep drinks cool.
The Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center hired a company to recycle its retired wetsuits into insulated sleeves to keep drinks cool. (Courtesy of the Virginia Aquarium)
Charlie Lawton, diving safety officer and member of the eco-team, said the science center had collected many wetsuits over the years that were too worn out for divers to wear at the exhibits. The dive locker holds about 100 suits for a 50-member dive team, and the suits last two to three years. Unusable wetsuits pile up quickly and the team never wanted to throw them away because neoprene takes more than 100 years to decompose in a landfill.
“We found several ways to reuse them as knee pads or cut-off suits for diver rescue exercises, but the pile continued to grow,” Lawton said. “We were excited to find a supplier that could recycle the suits into new items and extend the life of the material.”
All items were shipped to the company on April 2 and were converted into products and delivered to the aquarium at the end of May. Virginia Aquarium spokesperson Kristina Scott said this is one of the many things the attraction does to go beyond sustainability.
“It’s cool to see the genesis of an idea come to life,” Scott said. “Seeing these items in our store is a nod to our commitment to conservation and our mission to inspire others to take action too.”
For more information about the Virginia Aquarium, visit virginiaaquarium.com.
Lee Belote, jlbelote@verizon.net
The Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center hired a company to recycle old vinyl materials from its advertising signs and turn them into notebooks, zipper bags, wallets and totes to sell in its gift shop. (Courtesy of the Virginia Aquarium)
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