Nov. 8, 2013

By Rita Cook 

Where else can you have an eco-friendly beer while at the same time learning about energy conservation and checking out a car dealership that is totally committed to sustainability?  

Every year for the past six years, the North Texas Corporate Recycling Association has been offering a green-friendly bus ride where riders can enjoy the good company of like-minded eco-friendly folks while drinking a beer and talking sustainability.

This year’s Eco-Bus Tour called "LEED, Lights, & Lager" is set for Nov. 15.

Launched in 2007 by Fran Witte, one of the organizations’ founding board members, it was a way to educate and promote recycling in the greater DFW area, says tour spokesperson Heather Douglas.

“Green activists of all levels have benefited from the extensive details the various tours throughout the years have provided,” she said. 

Attendance is limited only by the number of bus seats, says Douglas, who said the tour has sold out every year. This year is expected to be another sellout with about 35 folks filling the seats.

For 2013, the bus will leave at 12:30 p.m. for Pat Lobb Toyota in McKinney, the first LEED-certified car dealership in DFW, where the group will be given a brief tour of the facility. Then en route to the next stop, John Buxbaum of Perfectly Green will discuss his company’s innovative energy management processes. Upon arrival at Franconia Brewing in McKinney, participants will enjoy a tour and tasting at one of the area's greenest breweries.   

“We’ve decided in recent years to shorten the bus tour to a half-day event, it was previously an entire day,” Douglas says.  “We found that people can break away from their ‘regular’ jobs easier if it was shortened.”

Douglas says last year’s theme was “Bags, Bottles, then Beers.” With every year offering a new theme, tours have included stops at Irving’s new convention center, which is on track for LEED certification; the city of Denton's Landfill, Composting & Household Hazardous Waste Facilities; United Copper; the Dart Container Corporation, which demonstrated how polystyrene is processed; the Botanical Research Institute of Texas; Hilex plastic bag recycling/manufacturing; CKS Packaging plastic bottle manufacturing plant and the GE wind turbine manufacturing plant and wind farm in Gainesville. 

“The areas we have chosen in the past were picked by geography and, of course, their amazing recycling stories and interest appeal,” Douglas said. 

GREEN GUIDE

WHAT: North Texas Corporate Recycling Association's 7th Annual Eco-Bus Tour: "LEED, Lights, & Lager"

WHEN: Friday, Nov. 15, 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.

COST: $15/members. $35/nonmembers.

GOOD TO KNOW: Close-toed flat shoes are required for the tour. Optional networking lunch at 11 a.m. at Hedary’s Mediterranean Grill. Add $19.

MORE INFO:  www.ntcra.org or https://ecobustour2013.eventbrite.com/ 


 Rita Cook is an award-winning journalist who writes or has written for the Dallas Morning News, Focus Daily News, Waxahachie Daily Light, Dreamscapes Travel Magazine, Porthole, Core Media, Fort Worth Star Telegram and many other publications in Los Angeles, Dallas and Chicago. With five books published, her latest release is “A Brief History of Fort Worth” published by History Press. Contact her at rcook13@earthlink.net.

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