The hotel key cards are made from
wood, not plastic.
Photo: Sustainable Cards

by Brook Wilkinson

When Barack and Michelle check into their Denver hotel next week for the Democratic National Convention, they'll be handed room key cards made not of plastic but of wood. It's no slight by a Republican general manager but an example of the ways in which the Democrats are trying to green their convention. (Delegates are also being asked to offset the carbon emissions that result from their travels through Native Energy, a company that supports Native American renewable energy projects.) Though wooden key cards have long been in use around Europe, this will mark their first appearance on U.S. soil. Since most travelers forget to hand in their key cards when they check out and subsequently throw them in the trash, the 70,000 biodegradable birchwood cards that will be put into circulation in Denver will save a whole lot of waste. Next time you're at a hotel and they hand you a plastic key card, ask them to switch to wood. If they all did, we'd save 1,300 tons of plastic waste per year.