Green Travel Made Easy | Visit Seattle

With progressive transportation, main composting practices, and a dedication to environmental preservation, the Emerald Metropolis persistently ranks as one of many greenest within the nation. It’s easy to lean into this tradition of conservation and make your journey extra sustainable.

EMBRACE GREEN

Seattle incorporates inexperienced practices into almost each aspect of life—it’s why we persistently prime lists of essentially the most sustainable cities within the nation. Curbside compost bins get picked up alongside rubbish and recycling, which helps Seattle divert greater than 60 % of waste—that’s almost double the nationwide recycling common. Greater than 90 % of the town’s electrical energy comes from hydropower—in reality, in 2005, our electrical utility firm was the primary within the nation to realize and keep one hundred pc carbon neutrality.

With that in thoughts, we need to make it simple for guests to do their half whereas they’re touring. Compostable forks, spoons, and straws and recycling and composting stations are normal at many eating places and eateries—in spite of everything, Seattle banned plastic utensils in 2018. The town additionally banned plastic luggage in 2012, so don’t overlook to convey reusable buying luggage—or discover some whereas touring to convey dwelling as souvenirs!

SLEEP GREEN

Many company throughout the nation are acquainted with the “inexperienced room” initiative, however not as many know that it began as a pilot program on the Sheraton Grand Seattle. This revolutionary program rewards company for opting out of linen and towel alternative, rewarding company with their selection of a $5 present card for the lodge’s eating places or loyalty factors for selecting to reuse their linens. This began a revolution nationwide for all Starwood and Marriott properties and this system has been replicated nationwide.

Inexperienced operations and sustainability are key at many accommodations in our area. Hyatt at Olive 8 was Seattle’s first LEED Silver-certified lodge when it opened in 2009 with sustainable components like a inexperienced roof, water effectivity and conservation practices, energy-efficient fixtures, and use of pure mild. Hyatt Regency Seattle opened ten years later, the primary Seattle lodge to realize LEED Gold certification with all the pieces from a light-colored roof to scale back the city heat-island impact to an ultra-efficient laundry system capturing warmth and water for reuse. Sheraton Grand Seattle and W Seattle are two of the town’s Inexperienced Seal-certified properties downtown. All Kimpton properties— together with Seattle examples Kimpton Lodge Monaco Seattle, Kimpton Lodge Classic Seattle, and Kimpton Palladian Lodge—eradicated single-use hygiene merchandise and make the most of non-toxic cleansing provides; environmentally pleasant efforts like these have led to one hundred pc certification by the Inexperienced Key Eco-Ranking Program.

TRAVEL GREEN

Journey can carry a big carbon footprint, a conundrum that SEA Airport is actively combatting with award-winning environmental packages. It has put in almost 300 charging stations for electrical floor assist autos, requires gas environment friendly floor transportation, and affords preconditioned air at gates to scale back airline fossil gas utilization. In 2014, this was the primary airport in North America to earn certification for lowering its carbon emissions.

Touring to and from the airport, and all through the town, can also be inexperienced because of choices like Sound Transit’s electric-powered Hyperlink mild rail, offering dependable service between SEA Airport, downtown Seattle, and North Seattle. And almost one hundred pc of King County Metro’s fleet is hybrid or zero-emission electrical buses, trolleys, and streetcars—the second-largest such system within the nation—together with Seattle Streetcar’s South Lake Union and First Hill traces.

Seattle’s compact downtown makes for a really walkable metropolis. For many who want a journey, nevertheless, there may be loads of public transportation, bike shares, and different eco-friendly methods to get round. Hold your eye out for app-based bike and scooter leases from Lime, VEO, LINK, WHEELS, or SPIN.