Best of 2021: Growing the Gulf Coast

Mobile, Alabama (WKRG) – Over the past six months, Colleen Peterson and Caroline Carithers have highlighted many Gulf Coast businesses that are going above and beyond to help the environment. Here’s a quick rundown of what they covered.
In July, they began traveling to Prichard to see Alabama Power and other partners install free rain barrels for the townspeople. These help reuse and recycle rainwater in a flood-prone area, preventing runoff, while reducing the water bill.
In August, they visited Rich’s Car Wash in Saraland, Alabama. Several Rich sites have installed Oxyshark, a system that filters 95-98% of pollutants from the water. This device, developed by a local engineering company, allows car washes to clean and reuse their dirty car wash water, saving money, but also keeping soap and dirt out. out of our waterways.
In September, they headed to the Port of Alabama where an initiative called Green Marine was put into practice. From recycling materials to turning locomotives into the world’s cleanest diesel trains that emit almost no pollutants into our atmosphere.
October brought them to southern Mobile County, where workers at a local factory, Evonik, used their extra time and acreage to ensure the birds had a place to live locally by building bird nesting boxes. homemade. Two-thirds of the 50 boxes are already used.
In November, they traveled to Aker Solutions to find out how they are building themselves as a global leader in sustainability by replacing old lights with LEDs, using golf carts and electric carts, and using recyclable materials to manufacture their products.
They ended the year by traveling two hours offshore to drop off an old boiler from the Alabama Power Plant, which has been refurbished to be an artificial reef for fish, directly at the bottom of the gulf about 8 miles south. of Dauphin Island.
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