SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio theme park has found an environmentally sustainable way to save money and help the environment by using recycled uniforms.
SeaWorld wardrobe supervisor Joe Cavazos is working to ensure the more than 5,000 staff members at the park each summer wear only recycled uniforms.
“It’s very breathable, lightweight and very cool, and its coated with SPF 50 to protect our ambassadors,” he said while holding a polyester polo in his hand.
Cavozos' efforts have been well-received and now all three SeaWorld parks will be working with the company AFS Apparel to buy staff uniforms. The uniforms are made from 100 percent recycled plastic bottles, according to Cavazos.
“We're very big into recycling,” Cavazos said. “We only use paper bags. There’s not straws in the park, so we're making this big step into making our clothing the same.”
This summer, staff members at Discovery Point, Aquatica, and the audio and tech crews will be wearing the recycled polos. Next year, everyone working in the park will have them.
“We're buying our hats, aprons,” Cavazos said. “(The clothing company is) introducing a new product where at the end of the season, I’m going to sent these back to them when the ambassadors are done working at SeaWorld. They're going to shred them up and they're going to make shirts again. These will never see a landfill.”
The city of San Antonio said one-third of the recycling collected goes to somewhere other than a landfill, and about 80 percent of the people in the city recycle occasionally.
Josephine Valencia, with Solid Waste Management, said companies from Louisiana and Mexico purchase recycled paper, scrap metal stays in Texas and plastic is sold to companies all around the nation and world.
“Over time, the amount of items made from recycled plastic or paper has certainly increased,” Valencia said.
Valencia urges people to be more aware of where their merchandise comes from.
“If you're not buying stuff from recycled material, the manufacturers have no incentive to buy it themselves,” she said.
So far, the amount of trash going to landfills is declining.
According to AFS Apparel, the California company provides recycled uniforms to companies such as Whataburger, Target and some baseball teams.