The Discovery is Going Green(er)

The Discovery has consistently done its part to be a green organization, reducing waste, upcycling and recycling where possible, and using renewable energy sources. Museum visitors may not be aware that The Discovery has a solar array on its roof that generates power used by the museum, and until a month or so ago, we also had a windspire that helped power the museum as well. The windspire suffered irreparable damage during extremely heavy winds.

In late 2024, under the guidance of Museum Education Coordinator Maggie McClain, a group of staff members from all levels of the organization, formed The Discovery’s Green Team. The Green Team’s goal is to help The Discovery identify and implement environmentally friendly and sustainable practices.

There are several ways museum visitors can contribute to the Green Team’s efforts:

NexTrex Recycling
The Discovery is collecting grocery and other plastic film bags in the NexTrex recycling bin located in the museum’s lobby. Most clean and dry polyethylene (PE), labeled as #2 or #4, plastic film and bags are recyclable. If The Discovery collects 1,000 pounds of bags within a 12 month period, NexTrex will donate a bench made from the recycled materials to the museum.

Lithium Ion Battery Recycling
The Discovery has partnered with Redwood Materials to accept lithium-ion batteries and rechargeable devices. Common devices that are recyclable include smartphones, laptops, tablets, power banks, cordless phones, digital cameras, power tools, and portable gaming devices. Redwood then mechanically separates, recycles, and refines batteries down to their core elements and reuses them to make battery grade materials.

Other Recyclable Materials
The Discovery accepts clean recyclables for projects in The Shop and Spark!Lab Smithsonian. Things like toilet paper and paper towel tubes, gift wrap tubes, egg cartons, milk jugs and cartons, plastic bottles, soda cans, tin cans are preferred. If you have a question about the materials the museum can accept, please e-mail info@nvdm.org.

Through these and other efforts we seek to inspire a greener today for a more sustainable future. We hope you’ll join us!