Adairsville, Ga.—The Coosa River Basin Initiative (CRBI) honored three local businesses—including two flooring companies—one local government and an area non-profit organization as winners of the 2nd Annual Greenie Awards during the organization’s Green Gala at Barnsley Gardens Resort in Adairsville.
The awards recognize extraordinary efforts to protect and preserve natural resources in the upper Coosa River basin of northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama in the fields of outdoor recreation, land protection, water conservation, sustainability and innovation.
“The actions of our honorees have directly benefitted the health of the Coosa, Etowah, Conasauga and other streams in the upper Coosa River basin,” said David Tucker, CRBI Executive Director.
The Bartow County Greenspace Program received CRBI’s Outdoor Recreation Greenie. Bartow County, working in conjunction with local municipalities, businesses, landowners, federal agencies and non-profit organizations, has been instrumental in establishing four new public boat launches on the Etowah River during the past five years to support the creation of the Etowah River Water Trail.
The Jasper-based Mountain Conservation Trust of Georgia won the Land Protection Greenie. Since 1991, the Trust has helped permanently preserve more than 4,500 acres of land in north Georgia, including 282 acres in Pickens County in 2015 that will help protect drinking water sources and habitat for federally protected fish species in the Etowah River basin.
Shaw Industries, the world’s largest carpet manufacturer and a leading floor covering provider, received CRBI’s Water Conservation Greenie. Since 2006, the company has reduced water use in its manufacturing processes by 31% and has a goal of achieving total reductions of 50% within the next 14 years. This effort has reduced water withdrawals from the Conasauga River and other streams and reduced the amount of wastewater discharged to these same water bodies.
CRBI’s Sustainability Greenie was awarded to J + J Flooring Group, another Dalton-based flooring company. In 2015, the maker of modular carpet and textile composite flooring became the first carpet manufacturer to be certified as a zero waste-to-landfill manufacturer. The company’s 750 employees recycle and reuse carpet scraps on site, and even the small amount of waste the company produces is sent to a Huntsville, Ala., waste-to-energy facility.
Hannah Solar, an Atlanta-based solar energy provider, received CRBI’s Innovation Greenie. In recent years, Hannah has been an instrumental player in making Georgia the fastest growing solar market in the nation. Among Hannah’s many projects installed in the Coosa River basin are arrays in Rome, Calhoun and Lyerly. Hannah’s facilities produce clean energy that reduce our dependence on water-intensive energy production and offset more than 3.6 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions each year.
The event generated more than $48,000 for CRBI programs to protect the region’s drinking water sources and North America’s most biologically unique river basin.
Sponsors of the Green Gala include Burgess Insurance, Cook & Connelly, Culbreth Carr Watson Animal Clinic, The Finnell Firm, Marglen Industries, McRae, Stegall, Peek, Harman, Smith & Monroe LLP, Mitigation Management, OTR Wheel Engineering, Shaw Industries, State Mutual Insurance and The Pool Store.
CRBI is a 501c3 non profit organization and member of the international Waterkeeper Alliance. Its mission is to inform and empower citizens to protect, preserve and restore North America’s most biologically unique river basin.