Bartow County Wins 'Greenie' Award For Boat Launch Projects

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CARTERSVILLE, GA -- The Coosa River Basin Initiative has named three local businesses, one local government and an area non-profit organization as winners of its 2nd Annual Greenie Awards.

The winners will be recognized April 14 at the organization’s Green Gala.

“These businesses, local government and non-profit organization deserve recognition for their efforts in solving environmental problems and preserving our land and water,” said CRBI Executive Director David Tucker. “They are leading the way toward environmental sustainability. Through our Green Gala we hope to tell their stories and enlist more individuals, businesses and local governments in protecting the upper Coosa River basin.”

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 Bartow County Greenspace Program will be recognized in the category of outdoor recreation. The 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.

Jasper-based Mountain Conservation Trust of Georgia will be recognized for its efforts in land protection. 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 habitat for federally protected fish species in the Etowah River basin.

Dalton-based Shaw Industries, the world’s largest carpet manufacturer and a leading floor covering provider, will be honored for the company’s efforts in water conservation. Since 2006, the company has reduced water use in its manufacturing processes by 31 percent and has a goal of achieving total reductions of 50 percent within the next 14 years.

This effort has reduced water withdrawals from area rivers and streams and reduced the amount of wastewater discharged to these same water bodies.

CRBI’s Sustainability Greenie will go 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, Alabama waste-to-energy facility where it is burned to create steam energy.

Last but not least, Hannah Solar, an Atlanta-based solar energy producer, will receive 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 Green Gala is scheduled for April 14 at Barnsley Gardens Resort in Adairsville. The event will include a cocktail hour, dinner, awards ceremony and silent and live auctions.

Seats for the event are available at $150 and may be purchased online at www.coosa.org. Proceeds from the event support CRBI’s efforts to protect the region’s drinking water sources and North America’s most biologically unique river basin through its advocacy, education, water monitoring and restoration programs.

For more information, visit www.coosa.org or contact Tucker at dtucker@coosa.org or 706-232-2724.

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Image via Coosa River Basin Initiative