Take 5: Ronnee Zilonis, Conference and Visitors Bureau

Meet Ronnee Zilonis, assistant to the president of the .

The bureau was recently recertified as an Environmental Steward by the city. The certification is part of Annapolis' Clean and Green City initiative. To be eligible for the two-year certification, a business must earn enough points based on environmental best practices and pass a verification inspection.

For more information on the program, visit SustainableAnnapolis.com.

Greater Annapolis Patch: What are the green initiatives you have instituted for your business?
Ronnee Zilonis: (The bureau follows in-house sustainable business practices.)

We have added the following:

• Communicate through email—newsletters, announcements, invitations to all events are sent via email, Constant Contact or through our Internet destination sales system (IDSS).
• Recycle bins in all administrative offices and Visitors Center.
• Buy paper products and kitchen items in bulk to reduce packaging waste.
• Employees walk, use electric-powered ecruisers, or hop aboard the City Circulator to get around the central business district.
• Visitor Center volunteers encourage visitors to do the same.
• Use organic products, including Leaf Gro & pine mulch, for landscaping—instead of harmful or dangerous chemicals.
• Created a small rooftop garden. This season it will include herbs, as well as native perennial flowers and shrubs.

Future projects include:

• Installing storm windows throughout original part of building in 2012.
• Replacing our old recyclable, low-emitting carpeting with new in 2012.

Patch: Why did you decide to pursue your green efforts?
Zilonis: Our program was started before I joined the Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Conference and Visitors Bureau (AAACCVB). The footprints were easy the follow.

Adding a few extra steps each year seems like a natural process. It's a satisfying feeling to promote "being green." Once the word is out, others want to follow.

Patch: Other than cost, what are the biggest hurdles to using even more
green techniques in your business?
Zilonis: The biggest challenge is getting people to realize how easy it is to implement everyday green things. It's not always expensive. It's always evolving into something better.

Patch: If cost and time were not issues, what green technique would you
like to implement at your business?
Zilonis: I would like to install a true green roof. Green roofs make sense. They cut heating and cooling costs, reduce stormwater runoff, filter pollutants and are attractive.

Patch: If you had one wish to create a new green technique/initiative what
would it be and why?
Zilonis: Like most people, I'm always learning something new about being green. I think educating people about how they can become green is the most important initiative.

We all know that being green is a good thing, but sometimes we don't realize just how important, how crucial it is. Education needs to start when children are very young.

That way, being green becomes a lifestyle.