April 20, 2010: SWACO Press Release
Finalists for the 5th Annual Central Ohio Emerald Awards have been selected by
this year’s independent judging panel. Produced by the Solid Waste Authority of
Central Ohio (SWACO), 21 submissions spanning across seven categories will be
honored at this year’s Emerald Awards business luncheon, taking place on
Thursday, May 13th, from 11am -1:30pm at the Aladdin Shrine Center, located at 3850 Stelzer Road
This year’s winners will receive their coveted and unique awards, made from recycled green glass,
from SWACO Executive Director, Ron Mills, and SWACO Board of Trustees President, Bradley Frick.
Finalists will be vying for top honors in the following categories; Entrepreneurship, Environmental
Education, Leadership, Litter Clean-Up, Partnership, Innovation and the new Young & Green youth
award, honoring students ages 12-18.
“The excitement continues to build toward the 2010 Emeralds. Our judges tell us their decisions
were not easy ones as the entries were outstanding,” says SWACO Executive Director, Ron Mills.
“Our finalists and their stories will serve as examples for all Central Ohioans as they move toward a greener lifestyle.”
2010 EMERALD AWARD FINALISTS:
Entrepreneurship:
Connie Chwan, President & CEO, Possitivity
Possitivity is a self-funded, not-for-profit corporation that develops sustainable employment for people with disabilities.
James Stein, President, Furniture Bank of Central Ohio
The Furniture Bank is Central Ohio’s largest not-for-profit provider of free furniture to low income families.
Daniel Weisenbach, Founder, Weisenbach Recycled Products
Awarded
Weisenbach is a Columbus-based company that has established a market for recycled glass gifts, awards, and other recycled products.
Environmental Education:
City of Columbus, GreenSpot Program
Awarded
GreenSpot has taken steps to improve the environment by issuing branding decals to identify environmentally friendly locations.
Bradley High School, Various Environmental Programs
Bradley High School began a recycling program, started their own environmental club, and is testing different wetland plant mixes.
St. Francis DeSales High School, Environmental Club
St. Francis students started a school-wide paper recycling program, planted a winter garden, and started “Environmental Awareness Week.”
Innovation:
Battelle
Battelle has helped develop a soy-based toner, clean water solutions for the people of Haiti and a safer battery recycling device.
E3 (Economy, Energy, Environment)
Awarded
E3 is a coordinated federal and local initiative that offers solutions for improved sustainability, and provide assessments of production.
Greenovate
Greenovate was founded with an exclusive focus on promoting sustainability and developing the local green building market.
Leadership
Jim Grote, Founder and CEO, Donatos Pizzeria
Awarded
In 2009, Donatos made a commitment to become “Landfill Free by 2010,” and has reduced total landfill waste by 99.3%, or nearly 400,000 pounds.
Tom Pendrey, VP and GM, G&J Pepsi Cola Bottlers of Columbus
Pepsi-Cola has continued with recycling programs and their green committee shares the best practices with PepsiCo operations worldwide.
Valeriana Moeller, President, Columbus State Community College
Columbus State signed onto the “Climate Commitment” to reduce energy consumption by 20% by 2014 and also have a LEED-certified building.
Litter Clean-Up:
Campus Partners, South Campus Gateway
Campus Partners formed a cooperative effort to improve the appearance of High Street, including the collection and recycling of trash.
City of Whitehall, City-Wide Litter Collection Event
Awarded
The City of Whitehall administered a City-Wide Litter Collection Event that was comprised of over 525 volunteers, and collected 345 bags of litter.
KickButt Columbus! Keep Columbus Beautiful
KickButt Columbus was a cigarette litter awareness campaign and highway litter abatement partnership event to educate the community.
Partnership:
Abercrombie & Fitch, with partners Cottingham, Waste Management, Royal Paper and Aetna
Abercrombie & Fitch partnered in 2009 to reduce waste, and saved 21,180 cubic yards of landfill space through their collaborative efforts.
Columbus Clippers Awarded
The Columbus Clippers opened Huntington Park stadium with amenities including energy efficient lighting, and open air corporate suites
Rumpke Recycling, with partners Promotions One & Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources
Rumpke Recycling partnered to bring recycling to Red, White & BOOM, where nearly 22,000 pounds of materials were recycled.
Young & Green:
Amanda Liu, Hilliard Davidson High School
Amanda Liu entered the Environmental Awareness Club at her school and began a recycling effort that involved approximately 200 classrooms.
Amelia Pierson, Westerville North High School
Awarded
Amelia Pierson, a Recycling Club member, created school hall passes made from recycled paper, and actually made these passes herself.
Sarah Weaver, Whetstone High School
Sarah Weaver took the initiative to educate the public about the importance of recycling through her website, sarahrecycles.com.
The Keynote Speaker for the 2010 Emeralds is, “The Lazy Environmentalist,” Josh Dorfman. Josh
Dorfman is the host of Sundance Channel's original program, The Lazy Environmentalist and a
commentator for Big Ideas for a Small Planet on The Green, the Channel's weekly primetime
destination devoted to environmental programming. Dorfman is also an environmental
entrepreneur, media personality and author of The Lazy Environmentalist: Your Guide to Easy,
Stylish, Green Living (April 2007) and the recently published The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget
(April 2009). Both books will be available for purchase, followed by a book signing, at the Emerald Awards.
Angela Pace of 10TV will emcee the awards ceremony. The 2010 Central Ohio Emerald Awards
presenting sponsor is AEP Ohio. Additional support is provided by G&J Pepsi-Cola Bottling, Civil and
Environmental Engineers, Kurtz Brothers, Ohio CAT, Ohio Mulch, and Rumpke, with media sponsor, The Columbus Dispatch.
Registration for the 2010 Central Ohio Emeralds is $35 each or $350 for a table of 10. A discount
for non-profit organizations is also available. Please click on the green Emerald Awards banner at
www.swaco.org to register.
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