City Honored for using Innovative and Environmentally Friendly Practices
News Date: June 22, 2015
Columbus Wins National Sustainability Award for Green Community Initiatives
Press
Release -- June 22,
2015
Contact
Richard
Hicks, Columbus Public Health, 645-6189,
[email protected]
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Columbus
Wins National Sustainability Award for Green Community Initiatives
City Honored for using Innovative and Environmentally
Friendly Practices
The City of
Columbus has won the 2015 Excellence in Sustainability Award from Underwriter’s
Laboratories (UL).
“The rest
of the country is taking note of our progressive environmental agenda which is
now more than 10 years strong,” says Mayor Michael B. Coleman. “This
impressive designation speaks to the strength of our partnerships and our
collective efforts to make Columbus one of the greenest cities in the nation.”
The City was
recognized for the success of its Columbus Green Community Plan, which
includes:
-
Purchase
of electric cars and car charging stations
- Construction
of compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling stations
- Free
bi-weekly household recycling services
- Community
car and bike sharing programs
- Dam
removal and river restoration, resulting in 33 acres of new green space
- Installation
of the state’s largest solar project of its kind
- Conversion
of City busses to CNG and free downtown circulator bus service
- 10,000
volunteer Environmental Ambassadors in the GreenSpot Program.
- New annual
Earth Day drug drop off event which collected over 400 pounds of expired
and unwanted medicine to keep it out of the community’s waterways.
For more than
a decade, the City of Columbus has been an innovative leader in creating
policies, programs and infrastructures that reduce environmental impacts and
promote environmentally sustainable practices. The initiatives are
identified through a collaborative planning process using paid city staff as
Green Coordinators, members of a volunteer “Green Team” and public
participation.
The annual
Excellence in Sustainability Award, which is co-sponsored by National
Environmental Health Association (NEHA), recognizes organizations, businesses,
associations and individuals who are solving environmental challenges by using
innovative and environmentally sustainable practices. The award will be
presented at NEHA’s Annual Education Conference in Orlando on July 13.
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