The Coosa River Basin Initiative (CRBI) honored three local businesses, one local government and an area non-profit organization as winners of the 2nd Annual Greenie Awards.

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's executive director.

Dalton-based Shaw Industries 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, according to the company. This effort has reduced water withdrawals from the Conasauga River and other streams and reduced the amount of waste water 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.

The Bartow County Greenspace Program received CRBI’s Outdoor Recreation Greenie; the Jasper-based Mountain Conservation Trust of Georgia won the Land Protection Greenie and Hannah Solar received CRBI’s Innovation Greenie.

For more information, visit coosa.org.