Montgomery County, TN – On Tuesday, September 15th. 2020, the Clarksville-Montgomery County Green Certification Program held its annual awards banquet. In the past this banquet has been held in person at the Wilma Rudolph Event Center but this year the Program held a virtual banquet to celebrate environmental stewardship amongst local organizations while staying safe and socially distanced.
The awards included 8 Excellence Awards, 2 Best Overall Organization Awards, 16 Level-Up Awards and the Ron Smithfield Persistence Award. The big winner of the day was the Clarksville Parks and Recreation Department taking home the Outstanding Efforts in Land Use Award, the Best Overall Small Organization Award and an award for achieving Platinum Level in the Program.
The 2020 award recipients were:
Excellence Awards-
- Outstanding Efforts in Air Quality – Clarksville Transit System
- Outstanding Efforts in Engagement & Education – Clarksville Gas & Water Department
- Outstanding Efforts in Land Use – Clarksville Parks and Recreation Department
- Outstanding Efforts in Recycling – Moore Magnet Elementary School
- Outstanding Efforts in Reduction – Red Knight Distribution
- Outstanding Efforts in Resource Conservation – Customs House Museum
- Outstanding Efforts in Reuse – Montgomery County Election Commission
- Outstanding Efforts in Water Quality – Action Air
Best Overall Organization Awards-
- Small Organization (under 100 employees) – Clarksville Parks and Recreation Department
- Large Organization (over 100 employees) – Austin Peay State University
Level-Up Awards-
- Advancing to Silver Level: Action Air, Batson Nolan PLC, City of Clarksville Fleet Garage, First Choice Moving & Storage, Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, My Place Realty & Management, Screaming Eagle Express Car Wash, Superior Distribution
- Advancing to Gold Level: Florim, Montgomery County Election Commission, Moore Magnet Elementary School, Multi-Color Corporation, Northfield Eye Care
- Advancing to Platinum Level: Austin Peay State University, Clarksville Parks and Recreation Department, Avanti
The Ron Smithfield Persistence Award was present to David Berggren from Red Knight Distribution for his dedication to the Program and his commitment to the environment. With David’s oversight Red Knight Distribution became the first ever organization to reach Platinum level in the Program. Part of which was thanks to the Styrofoam recycling he started in 2016. Red Knight remains the only organization providing Styrofoam recycling in our community.
At the conclusion of the virtual banquet awards the UPCYCLE Challenge winner was announced. The Challenge was for Green Certified organizations to create an entry from only recycled or reused materials. This year’s theme was to “Create the Trophy” that will be presented to future award winners. The 2020 UPCYCLE Challenge winner was Trane. The Trane team created an entry made from gear drives, sheet metal and scrap from the assembly line.
The team’s entry form stated they wanted to create a trophy that used imagination and resourcefulness to reuse vital, timeworn gears that drove the industry and created the symbolic representation of the ever-moving goal to sustainability. Trane will display the trophy for the next year before it is given to the 2021 UPCYCLE Challenge winner.
The Green Certification Program congratulates all of the winners and would like to thank the banquet sponsors Florim, USA and Montgomery County as well as the award sponsors Altra Federal Credit Union, Bi-County Solid Waste, Arcadia Senior Living, Clarksville Area Chamber of Commerce, City of Clarksville, Clarksville Gas & Water, Mainstream Heating and Cooling, Screaming Eagle Express Car Wash, Stone, Rudolph and Henry, Legends Bank, Trane and Winn Materials. Without the sponsors this year’s banquet could not have happened.
For more information about the Green Certification Program, including a list of our 130+ local Green Certified Organizations, visit www.mcgtn.org/green.
