GreenSpotLight Awards Celebration

Join GreenSpot and Councilmember Emmanuel V. Remy for the in-person GreenSpotLight celebration of our community’s GreenSpot achievements. The event will take place Thursday, March 23rd from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Grange Insurance Audubon Center. 

Being recognized:
*Three GreenSpot businesses (small, medium, and large) that have demonstrated exemplary environmental performance.

*Update on Sustainable Columbus.

*GreenSpot 2023 action plans.

*Trivia, prizes, and more!

A great event to network with like-minded sustainability professionals.
The event is free, but please RSVP as space is limited. To RSVP, email GreenSpot@columbus.gov.

Thank you to our sponsors Sage Sustainable Electronics and VS Engineering!

Member benefit: Tour a vernal pool with an expert

It's that time of year when the doldrums of winter are fading and spring rains melt the snow and fill up those temporary wetlands called “vernal pools.” GreenSpot will be leading TWO vernal pool tours this year on Saturday, March 4th from 10 a.m. to noon and on Sunday, March 5th from 2pm-3pm.

You’ll learn and see what dwells in these temporary pools, their importance to the watershed and clean water, and have a fun time in nature! The tour on the 4th will take place at Coyote Run near Pickerington and the tour on the 5th will take place in northeast Columbus. 

RSVP required; email GreenSpot@columbus.gov with the subject line “Vernal Pool” and indicate which pool/date. Space is very limited, so first come, first served. This is for GreenSpot members ONLY. David Celebrezze, Resilience and Behavior Change Manager at Sustainable Columbus and vernal pool expert, will lead the tour with David Hague at Coyote Run on the 4th and David will lead the tour on the 5th. Please note the Coyotoe Run vernal pools are back in wooded areas where there is no path.  The featured image above is of a phantom midge in a drop of water. These predators feed on mosquito larva and other tiny insects. 

Enhanced Meter Project (EMP)-save water, save money

Columbus is upgrading its aging water and power meters with new models. They are partnering with Utility Metering Solutions (UMS) to install 300,000 water meters and 17,000 power meters over the next few years. The installations will be performed at no additional cost to customers. This project will result in enhanced customer service, improved operational efficiency and increased meter accuracy.

Once a new EMP portal is activated in coming months, customer benefits will include:

• Alert notifications
• Detailed daily usage data and graphs to monitor
• Better understanding of consumption patterns and inefficiencies
• Ability to adjust habits to reduce your utility bill

Benefits for water customers:

• Early leak detection

Benefits for Columbus Power customers:

• Immediate outage notification to the city
• Faster outage restoration

Read more here.

KickButt! Columbus

As winter thaws, the community is faced with more unsightly litter covering streets and floating in our most vital resource, our waterways. As spring is ushered in, Keep Columbus Beautiful invites you to join them at KickButt! Columbus, an annual highway on and off ramp cleanup event taking place Saturday, March 11th. They will also be supporting the 2nd annual Cleaner Columbus Cleanup on Saturday, April 1st to help clean up some of our City’s most littered neighborhoods. More information about these events and how you can get involved to help Keep Columbus Beautiful can be found at their Facebook and Instagram.

GreenSpot member litter destroyers

GreenSpot is teaming up with Kick Butt! Columbus and Green Columbus to keep our streets clean. Will you join the GreenSpot Member Litter Destroyers team for a litter cleanup on Saturday, April 15th from 10am to noon? Gloves, litter grabbers, safety vests, and garbage bags will be provided. You will get a GreenSpot reusable water bottle and maybe even a GreenSpot t-shirt. This event is only for GreenSpot members and is limited to 20 people. 13 years or older only. Register on the Green Columbus site.

Sustainable Columbus News & Releases

Stay up to date with the new Sustainable Columbus News & Releases email program. Recently launched as part of their commitment to deepening relationships with community, and providing transparency and accountability through their work. By subscribing to the Sustainable Columbus News & Releases list you’ll receive a bi-monthly newsletter, media releases, and important program updates. Click HERE to sign up. GreenSpot is a program within Sustainable Columbus.

SWACO Event Waste Reduction Grant

SWACO is now accepting applications for the 2023 event season. Please download the application HERE to learn more. Applications will be accepted until August 4, 2023, before 5 p.m.

The Event Waste Reduction Grant program seeks to assist local event organizers with reducing event-generated waste and diverting as much material as possible from the Franklin County Sanitary Landfill. This is in line with the Columbus Climate Action Plan’s 40% reduction in recyclable waste landfilled by 2030. Event waste reduction grants can aid in helping event organizers with building needed and necessary infrastructure to sustain diversion efforts beyond the grant funding year to continue to contribute to a safe and healthy community for all Franklin County residents. Interested applicants should contact SWACO Grants Administrator at 614-871-5100 or email grants@swaco.org to share ideas in advance of applying.

New GreenSpot organization members

Team GreenSpot thanks the following organizations that recently joined GreenSpot!

• MJ Design Associates, Inc.
• The Notary Tree
• Rewash Refillery
• Greif, Inc.
• The Actions that Matter for Youth
• Allison Structural Group

Moving? Update your account

Did you recently move? You can update your GreenSpot member account by logging in and click the “Actions” button then “Update Location.” If you’ve moved out of Franklin County or adjacent county, contact GreenSpot@columbus.gov and we will de-activate your account.

Did you know they are a GreenSpot? ms consultants, inc.

Each eNewsletter we like to feature one of our GreenSpot organization members. This eNewsletter we highlight ms consultants, inc. who aim to be as green as possible.

They have established several programs and processes, including:

• Updated Accounting and Human Capital processes. To reduce paper waste, ms instituted ACH electronic payments for most clients and vendors. ms also launched a human-capital management system that electronically manages employee updates, also reducing paper waste.
• Corporate Sustainable Policy. ms has a corporate sustainable policy that emphasizes the importance of sustainability and ms’ role in addressing issues related to the environment, company, and the industry.
• Reduced Print Communication. ms instituted an internal, weekly e-newsletter and changed its document approval process to electronic.
• In 2022, recycled:
    *2.3 tons of electronics 6.2 tons of paper and cardboard
    *100 pounds of aluminum and plastic
    *2,300 pounds of steel, comprised of former office storage and supplies.

Sharing the Green Message
ms shares its green message with employees and the public, including:

• Encouraging staff to recycle batteries and electronic items through the company program
• Providing sustainability education on the ms Blog, including information about resiliency, renewable energy, sustainable urbanism, carbon footprint, and more.
• Providing sustainable design services to a variety of clients, completing many LEED certified, Green Globes certified, and green infrastructure projects.