Shaw Industries Sponsors Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful’s Sustainability Efforts

Interview with Shaw’s Sustainability Specialist Erin Helm

In 2020, Shaw Industries supported Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful (KDWB) as their sole Sustainability sponsor. This sponsorship is what has led to the restoration project for the fountain on Morris St. that has been remade into a planter with the help of Dalton Public Works and Fiddleheads. Shaw’s sponsorship has helped KDWB commission a new public sculpture out of reclaimed metal by Chris Beck that will be placed on the upcycled fountain. To celebrate their sponsorship, Erin Helm, Shaw’s Sustainability Specialist spoke about what inspires her and Shaw’s goals in sustainability, material health, and how what choices we make impact the world around us every single day.

Erin project manages all Raw Material Substitutions and all of the product and raw chemical information for training, marketing, sales, and customer service.

Erin started working at Shaw as a designer before moving into sustainability, “I knew nothing about the flooring industry when I started my job at Shaw! I was fresh out of college and had no idea what I was doing. I think what surprised me the most was all of the moving pieces that go into creating a flooring product--it’s astounding!” While working at Shaw, Erin got her start in sustainability as chair of the sustainability committee at the Shaw Create Centre Campus where they sponsored adopt-a-mile, river and trail clean-ups, hosted recycling education events, started composting stations on campus, helped eliminate all single-use plastic items on campus, and organized events for Earth Day and an e-waste recycling event!

In her career Erin learned about everything that went into flooring design and changes in sustainability over the past few years, “I was surprised by all of the science involved with what I do now. My background is in design, so coming into a sustainability role and learning about chemical components of our products has been really interesting! Something else that was very interesting was to see the shift of sustainability from just traditional measures like Waste, Water, and Energy to encompass things like Material Health and Social Justice! As a designer and creative, I love seeing how Shaw weaves sustainability into every aspect of a product story.” The material health of flooring makes sure that the chemicals in the product are safe for the consumer and the planet.  With something that is present in every building we walk into, considering the repercussions of certain chemicals on our life-long health is critical.

So, for those of us choosing flooring or any other product and trying to consider the environment and our needs, what should we be looking for? Erin says, “When I am looking at purchasing any product beyond the design and functionality, I ask myself three questions.

1. Is it made well/will it last?

2. Is it made by a responsible company?

3. Are there any chemicals of concern in this product?

Shaw checks all of those boxes for me with their product warranties, social responsibility and community outreach efforts and third-party certifications that cover Material Health (Cradle to Cradle) and Indoor Air Quality (Green Label Plus, FloorScore and GreenGuard) concerns!”

Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful appreciates Shaw as their sole Sustainability sponsor for 2020. Without the support of their sponsors, the work they do throughout the year to create a clean, green, and beautiful place to live would not be possible.

Free Tree, Electronics, and Cardboard 2021 Event - Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful

Bring One for the Chipper 2021!

Save the date for January 9th, 2021 to recycle live trees, electronics, and cardboard!

This holiday may look a little different, but we’ve seen how much people are enjoying decorating their homes this year. If you are decorating for Christmas and plan to use a live tree make sure you have a plan for after the holiday! Save the date for Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful’s Annual Bring One for the Chipper Event. Over the years, this event has recycled hundreds of live Christmas trees and multiple tons of electronics.

Recycle your live, natural, undecorated Christmas tree after the holiday season and your used electronic devices at The Home Depot on 875 Shugart road on Saturday, January 9, 2021. From 8:00 am to 12:00 pm volunteers will be on-site to collect your natural trees and electronics for recycling.

New to this year we will also be collecting flattened cardboard boxes! If you have big cardboard boxes that won’t fit in your curbside bin, flatten them out and bring them along!

There is NO charge for trees and most electronics. The only fee is a $10.00 fee for CRT, or Cathode Ray Tube, television sets, and computer monitors. Typical CRT TVs have four to eight pounds of lead in them requiring them to have extra-special handling when they are being recycled and results in a higher cost.

Please remove all ornaments and the base from your trees. Electronics will be sent to a third-party recycler. Volunteers will not be removing any data from your devices before sending them onto recycling. Please make sure you wipe the data from laptops, phones, etc. before dropping off.

Participants have their pick of seed packets while supplies last and will remain in their car to help the event remain safe in 2020.

Thank you to the following event sponsors and organizers: Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful, Whitfield County Public Works, Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority, and The Home Depot.

For more information or if you want to volunteer at the event call 706-278-5001.

National Planting Day Grant Recipients

Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful is pleased to announce the winners of the sixth annual School Beautification Grants for 2020.

The committee for Beautification and Community Greening established the grant program in celebration of National Planting Day, which took place on September 11 and is celebrated through the end of November.

Public and private schools in Dalton, GA, and Whitfield County were invited to apply for funding to implement a project related to planting native plants and beautifying the community. Each project aims to improve the visual aspects of the facility or provide an educational opportunity related to plants. Beautification grants range from a minimum of $200 to a maximum of $400.

Last year, one of the projects was student-led and helped create a beautiful new garden at Southeast High School

This year the following two schools were awarded a grant for their National Planting Day project:

1.  City Park Elementary - Outdoor Learning Center 

2.  Valley Point Elementary - Kindness Rock Garden

Projects will be completed by January 12, 2021 and each recipient will submit a project summary by January 26 to showcase their work. Visit Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful’s website www.KeepDaltonWhtifieldBeautiful.org or follow them on Facebook to get updates on the progress of these projects.  

National Planting Day is celebrated annually by Keep America Beautiful in the fall as an opportunity to encourage volunteers to plant native species restoring ecological balance to the environment while creating greener, more beautiful communities. Learn more about this event at www.kab.org.

26th Annual Conasauga Watershed Clean-up

Join in on some socially distant fun!

Whitfield County and Murray County residents are invited to participate in the 26th Annual Conasauga Watershed Clean-up event on Saturday, October 24, 2020 to help keep local waterways clean at one of seven locations.

One of the largest local volunteer events in the community the annual Conasauga River Clean-up is hosted in partnership with several local non-profits, businesses, and environmental organizations during United Way’s Make a Difference Day.

More than 10,000 pounds of garbage is typically removed during this event annually. “Volunteers that come out and participate are of all ages and walks of life so it is a wonderful opportunity to get to know other people while doing a service for your community.” Said Amelia Atwell, an event participant.

One of the six most biologically diverse freshwater river systems in the United States, the Conasauga River supports 24 endangered species and a dozen other imperiled species, including the Southern Pigtoe mussel and the Conasauga logperch, a fish found nowhere else in the world.

This year’s event takes place concurrently from 9:00 am to noon at eight different sites across both Whitfield and Murray counties.

Be a part of the tradition by volunteering at one of the following locations:

1. Conasauga River at Carlton Petty Road bridge
2. Conasauga River at Highway 2 bridge
3. Conasauga River at Lower King’s Bridge/Norton Bridge
4. Holly Creek, Murray County, on the Chattahoochee National Forest
5. Mill Creek tributary in the City of Dalton
6. Lakeshore Park in the City of Dalton
7. Crown Creek in the City of Dalton
8. Conasauga River Snorkeling Hole, TN

Download the flyer with directions at http://www.keepdaltonwhitfieldbeautiful.org/

Sturdy shoes or boots, gloves, long pants, and long-sleeved shirts are recommended. Hip or chest waders are useful but are not required. Trash bags will be provided and at least the first 250 volunteers will receive a free neck buff and a baseball hat as a thank you for helping to clean-up our community's beautiful river and streams!

To learn more about the river cleanup call Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful at 706-278-5001 or visit www.KeepDaltonWhitfieldBeautiful.org to download the event flyer with directions to each site. Join and share the event on Facebook page at www.facebook.com/KeepDaltonWhitfieldBeautiful.

Gretchen Lugthart, a long-time organizer of the event stated, “I think we have made some progress regarding people’s attitudes toward trash in this region, but until everyone respects our beautiful streams and rivers enough to dispose of trash properly, then we will have work to do.”

Event sponsors and organizers include: Shaw Industries, Engineered Flooring, Coosa River Basin Initiative, Rivers Alive, Dalton Utilities, United Way of Northwest Georgia, Dalton State College, Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority, Whitfield County Public Works, Conasauga River Alliance, Limestone Valley RC&D, US Forest Service, Keep Dalton-Whitfield Beautiful, Murray County and Whitfield County Extension, and Keep Chatsworth-Murray Beautiful.