Annual Clean Valley Awards
November, 2003 

Winner: Rockydale Quarries

The award went to Rockydale Quarries for their “black gold project”.  Roadside leaf litter collection from the City of Roanoke is combined with Rockydale’s own by-products to make compost over one year’s time and saves both the city and the quarry money in tipping fees and prevents the landfilling for both.  Combining municipal leaf waste with their fines (powdered stone and limestone) from their quarry makes the “topsoil” one year later.  Good solutions for by-products of doing business.  One more product to sell.

Winner: Botetourt Center at Greenfield, Botetourt County

It is a mixed-use park development managed by the Botetourt County Board of Supervisors.  Greenfield incorporates a new elementary school, a 100-acre public recreational area, a 100-acre office park, a 600-acre business park, and historical preservation area and a state of the art workforce training and community education center.  Greenfield is designed to enhance the economic and cultural quality of life of the Valley without sacrificing the history, beauty and character of the area.  They created new wetlands on site to replace those disturbed by development.  It was also created to be a natural location for wildlife, enhanced by their 17-arce lake.  The water discharge from Greenfield is cleaner than when it entered.

Winner:  Southern States Roanoke Feed Mill, Vinton

Southern States has a long history of environmental stewardship.  They include the waste oil, wood, plastics, metals, cardboard, office paper, printer toner cartridges and more in their 95 tons of material to outside recyclers and reuses 1,200 tons of material inside the mill.  Their efforts began when it was the most difficult, over ten years ago.  Their most recent honor was this year from the Governor of Virginia who recognized them for their excellence in recycling for manufacturers.

Winner:  Blue Ridge Business Journal

We salute their efforts to educate the public and keep environmental stewardship part of our daily civic dialogue.  They promote environmental solutions to business problems for all of its 15 years of covering the Blue Ridge region.  They consistently publish special focus sections on business and the environment.  They feature “green” industry and support educational forum for architectural and engineering issues.

Winner: Koyo Steering Systems of USA

Koyo takes safety measures to the ultimate.  They have all systems in place for spills.  They have protective covers for driveway storm drains in case delivery has a problem.  The drains do not go to the stream but to a holding area for efficient clean up.  The wetlands are protected.  Systems function for the proper disposal of all waste, including color markers.   They have passed their environmental audit and received their certification, which took over a year.  The manufacturing solutions includes reuse, recycling, reduction, run-off containment, beautification, security, safety, good employee environment; and their steering system product is a green system using no belts, oil, etc.  They have greenways, wetlands, natural habit and pathways.  Their waste audit prepared the groundwork for the solutions.  Koyo is one of the industries to be found in the Botetourt Center at Greenfield.

Winner: The Roanoke Valley Resource Authority

Winning was for their effort to increase the tree canopy, provide lower drainage areas in the form of rain garden style slopes for runoff, and their preservation of the neighborhood both at the transfer station and at the landfill on Bradshaw Road. It was a very important consideration.  Both sites encourage wildlife, bird sanctuary and the prevention of litter.  They add much to their neighborhood beautification and conservation.