Home »

In 3 Words

Make an Impact, a program to help you save energy, save money, and save the planet, is coming to an area near you! We'd love your help to kick things off by showing what individuals in the community are doing to live sustainably and conserve energy.

Take a fun photo or video of yourself (or with your friends, family, pets, anyone!) making a positive environmental impact and send it to MakeAnImpact@c2es.org. We’ll email you back to confirm your details and get your permission to use your submission.

The photo should feature a white page with three words that help tell your story. Be creative!

Naturally Shop Green

With children, it is important to start early teaching our children good green habits. One easy way to begin is with reusable cloth shopping bags. Take these with you to the store and bring your groceries home in them. This small change in can significantly reduce the amount of plastic shopping bag trash that is generated. Plastic shopping bag waste pollutes our environment, kills wildlife and contributes to our ever increasing landfills...so please remember to Shop Green!

Wade and Hayden, children of Barry Singletary, Safety Team Leader, Mt Holly

Pollution Prevention Pays

This is a picture of me, my son Daniel, and our dog Lloyd. We recently purchased an aluminum can crusher, and began collecting aluminum cans, crushing them, and recycling them. We thought this would not only be a worthwhile way of reducing our solid waste stream, but would contribute to the reduction of our carbon footprint, and provide Daniel with a source of revenue.

Larry McCaskill, Waste Management Specialist, Environmental Department, Mt Holly

Recycling is Cool

Because Paul was taught to recycle at a very young age, it comes naturally to him.   To save money, our city just recently changed the trash pickup schedule from twice a week to only once a week.  This has not been a problem for us because removing plastic, glass, and paper from our solid waste reduces our trash going to curb dramatically.   As we look at the containers lined down the street on trash day, it's easy to tell who recycles and who doesn't.  We can only hope that the ones that don't notice the difference and join us on recycling.  Thanks to the community for providing convenient recycling centers which makes it so easy to MAKE AN IMPACT!  

Paul Buckley, son of Laura Anthony, Procurement Specialist, Mt Holly

Organic Lawn Care

Jack and I finally have a yard that we can be proud of and work on together.  We bit the bullet and invested in Bermuda Grass Sod for the whole yard and it looks beautiful!  We are committed to giving it our TLC and doing it naturally without adding harsh chemicals that can harm the environment and our animals.  We were introduced to a local landscaping supply that only handles organic lawn care products and is extremely knowledgeable in all lawn care.  Our lawn started showing some distress so we visited him with pictures.  With their guidance, we purchased and spread the BTN (Back to Nature) Cotton Burr Compost. Two afternoons of raking and spreading and the lawn is already showing improvement.  We're happy, our kitties are happy, and we are proud of our contribution to MAKE AN IMPACT!

Gloria Odom, Senior Buyer, Purchasing Dept., Mt Holly

Save on Gas

Our family rides our bikes to run errands and visit friends whenever we can.  Our town has a great trail system that allows us to get to stores, the public library, downtown shops and other neighborhoods without traveling on busy roads.  We get great exercise, keep one car off the roads and save gas costs all at the same time!!

Scott Courtney, Carbon Plant General Supervisor, Mt Holly

Refill, Don't Landfill

Small changes in your routine can have a big impact on the Environment.  Whenever possible, I opt for the reusable version of things versus items you use once and throw away. I've accumulated several reusable plastic and aluminum water bottles over the years and keep them everywhere - my house, my office, my gym bag. The same is true for the reusable grocery bags, which can be convenient for carrying many more things than just your groceries. They're minor changes, but over the course of my lifetime, they will add up.

Erin Pabst, Communications Specialist, Mt Holly

Doing Our Part

Andy's daughter Shea (center in picture) explains the reasoning behind "Doing Our Part" in the following way - "We are doing what we can to 'protect the planet'.  Even though we are children, we can help by recycling items like plastic bottles, aluminum cans, glass, cardboard and newspaper.  I love to play outdoors and go to the beach.  I want my children to be able to enjoy it too."

Twin sisters Samantha & Shea with brother Tanner, children of Andy Duncan, Casthouse General Supervisor, Mt Holly

Water Wind Clean

Raise the sails and off we go.  No motor... just the wind.  Sailing is the best way we know to relax and it is environmental friendly, too.

Eddy Sikes and wife Wanna Sikes, ABS Coordinator, Maintenance & Engineering Department, Mt Holly

Compost Waste Food

We created a small compost pile for waste food.  Any unused portion of fruits and vegetables and food that has expired goes into the pile instead of the trash or garbage disposal. The compost pile and normal recycling allows our family to generate less than 20 gallons of trash per week.

Dennis Gregory, Technical Specialist, Casthouse, Mt Holly

Small Steps Matter

My daughter Rachel and I have taken some small steps at home to make an impact.  In 2007, we replaced our thermostat with a programmable one.  We set it up so that the heating and air conditioning unit doesn't come on as often when no one is home during the weekdays.  While we have debates on how warm or cold the house should be, we all agree that it only matters when there are people in the house.  We also replaced almost all of the sixty incandescent light bulbs with CFLs.  That is a total reduction from about 3600 Watts to 900 Watts.  We have gotten used to having to wait a minute before the light is bright, but that's OK. The CFLs definitely last much longer.  If I look at the monthly comparison that my utility provides on my bill, I believe that the small steps that we have taken are saving me $40 a month in electricity costs.  Small Steps Matter!

Henk Van Der Meyden, Environmental Manager, Mt Holly