The holidays are a little greener this year with the announcement of the MoveRight Challenge winners. CHA1 Amazon Fulfillment Center, Skuidify LLC and Crabtree Farms claimed top honors in the large, medium and small business categories, respectively.
The participating employees at the winning companies will receive a prize pack including a GreenTrips bag containing commuter’s essentials, a MoveRight Challenge T-shirt and a gift card. Over 12,000 Green Trips were logged by 13 local companies, including the Challenge winners, between Oct. 1 and Nov. 30.
“The numbers are truly impressive,” said GreenTrips Coordinator Amy Morris. “These 12,000 Green Trips equate to almost 700,000 calories burned, over 152,000 miles traveled, 4,176 gallons of gasoline saved, and over 83,000 pounds of pollution avoided.”
The CHA1 Amazon Facility grew their membership from 3 to 300 employees during the contest, and participants logged over 5,100 trips.
“Our goal was to draw attention to the program and encourage carpooling in order to reduce the traffic at Enterprise South during the 4th quarter when Amazon’s workforce multiplies and impacts traffic for everyone in the Volkswagen/Enterprise South area,” said Julyanne Culbertson, administrative assistant to the general manager and GreenTrips site administrator. “It has been an ongoing effort that has resulted in terrific response from our associates and has truly minimized the traffic in the Enterprise South area during the holiday season.”
Amazon’s winning strategy included printing their own GreenTrips lunchboxes, regular communications and creating a mascot for the initiative. “The T-REX was named GreenTrips REX. He’s holding a GreenTrips green lunch box and his sign says, “CHA1 and GreenTrips REX…working together to take BIG BITE out of our Amazon customers’ holiday shopping trips,” Ms. Culbertson said. “He stands about 7 ½ feet tall and his head moves back and forth. He’s been a pretty fun decoration for our associates as we work to be the North Pole of the South (as President Obama referred to us last year).”
The MoveRight Challenge is part of GreenTrips, an incentive program designed to reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality by encouraging alternatives to driving alone. Employees at participating businesses earned points by logging trips taken by bike, walking, carpool or public transit and telecommuting or working a compressed workweek on iGreenTrip.org. The other local businesses that participated in the Challenge were BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, the city of Chattanooga, EPB, Hamilton County, TVA, Unum, Whirlpool Corporation, Ivy Academy, green|spaces and River City Company.
GreenTrips is an ongoing program open to the public, with no cost or purchase necessary to participate. Points earned by all GreenTrips members can be redeemed for chances to win prizes each month. “GreenTrips encourages our community to take advantage of all the great ways to get around by highlighting alternatives to driving alone,” said GreenTrips Coordinator Jonathan Gibbons.
GreenTrips is a program of the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Agency, funded in part by the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program. It is open to anyone traveling to or from Walker, Catoosa, Dade and Hamilton counties. Those interested in joining the program should visit GreenTripsCHA.org or contact the GreenTrips staff at GreenTrips@Chattanooga.gov.
For more on GreenTrips, please visit: http://www.greentripscha.org.