Sustainable IGH Awards
The City of Inver Grove Heights held the first Sustainable IGH Awards ceremony in June 2024. Learn how IGH residents and businesses are taking sustainable actions and how you can join in below!
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Be Recognized and Inspire Others
Share your sustainability story with your neighbors or business clientele, and the City of Inver Grove Heights! If you’re an IGH resident or business owner who has carried out sustainable actions, the City wants to recognize and highlight your efforts. Sharing your story also helps inspire others to take action.
Do you do all of the following? If so, apply for the Sustainable IGH Award during the 2026 application period. The application form will open in March 2026.
- Conserve energy
- Conserve water
- Recycle at your home or business
- Volunteer or donate to benefit the IGH community
- Landscape with native vegetation or pollinator plants [Property Owners Only]
Recognition Levels
There are four Sustainable IGH Recognition award levels: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Special Recognition. Applicants may apply annually to advance to a higher award level in future years.
| RECOGNITION LEVEL | REQUIREMENT |
|---|---|
| Bronze | Complete all required actions. |
| Silver | Complete all required actions + 5 additional actions. |
| Gold | Complete all required actions + 10 additional actions. |
| Special Recognition | One resident and one business may be selected annually by the Environmental Advisory Commission and City Council for demonstrating significant achievements. |
Recognition Awards
Awardees will earn:
- Printed award to display.
- Digital award for use on social media or website.
- Program certificate to display.
- Recognition by City Council and Environmental Advisory Commission in Summer 2026. This is optional to attend.
- The first 20 awardees to apply will earn a FREE Sustainable IGH yard sign.
- Special recognition award: One resident and one business may be selected annually by the Environmental Advisory Commission and City Council to earn special recognition and an award plaque for demonstrating significant achievements.
Questions?
Call 651-604-8511.
Annual Awards
The City of Inver Grove Heights recognizes IGH residents and businesses for taking actions that promote energy efficiency, renewable energy, pollinator habitat, water conservation, community wellbeing and more. Past awardees have demonstrated how they practice everyday or complex sustainable actions such as:
- Installing LED lighting
- Installing solar panels
- Completing a home or business energy audit
- Planting for pollinators
- Installing a rain garden
- Watering lawn only as needed, and before 10 a.m.
- Using a smart lawn irrigation system
- Volunteering, donating, or providing no cost assistance to others in IGH
- Participating in or supporting Dakota County Food Scrap Drop Off sites
- Hosting recycling tours, donation events, second-hand item sales, or community swaps
- Installing water bottle fillers
- Growing or buying locally grown food
- Providing guests compostable or reusable dishware
2024 Award Recipients
View the 2024 awardees below and a list of their accomplishments here.
- Inver Glen Library: Gold (27 actions) & Special Recognition Award.
- Inver Glen Library was selected to receive a 2024 Special Recognition award for operating an organization that fundamentally supports reuse of gently used goods in the IGH community by providing free rentals of books, media, and more for all. The library demonstrated it has gone above and beyond standard library operations as well by developing and partnering with other local organizations to host free or low-cost community programs such as second-hand book sales, Fix-It Clinics, and Puzzle and Board Game Swaps, and for their support in being the host site for the new Inver Glen Library Food Scraps Drop Off.
- Robert Heidenreich: Gold (43 actions) & Special Recognition Award.
- Robert Heidenreich was selected to receive a 2024 Special Recognition Award for demonstrating significant achievements at home by completing 43 impactful sustainable actions dispersed between all program categories. Mr. Heidenreich also showcased his dedication to maintaining 40 beehives for approximately 1.2 million bees on his agricultural-zoned property and planting multiple native gardens to support pollinators, wildlife and his beehives.
- Amanda Braith: Silver (12 actions)
- Amy and Allan Hunting: Gold (23 actions)
- Charlotte Svobodny: Gold (25 actions)
- Chris and Sara Goodman: Gold (34 actions)
- Chris Garnsworthy: Gold (33 actions)
- Elizabeth Ziebarth: Gold (22 actions)
- Ella Wilsey: Gold (21 actions)
- Jeff Parsons: Gold (44 actions)
- Karen Asmundson: Gold (38 actions)
- Kim Browning: Gold (42 actions)
- Laura Grevas: Gold (25 actions)
- Roodly Richard: Silver (14 actions)
- Gramercy Park Cooperative: Gold (31 actions)
- Key Community Bank: Gold (18 actions)
- Oyespa: Gold (33 actions)
- Republic Services: Gold (26 actions)