AkzoNobel, 1102 Leiter Drive, Warsaw, planted trees at its facility and at Pike Lake in Warsaw on Friday, April 30, for Arbor Day. The Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce helped out. From left: LaunchPad Director Sherry Searles, Chamber Ambassadors Brittany Lyon and Heather Lardino, Chamber Member Relations Manager Scott Wiley and Ambassador Glenn Hall, AkzoNobel First Shift Supervisor Ryan Baker, Buyer Deanna Cripe, Scheduler Justin Shoemaker, Engineering Manager Micheal Summers and Site Manager Hector Loyola and Chamber President and CEO Rob Parker and Ambassadors Corbin Holtsberry and Scott Clay. InkFreeNews photos by Leah Sander.

By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — A local business marked Arbor Day by planting trees in Warsaw.

AkzoNobel, 1102 Leiter Drive, planted some trees at its facility on the city’s west side and at Pike Lake, on Friday, April 30, with the help of Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce.

“Our DNA always is green,” said Warsaw location Site Manager Hector Loyola of the global company. He noted the company’s ranked at the top of the Dow Jones’ list of businesses with sustainable practices for six years.

He was the one that came up with the idea of planting trees.

The company bought evergreen and tulip trees for all of the nearly 100 employees at its Warsaw location. They were asked to plant them and share pictures of it.

That also led to the company planting the trees at the two locations Friday.

AkzoNobel is also working on other sustainable practices, said Loyola.

It’s working on incinerating its waste instead of sending it to a landfill and moving toward renewable energy.

Loyola said several of the company’s other locations use solar energy. The company is also moving to reduce energy use with its machines.

At Pike Lake are from left: Chamber Member Relations Manager Scott Wiley, AkzoNobel Site Manager Hector Loyola, Scheduler Justin Shoemaker, Engineering Manager Micheal Summers and Buyer Deanna Cripe, Warsaw Parks and Recreation Superintendent Larry Plummer and Chamber President and CEO Rob Parker and Ambassadors Glenn Hall and Brittany Lyon, LaunchPad Director Sherry Searles and Ambassadors Scott Clay, Corbin Holtsberry and Heather Lardino.