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SALT LAKE COUNTY -- Businesses and residents of Salt Lake County got top honors Saturday for their efforts to improve Utah's air quality.
Members of the community were recognized at an awards ceremony for taking part in a six week "Clear the Air Challenge," sponsored by Salt Lake County.
The goal of the challenge was to encourage people to save by driving less, and driving smarter. From June 1 until July 10, 10.000 people left their keys at home and found greener ways to get around.
County Mayor Peter Corroon says the community stood up to the charge. "We had over 100,000 trips saved, over a million miles saved and over a million pounds of air pollution saved," he said.
Overall, the county reduced just under 2 million pounds of emissions from the air.
Corroon says even though the contest is over, residents won't be going back to their old way of doing things anytime soon.
"We want people to continue the challenge. We want them to continue taking mass transit, to continue riding their bikes and continue walking when they can," he said.
Zion's Bank was honored for "most trips saved," Rio Tinto got props for "most pounds of emissions saved," and Hogle Zoo took home the award for having the most participants in the challenge.
