How Sustainability Drives Profit and Purpose at Ohio Hot Tub and Sauna

For Amanda Annis, sustainability is a principle that’s guided her personally and professionally. Annis first explored environmental studies in high school and deepened her interest in college, where, in addition to her courses on the subject, she also joined a sustainable living organization.

“We toured a landfill, and it was the first time I had ever seen one,” Annis says. “Watching massive trucks dump trash onto the ground was shocking to me. It got me caring a lot about the end-of-life cycle for products.”

Through her work with the university, Annis helped launch what was then the largest composting facility on a public university campus. She also helped perform energy audits on aging campus buildings, introducing Annis to formal methods for evaluating consumption and inefficiency.

Her passion for sustainable living initially made her wary of the pool and spa industry, which she once viewed as inherently unsustainable. She stepped away from the family business, unsure if it aligned with her values. But over time, her perspective matured.

“I realized that aiming for perfect sustainability is pretty unrealistic in our society,” Annis says. 

Today, she’s back in the business as president of Ohio Hot Tub and Sauna, applying her environmental education to real-world operations. Whether she’s swapping out warehouse lighting, installing solar panels or rethinking hot tub refurbishment, sustainability is integrated into her leadership philosophy — not just as an environmental goal, but as a business asset.

“These kind of sustainability initiatives are very much in alignment with efficiency initiatives,” Annis says. “It’s a no-brainer from a business perspective.”

From light bulbs to solar panels

One of Ohio Hot Tub and Sauna’s earliest upgrades was a simple one: replacing outdated lighting with energy-efficient LEDs. “It’s been a rolling change,” Annis says. “As we needed to replace fixtures and bulbs, we’d invest in newer, more efficient models.”

Bigger changes followed. By 2021, dropping equipment prices and federal incentives made solar a smart investment for the company, which was installed on the roof of its headquarters and one showroom. “Our system ended up being less than an eight-year return on investment,” she says. “That’s a fantastic payback.” In cloudy Ohio, the panels are expected to last up to 40 years — twice the standard lifespan in sunnier states.

Driving efficiency in the service department

The service department’s biggest environmental and budgetary drain is gasoline. While electric vehicles remain on Annis’ radar (the company did invest in an electric forklift), she found a simpler and immediately impactful solution first: tackling wasteful vehicle idling.

“We started tracking our vehicles with a GPS system that’s wired into the ignition,” Annis says. “That lets us generate reports on idle time, miles per gallon and driving behavior across the entire fleet.”

Before the system, idling was a blind spot. Technicians in Ohio’s freezing winters or hot summers often left engines running for climate control while parked at jobsites. “They didn’t understand the massive impact that had,” Annis says. 

The result: over $10,000 in annual fuel savings, without changing a single vehicle.

End-of-life thinking

Whether it’s solar panels, electric vehicles or pool and hot tub equipment, Annis is thinking about what happens when a product reaches the end of its usefulness. Selling hot tubs is the company’s main revenue stream — in fact, it just rebranded from Ohio Pools and Spas to Ohio Hot Tub and Sauna. To help keep more hot tubs out of landfills, the company started a robust refurbishment program.  

“We evaluate every unit,” Annis explains. “If it can be saved, we deep clean it, replace parts and make it look almost new. If not, we scrap and recycle every piece we can.”

Old pool equipment goes through a similar process — every piece and component that can be is scrapped and recycled.

That same mindset applies to warehouse operations. Pallets are sent to a local company that turns them into mulch, and a recent audit uncovered decades-old inventory and parts, which were then recycled or auctioned off for reuse. “If it’s not helping you, it’s hurting you,” Annis says. “Just bless and release it.”

She’s also found a specialty facility where the company can take its old electronics to be recycled, like phones and IT hardware. 

Empowering employees, partnering with manufacturers

Sustainability isn’t just an executive initiative at Ohio Hot Tub and Sauna; it’s a shared responsibility. The company practices financial transparency with employees, so everyone can see where money is made, spent and potentially wasted.  

“We want all employees to understand how their actions affect the business financially,” Annis says, adding that they also tie a compensation incentive to efficiency. But it’s an ongoing conversation and takes discipline within the entire organization. 

“You have to take time to be aware of it,” Annis says. “You have to measure it. It is hard to stay on top of all of those efficiencies, but it frees up more money for employee bonus programs and extra benefits.”

She also looks upstream, choosing manufacturers who share her values whenever possible. “We partnered with SmartTop because their hard covers last longer and don’t contribute to landfill waste like traditional foam-filled options,” she says. She also praises manufacturers that offer behind-the-scenes facility tours and transparency about their environmental practices — like Fluidra, which uses solar power at some of its operational and manufacturing facilities and participates in Energy Star programs and Climate Action Week. 

Looking ahead

Annis is under no illusion that the work is finished. “My biggest wish is that someday we can completely disassemble a hot tub and recycle all of it,” she says. In the meantime, she continues to evaluate operations, looking for ways to align environmental care with business results.

“It’s a work in progress,” Annis says. “I’m grateful for Fluidra sponsoring this series as a reminder to take a fresh look at our practices and opportunities for improvement. It’s about legacy and ensuring the same — or better — opportunities for future generations.”