2016 Award Winners:
Outstanding Business Recycling - Milbank Manufacturing, Kansas City
Milbank designs and manufactures electrical solutions that move and manage power for the residential, commercial, industrial, utility and transportation sectors. Milbank combines more than 87 years of expertise in electrical engineering design and manufacturing with a commitment to develop and globally implement sustainable, integrated power solutions. Milbank started their recycling program in 2012 and has more than tripled the amount of materials recycled. In 2015, Milbank recycled 279,524 pounds of bottles, shrink wrap, plastic spools, paper, aluminum and cardboard. This number does not include lights, batteries, ballasts, used oil, scrap metal and CD cases that are also recovered. They host “Let’s Get Shredded” events on America Recycles Day for employee family and friends and also started a composting and gardening plots for employees. Excess produce raised in the garden plots is donated.
Leadership in Waste Reduction, Reuse and Recycling - MARC Solid Waste Management District, Kansas City
The average person in the Kansas City region throws away about seven pounds of waste per day, which adds up to over a ton of trash per person every year. To help turn this tide, the MARC Solid Waste Management District needed a way to get everyone to increase their recycling. The answer? The Recycle More outreach campaign. The goal of the campaign is simple: to encourage people to recycle more, whether they’re newbies, pros, or like most of us, somewhere in between. To date the campaign has used a compelling mix of media, workplace initiatives, and grassroots outreach to significantly increase awareness and participation in metro area recycling. So as one campaign ad says: What’s easier than kicking a habit? Starting one!
Outstanding Recycling Education Program - Brightside & New City School, St Louis
For over 30 years Brightside and the City of St. Louis have partnered on cleaning and greening initiatives. One goal of the St. Louis’s Sustainability Action Agenda is to double residential recycling. To reach that goal, Brightside formed an education team called Saint Louis City Recycles that partnered with New City School to develop a 5-minute video. The third grade class took the lead on the video as part of their annual Social Action Project. The third-graders demonstrated incredible creativity and produced an inspiring video that is a key educational tool that teaches people how easy it is to recycle. The size of the audience impacted by this work is immeasurable.
Outstanding Non-Profit Recycling Program - EarthWise Recycling Center, Reeds Spring
EarthWise Recycling is a small group of thoughtful, committed and extraordinary citizens who have changed the world in one tiny corner of Southwest Missouri! By making recycling available to rural citizens, they have seen an average of 15 citizens using the recycle center in 2012 grow to an average of 85 people each using the facility on Saturday mornings and have had as many as 105 drop offs in 2016. In addition, they helped to implement recycling curriculum into the local schools and divert tons of waste out of the landfill every single week. EarthWise accepts food waste from Silver Dollar City, Loaves and Fishes, and green waste from Legacy Community Garden. Using a 10 year old in-vessel composter, the material is turned into compost and given back to Legacy for their gardens. Produce grown by Legacy is given to people in need.
Outstanding Organics Program - Robinson Elementary, Kirkwood
Robinson Elementary School, in the Kirkwood School District, used a grant to pilot cafeteria composting in the 2014-2015 school-year. The collection program reduced cafeteria waste from 150 bags of trash each week to 25. The collection station in the cafeteria not only captures organics, but single stream recycling as well. At the beginning of the project volunteers and school staff worked together to design an efficient layout. A large initial investment in student education and training resulted in students using the sorting station independently and the collected material had very little contamination. The intensive training in the first year has paid off in a smoothly operating second year. Now supported by the PTO and the school district, composting has become a part of the culture and environmental ethos at Robinson Elementary.
Best Use of Recycled Material - FRC Recycling, St Louis
FRC originally operated a small, mostly outdoor, neighborly facility about the size of a backyard to make recycling more accessible to locals. Today FRC operations are housed in a 32,000 sq. ft. building that encompasses an entire city block in downtown DeSoto, manufacturing 100% recycled plastic ties (similar to road ties) while still providing the same services for residents and businesses. The plastic ties are highly rated, durable and adaptable in weather extremes. The process begins with hand-sorting of plastics to pull all PETE containers. The remaining plastic is ground, processed and pressed into ties that will last a lifetime. FRC is truly a recycling success story that demonstrating economic growth, strengthening community and conserving resources.
Outstanding Collection Program - City of Branson
In 2013, the City of Branson had only 2 locations to drop-off glass for recycling. Today there are 10 locations. In 2015, the locations received 500 tons of glass. If laid end-to-end the bottles would stretch from Branson to St. Louis. In February 2016, the City of Branson was awarded the “Glass Recycling Program of the Year” by Ripple Glass in Kansas City. The City competed for the award in a four-state area including Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Iowa. As the award’s first recipient, the City received a semi-truck load of Owens Corning fiberglass insulation made from the recycled glass. The insulation has a retail value of $10,000.00 and will be used for energy conservation projects in the Branson area. In addition to glass, the City of Branson recycles cans, plastics, paper and cardboard. Several 24/7 recycle bins are located throughout Taney County with five additional recycle drop off locations in Stone County.
Outstanding Institutional Recycling Program - Mercy Hospital, St Louis
Mercy Hospital is an example of recycling at its best when a large institution obtains buy-in from all departments. Beginning in 2007, a recycling committee formed and toured recycling plants, visited vendors, internal department members and then launched an educational/informational campaign to start single-stream recycling. In the past 8 years, Mercy has recycled over 2,400 tons of cardboard and 352 tons of single stream materials. In 2016, with a grant from Region L, Mercy purchased a baler and now bale and recycle shrink wrap. A key component is the establishment of “Green Departments” a voluntary program that encourages departments to take the lead in greening their workspaces. Reuse also has a role in the establishment of “Mercy ReStore” that accepts clothing, accessories, and household items that are given to co-workers in need and also shipped to disaster relief efforts worldwide.
President's Award – John Haasis, St Louis County Public Health Department, Retired.
2016 Award plaques provide by Pedro's Office Supplies
Outstanding Business Recycling - Milbank Manufacturing, Kansas City
Milbank designs and manufactures electrical solutions that move and manage power for the residential, commercial, industrial, utility and transportation sectors. Milbank combines more than 87 years of expertise in electrical engineering design and manufacturing with a commitment to develop and globally implement sustainable, integrated power solutions. Milbank started their recycling program in 2012 and has more than tripled the amount of materials recycled. In 2015, Milbank recycled 279,524 pounds of bottles, shrink wrap, plastic spools, paper, aluminum and cardboard. This number does not include lights, batteries, ballasts, used oil, scrap metal and CD cases that are also recovered. They host “Let’s Get Shredded” events on America Recycles Day for employee family and friends and also started a composting and gardening plots for employees. Excess produce raised in the garden plots is donated.
Leadership in Waste Reduction, Reuse and Recycling - MARC Solid Waste Management District, Kansas City
The average person in the Kansas City region throws away about seven pounds of waste per day, which adds up to over a ton of trash per person every year. To help turn this tide, the MARC Solid Waste Management District needed a way to get everyone to increase their recycling. The answer? The Recycle More outreach campaign. The goal of the campaign is simple: to encourage people to recycle more, whether they’re newbies, pros, or like most of us, somewhere in between. To date the campaign has used a compelling mix of media, workplace initiatives, and grassroots outreach to significantly increase awareness and participation in metro area recycling. So as one campaign ad says: What’s easier than kicking a habit? Starting one!
Outstanding Recycling Education Program - Brightside & New City School, St Louis
For over 30 years Brightside and the City of St. Louis have partnered on cleaning and greening initiatives. One goal of the St. Louis’s Sustainability Action Agenda is to double residential recycling. To reach that goal, Brightside formed an education team called Saint Louis City Recycles that partnered with New City School to develop a 5-minute video. The third grade class took the lead on the video as part of their annual Social Action Project. The third-graders demonstrated incredible creativity and produced an inspiring video that is a key educational tool that teaches people how easy it is to recycle. The size of the audience impacted by this work is immeasurable.
Outstanding Non-Profit Recycling Program - EarthWise Recycling Center, Reeds Spring
EarthWise Recycling is a small group of thoughtful, committed and extraordinary citizens who have changed the world in one tiny corner of Southwest Missouri! By making recycling available to rural citizens, they have seen an average of 15 citizens using the recycle center in 2012 grow to an average of 85 people each using the facility on Saturday mornings and have had as many as 105 drop offs in 2016. In addition, they helped to implement recycling curriculum into the local schools and divert tons of waste out of the landfill every single week. EarthWise accepts food waste from Silver Dollar City, Loaves and Fishes, and green waste from Legacy Community Garden. Using a 10 year old in-vessel composter, the material is turned into compost and given back to Legacy for their gardens. Produce grown by Legacy is given to people in need.
Outstanding Organics Program - Robinson Elementary, Kirkwood
Robinson Elementary School, in the Kirkwood School District, used a grant to pilot cafeteria composting in the 2014-2015 school-year. The collection program reduced cafeteria waste from 150 bags of trash each week to 25. The collection station in the cafeteria not only captures organics, but single stream recycling as well. At the beginning of the project volunteers and school staff worked together to design an efficient layout. A large initial investment in student education and training resulted in students using the sorting station independently and the collected material had very little contamination. The intensive training in the first year has paid off in a smoothly operating second year. Now supported by the PTO and the school district, composting has become a part of the culture and environmental ethos at Robinson Elementary.
Best Use of Recycled Material - FRC Recycling, St Louis
FRC originally operated a small, mostly outdoor, neighborly facility about the size of a backyard to make recycling more accessible to locals. Today FRC operations are housed in a 32,000 sq. ft. building that encompasses an entire city block in downtown DeSoto, manufacturing 100% recycled plastic ties (similar to road ties) while still providing the same services for residents and businesses. The plastic ties are highly rated, durable and adaptable in weather extremes. The process begins with hand-sorting of plastics to pull all PETE containers. The remaining plastic is ground, processed and pressed into ties that will last a lifetime. FRC is truly a recycling success story that demonstrating economic growth, strengthening community and conserving resources.
Outstanding Collection Program - City of Branson
In 2013, the City of Branson had only 2 locations to drop-off glass for recycling. Today there are 10 locations. In 2015, the locations received 500 tons of glass. If laid end-to-end the bottles would stretch from Branson to St. Louis. In February 2016, the City of Branson was awarded the “Glass Recycling Program of the Year” by Ripple Glass in Kansas City. The City competed for the award in a four-state area including Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Iowa. As the award’s first recipient, the City received a semi-truck load of Owens Corning fiberglass insulation made from the recycled glass. The insulation has a retail value of $10,000.00 and will be used for energy conservation projects in the Branson area. In addition to glass, the City of Branson recycles cans, plastics, paper and cardboard. Several 24/7 recycle bins are located throughout Taney County with five additional recycle drop off locations in Stone County.
Outstanding Institutional Recycling Program - Mercy Hospital, St Louis
Mercy Hospital is an example of recycling at its best when a large institution obtains buy-in from all departments. Beginning in 2007, a recycling committee formed and toured recycling plants, visited vendors, internal department members and then launched an educational/informational campaign to start single-stream recycling. In the past 8 years, Mercy has recycled over 2,400 tons of cardboard and 352 tons of single stream materials. In 2016, with a grant from Region L, Mercy purchased a baler and now bale and recycle shrink wrap. A key component is the establishment of “Green Departments” a voluntary program that encourages departments to take the lead in greening their workspaces. Reuse also has a role in the establishment of “Mercy ReStore” that accepts clothing, accessories, and household items that are given to co-workers in need and also shipped to disaster relief efforts worldwide.
President's Award – John Haasis, St Louis County Public Health Department, Retired.
2016 Award plaques provide by Pedro's Office Supplies
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