GBB Works with SWANA Award Winners

The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) and the International District Energy Association (IDEA) recently announced the winners of awards recognizing outstanding organizations in their respective industries. Gershman, Brickner & Bratton, Inc. (GBB), Fairfax, Va., is proud to be associated with four of the winners who are located in Alexandria, Virginia and Nashville, Tennessee. 

"As a consultant, we strive to help our clients achieve changes that meet their needs and are sustainable.  The recent awards to facilities and operations in Alexandria, Virginia and Nashville, Tennessee represent major changes that were accomplished with both the vision of good planning, which we had the opportunity to assist with, and the implementation of exemplary public-private partnerships.  We congratulate all involved parties to making change happen and happen really well," says Harvey Gershman, president of GBB.

The Solid Waste Association of North America's Excellence in Solid Waste Management Awards Program recognizes outstanding members and their programs that promote socially, environmentally and economically sound waste management. Candidates are evaluated on several criteria, including a steadfast commitment to environmental compliance and program efficiency as well as effectiveness, safety and innovation. GBB has worked on projects involving three of the 2004 winners:

·         Covanta Alexandria/Arlington Inc.:

o        SWANA - Bronze 2004 Waste-to-Energy Excellence Award

·         Metro Nashville:

o        SWANA - Bronze 2004 Special Waste Management Excellence Award

o        SWANA ? First Ever National Employee of the Year Award to Mike Shaw (Recycling Supervisor)

·         BFI Transfer Station in Nashville: 

o        SWANA - Bronze 2004 Transfer Station Management Excellence Award

GBB has served as the project manager for the city of Alexandria and Arlington county (Virginia) Waste Disposal Trust Fund since 1998 and assisted the Trustees with a strategic review of the facility prior to deciding on the investment necessary to meet the requirements of the Clean Air Act Amendment. 

GBB's recommendations, including a $40 million retrofit, a $35 million refinancing, securing waste flow from the private sector through contracts and positive steps to make the facility a good neighbor, were all implemented.  In order to ensure the success of these endeavors, the contractual relationship between the jurisdictions and Covanta became a high efficiency and interactive public/private partnership.

The International District Energy Association presented awards to those systems with the greatest amount of total square footage and the highest number of buildings brought to service in 2003. The Metro Nashville District Energy System (DES), operated by Constellation Nashville District Energy LLC, was presented with two awards:

·        Metro Nashville District Energy System

o        IDEA Gold Award
Most buildings signed up for service in 2003 (39 buildings)

o        IDEA Silver Award
Second-most square footage signed up for service in 2003 (Approximately 8 million)

Bill Drewery (director of Business Development, Constellation Energy Source Inc.) and Gershman (who serves as Metro Nashville DES project administrator) were called up to receive the plaques at the 2004 IDEA annual awards luncheon held last month in Seattle.  The DES is owned by the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County (Metro).

GBB has been involved with Metro since preparing a comprehensive analysis of its solid waste management system. With that information, Metro selected the alternative of replacing its aging Nashville Thermal Transfer Corporation ("Thermal") waste-to-energy facility with a new energy-generating facility and improvements to its energy distribution piping at its new DES so that steam and chilled water services could continue to current and future customers in downtown Nashville. GBB was retained by Metro to manage the procurement process for selecting the contractor to design, build and operate the new DES and managed the implementation of the project. GBB continues to serve as Metro's Project Administrator, overseeing all phases of the project, including management of the new District Energy System, financial and system planning, customer service, adding new customers and the demolition of Thermal.

GBB is a national solid waste management consulting firm that works on solid waste collection, processing, recycling and disposal issues, including construction waste and demolition debris projects for both the public and private sectors.