New York Recyclers Honored

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and its commissioner Erin M. Crotty have announced the winners of the 2002 Governor’s Waste Reduction and Recycling Awards, presented each year to organizations that have made aggressive efforts in waste reduction and recycling.

The awards were presented last week at the 13th Annual New York State Association for Reduction, Reuse & Recycling Inc. (NYSAR³⁾ Seminar, held in Binghamton, N.Y.

Applicants were judged on their overall waste reduction and recycling achievements, the economic and community benefits of their programs, the extent of employee participation, and the applicant’s overall environmental record. Awards are presented in two categories: Achievement of Excellence and Innovation.

The Achievement of Excellence winner this year was the Guilderland Central School District in Albany County. The school district’s recycling program, formerly led by teacher Mark Warford, began in 1995 at the Farnsworth Middle School and is now in its third year as a district-wide program that includes seven buildings and involves approximately 6,700 students and staff. The materials recycled include paper, glass, plastic, metal, cardboard, cafeteria food waste and ink-jet cartridges.

Materials are collected in each classroom, and twice weekly a student is asked to empty paper recycling bins into large totes that have been placed throughout the buildings. The program generates revenue from the ink-jet cartridge recycling and does not add any costs to the district’s budget

Warford has started a similar program in the East Greenbush Central School District where he now works.

One of this year’s recipients of the Award for Innovation was Cedar Knoll Log Homes Inc., Plattsburgh, N.Y. The company makes log home wall logs, accessories and other wood products. Each year, the company processes more than 1.4 million board-feet of northern white cedar and white pine.

In September 2000, the company used a $90,000 award from Empire State Development Corporation to purchase equipment to convert smaller pieces of waste wood into components for making railing systems. The new product has led to the creation of a successful manufacturing company and seven new jobs. Since Cedar Knoll now requires more scrap wood than they generate, they are buying wood scraps and cut-offs from other lumber mills and paying them for material the company previously had to pay to dispose of. Any remaining wood scraps and sawdust are sent to an area farm for its compost operation.

Cedar Knolls is currently re-manufacturing 4,000 board-feet of waste wood per day and saving $10,000 per month in raw materials costs. Company president Ronnie Marx accepted the award.

The other Innovation Award winner was the Rockland County Solid Waste Management Authority, Ramapo, N.Y. The Authority’s innovative education program includes an environmental education center and interactive recycling museum in its main municipal recycling and administration facility in the Town of Ramapo, Rockland County.

Comprised of an amphitheater, classroom, museum and a platform for viewing the tipping floor, a full-time educator leads tours that introduce participants to their role in the waste reduction process. An adjacent composting facility has a greenhouse and conference center.