Casella recognizes regional 2020 recycling standouts

Rutland, Vermont-based Casella Waste Systems Inc. has announced that eight of its customers have been honored for leadership in sustainability at an inaugural Casella Sustainability Leadership Award Ceremony, a virtual event held in February.

The customers were honored “for excellence in resource sustainability across seven categories, including: partnership, innovation, recycling, organics recovery, donations and reuse, closed loop economy and education,” says the waste and recycling firm.

“It gives us a sense of great pride to honor these eight customers for their leadership and outstanding work in advancing sustainability,” says John W. Casella, chair and CEO. “We hope that by bringing attention to their efforts, others will be inspired by their passion, commitment and success.”

Nearly 30 customers were nominated for their efforts, including municipalities, colleges and universities, industrial manufacturers and food and beverage producers. Winners were chosen by a group of Casella executives and outside panelists, including True Zero Waste Advisors.

“We’ve spent more than 45 years working toward a more sustainable future, and as we strive to help our customers reach their sustainability goals it is an honor to recognize their collective efforts,” says Casella. “The customers and communities we have the privilege of serving are leading the way and inspiring others to live and work more sustainability and that continues to be the most rewarding part of our work.”

The 2020 Casella Sustainable Leadership Award Winners in each category are below.

Partner of the Year: Designed to recognize a Casella customer advancing resource sustainability by forging great partnerships, the 2020 winner is Tompkins County, New York. The county has been working with Casella since the early 1990s and currently boasts a 60 percent recycling rate, says Casella.

Innovator of the Year: This category is designed to recognize a Casella customer advancing resource sustainability by embracing innovative solutions. The 2020 winner, UMass Lowell, has collaborated with Casella to establish food waste collection program. Efforts now include two InSinkErator Grind2Energy machines, plus a closed-loop bagged compost program, compost for campus gardens and an early-stage program for recycling plastic from research labs.

Recycling Champion: The 2020 winner of this category, New Jersey-based BD Pharmaceutical Systems, has made a commitment to recycling glass, which Casella calls its largest discarded material stream. In the last seven years, BD has maintained a glass recycling rate of more than 93 percent.

Organics Recovery Champion: 2020 winner DuPont Nutrition USA generates around 25,000 tons annually of an organic byproduct called Algefiber. DuPont has worked with Casella to help local farmers and others use the material that once headed for landfills to now improve soils and enhance crop yields.

Donations and Reuse Champion: Gorham, Maine-based Goodwill Northern New England and Casella have established a Green Move Out reuse program to capture items from college campuses when students move out at the end of each school year. Since its inception in 2015, Green Move Outs have recovered more than 100 tons of donated items from students.

Closed Loop Economy Champion: Carver, Massachusetts-based Read Custom Soils is described by Casella as a top customer for its Earthlife products made from recycled organics. Read Custom Soils makes them into specialized soil blends for applications including golf courses, green roofs and gardens.

Educator of the Year (two winners): Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts, has created a Waste Minimization Task Force that convenes stakeholders monthly to discuss and advance waste minimization programs. One of the group’s initiatives has been a Green Move Out program, designed to divert materials for reuse and recycling over the course of several days at the end of each semester.

The city of Fairfax, Vermont, has focused on outreach and education, including the launch of a waste and recycling app, in cooperation with Canada-based Recollect, to give residents access to their collection schedules and a searchable tool to access recycling and compost education information.