Thursday, June 11, 2015
Solid Waste Department Awarded Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award
The Lawrence County Solid Waste Department has been awarded the 2015 Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award due to its impressive, on-going recycling efforts.
The Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Awards program, presented by Governor Bill Haslam and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, recognizes exceptional voluntary actions that improve or protect the environment and natural resources with projects or initiatives not required by law or regulation. Now in its 29th year, the GESAs cover nine categories: Building Green; Clean Air, Energy and Renewable Resources; Environmental Education and Outreach; Environmental Education and Outreach (school category); Land Use; Materials Management; Natural Heritage; and Sustainable Performance. Lawrence County was recognized in the field of Materials Management.
Winners were selected by twenty-two professionals representing agricultural, conservation, forestry, environmental and academic professionals. They were tasked with judging more than eighty nominees and selected this year’s award recipients based on criteria including on-the-ground achievement, innovation and public education.
“Today’s award winners have demonstrated a commitment to our environment that will pay dividends for current Tennessee residents and generations to come,” Haslam said.
TDEC Commissioner Bob Martineau added, “The quality of our environment directly impacts our quality of life, impacting how Tennesseans live, work and play. It's important that we pause to recognize the people and organizations that work so hard to protect our environment while teaching others about sustainability.”
The award will be presented during a special ceremony to be held in Nashville on June 23, 2015.
The announcement reads as follows:
Since October 2013, Lawrence County’s regional recycling program has prevented more than 35,000 tons of waste from landfills, created more than $200,000 in recycling revenue for the area and helped the county avoid transportation and disposal costs. Recyclable materials are pulled from Lawrence, Hickman, Lewis and Perry counties resulting in a landfill diversion rate of sixty-four percent. Area students are helping to recycle with fifteen county and private schools housing recycling drop off storage buildings. The schools accounted for eighty percent of materials recycled in Lawrence County.
In 2014, the schools helped to collect nearly one million pounds of material. The county donated an old school bus dubbed the “Re-User Cruiser” to collect recyclables from schools storage buildings and transport them to the recycling facility. At the Lawrenceburg industrial park area recycling facility, they receive and dispose of batteries, motor oil, tires, paint and electronic waste as well as receive and grind wood waste and transport it to an industrial plant for boiler fuel. In addition, a truck collects cardboard and paper products from more than two hundred area businesses.
