SERDC announced the winners of the public, private and non-profit categories for the SE Recycling Champions Awards. Orange County, NC won the public recycling division for their Recycling Stars Program. Single Stream Recyclers in Sarasota, FL wond the industry division for their MRF which is one of the most technologically advanced and automated MRFs in the United States.
Live Thrive, an Atlanta-based nonprofit won the non-profit division for their Center for Hard to Recycle Materials (CHaRM), a permanent drop-off facility that accepts traditional, single-stream items, as well as those that are more difficult or dangerous to recycle. A special Humanitarian Mention for Tiny House Community Development/Triad Foam Recycling Coalition (NC) was presented for their Workforce Development Program that offers employment and job training to those experiencing homelessness as part of a 16-24 week program. Participants learn how to sort and process EPS into a foam densifier in addition to learning construction skills when building tiny houses.
The opening keynote speaker, North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Secretary, Elizabeth Bizer, shared efforts by the NC Circular Economy Council to bring awareness to elected officials and citizens that much of the state’s manufacturing sector depends upon the material collected in municipal recycling programs. In the following session, manufacturers and brands shared their companies’ consumption of recovered material and desire for more material.
The rest of the morning was an interactive workshop led by Marissa Segundo of Transformations PR. The working session identified key steps to be taken to address various audiences in order to reestablish credibility in the recycling system. The afternoon sessions covered possible legislative initiatives to support and expand material capture as well as a session on what methods get best results when seeking legislative action and an update on extended producer responsibility developments in the US.
Special tours of the Sonoco Material Recycling Facility and sustainability programs of two local breweries opened the event. Several participants stayed the following day to see behind the scenes of the environmental practices at the Biltmore Estate.