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| April 29, 1998
Governor Frank O'Bannon today honored 22 businesses, hospitals, local governments, schools and individuals for their extraordinary efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle. O'Bannon Executive Assistant Joyce Martin, Indiana Department of Environmental Management Commissioner John M. Hamilton and Julie Rhodes, the Indiana Department of Commerce recycling market development coordinator, presented the awards at the Indiana Recycling Coalition's Ninth Annual Conference at the Indianapolis Marriott. Prior to the ceremony, Hamilton and Department of Commerce Executive Director Tom McKenna toured the award winner Navistar-International Casting Corp. foundry at 5565 Brookville Rd., Indianapolis. "These businesses, organizations and individuals have proven to be outstanding examples of what each of us can do to make a difference for the environment," O'Bannon said. A review committee evaluated and selected each applicant
based on program comprehensiveness, innovation, education and outreach
efforts, measurable results and environmental benefit. Together, the 1997
recipients diverted approximately 110,000 tons of waste from landfills.
The awards have been given annually since 1990. This year a new category,
Mountain Movers, recognizes individuals and organizations who went to
extraordinary lengths to accomplish their goals.
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The plant manufactured 3.2 million automotive exhaust assemblies in 1997. Eighty-five percent of 834 employees participate in the company's aggressive recycling initiatives. In 1997, Arvin Gladstone diverted approximately 220 tons of waste from landfills. Accomplishments of the 10-member Waste Management Team include: a plant-wide recycling program for cardboard, office paper, newspaper and magazines; working with their chemical suppliers to use returnable drums; working with suppliers to use reusable packaging; and reusing lumber for packaging and shipping or selling.
Recycling is built into the design of Gasification Services, which, in conjunction with Cinergy Corp., is the world's largest coal gasification facility. Gasification Services built its plant with assistance from the Department of Energy's Clean Coal program as an example of "clean" electricity generation from sulfur-containing coal. The gasification process removes sulfur from locally mined coal, eliminating sulfur dioxide emissions. The sulfur is recycled into a salable material. This "clean" process is one of the first of its kind in the country. Since 1995, the company has eliminated more than 51 million pounds of sulfur dioxide, recovering more than 25 million pounds of pure, chemical-grade sulfur.
Therapeutic Innovations is the only small business to win a Governor's Award this year. With nine employees, Therapeutic Innovations is a private clinic that serves nine rural counties with occupational and physical therapy for children with disabilities. The clinic's innovative approach to therapy also applies to its source reduction and recycling efforts. Co-owner Lenard Miller continuously investigates opportunities for the clinic, recycling pediatric wheelchairs by reclaiming used parts and installing them on children's wheelchairs that need replacement parts at much lowers costs. The staff fills only two full cans of trash each month due to their office recycling program.
The district received more recyclables than trash in 1997
from its 39,000 residents. The district has developed a cooperative program
between Dubois County; five communities; area waste haulers and three
area recyclers. The district's comprehensive efforts include collection
of 16 individual commodities for recycling; a pay-as-you-throw trash program;
a curbside recycling program for six items; a biannual household hazardous
waste and bulky item program; and a magazine collection and processing
system for Midwest paper mills.
Marion instituted a comprehensive, voluntary curbside
recycling program in 1994. In 1997 the city disposed of 3,654 tons of trash,
but diverted 4,710 tons through yard waste, drop-off and curbside initiatives.
Marion's Clean City organization helped develop 18 neighborhood associations
that promote source reduction and recycling and disseminate information.
Rensselaer has to stimulate local participation in a recycling
program. It had to be convenient for residents and cost effective for the
community to win people away from paying only $6 per month for pick up.
The city launched a pilot pick-up program and promotional campaign in May
1994. Free local media coverage, speaking engagements at schools and civic
groups, and articles in the city newsletter educated residents about the
pick-up program. Results were so impressive that the city council adopted
a full-scale program in October 1994. Four months later, the city instituted
both a volume-based rate charge of $.85 per week per trash bag and curbside
collection of recyclables every other week at no extra charge. Despite
the expenses of the municipal recycling for the city, during the past
year, the recycling program has created a profit of nearly $13,000.
The West Lafayette recycling drop-off center, curbside recycling program
and yard waste programs have improved continuously since 1989. The city
has expanded the type and amount of materials accepted and has invited
residents of West Lafayette, Tippecanoe County and Purdue University to
participate. Education and outreach efforts include a flyer and brochure
on environmentally conscious lawn care that are mailed to each West Lafayette
household. The city has justified the flyer mailings by demonstrating the
results: the mailing cost $1,500 a year to print and mail, but the impact
of residents leaving their grass clippings on their lawns and composting
in their backyards has been saving $73,740 in hauling costs and $36,870
in disposal costs.
The city of Bloomington, through the Sanitation Division of the Department of Public Works, offers curbside collection of trash, yard waste and recyclables to approximately 13,500 single-family homes. While the city experienced a 42 percent increase in the number of households serviced, trash collected since 1994 increased only nine percent, while recyclables increased by 67 percent. The city has diverted more than 11,220 tons of recyclables and yard waste from the Monroe County landfill since 1991. Recycling is collected free of charge.
The district has created a model drop-off program for
rural communities without major private recyclers. In 18 months this rural
district diverted approximately 900 tons from landfills. The district
sponsors several reuse opportunities that are exemplary for a rural community,
including a paint exchange program, Refrigerator Round-Up and tire recycling
day. In addition, all the promotional and educational supplies the district
uses are made with recycled content. Fountain County's collection program
has grown from three trailers to seven drop-off sites in four years, including
a 7,200 square-foot materials recovery facility where all the district's
trailers are taken, unloaded and materials are processed. Residents have
24-hour access to all the drop-off sites. The district also encourages
business recycling.
The Michigan City Refuse Department has cleaned up approximately
18,000 tires in three sweeps. The city, with assistance from the sanitary
district and the LaPorte County Solid Waste Board, paid $1,000 per semi
load to transfer the tires to Dillion Tire Recycling, where 40 percent
of the tires go toward beneficial reuse, such as playground material and
landfill leachate layers. The Prisoners and Community Together program
provided help loading the tires. In the last two years Michigan City also
has recycled 25 tons of paper, salvaged and recycled approximately 60 tons
of white goods, 20 tons of wheels, 100 tons of tires and 6,000 tons of
yard compost, trees, leaves and concrete.
Campbell is a housewife and mother of six who organized Paragon Elementary's Environmental Club, which maintains the county's recycling bins at the school parking lot. When political disagreement lead to the removal of the bins, Campbell waged a campaign to get the bins returned to the community, advocating the cause to county commissioners, city council members and newspapers. In March, the West Central Solid Waste Management District returned the bins to the school parking lot. They are the only permanent recycling bins located in Morgan County.
The state rarely issues a facility a second Governor's
Award. But today St. Joseph Medical Center is recycling about five times
more than when they received their award in 1996. The hospital encourages
employees to practice source reduction and buy recycled products. More
than 40 "recycling captains" educate and help their colleagues recycle
and identify new items to be recycled. Examples of their innovative projects
include: annual purchases and recycling of 15,000 plastic items; using
reusable cloth instead of disposable drapes and gowns; donating clothes
to emergency room patients, etc. Because of its outstanding and all-encompassing
source reduction and recycling campaign, St. Joseph reached an 80 percent
landfill diversion rate( or 84.76 tons) in 1997.
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Contact: Hartley O. Holte
812-349-2019.
A Navy veteran, Holte is employed part time by the Monroe
County Solid Waste Management District. He sits on several local and state
environmental committees. He serves as chair of the Local Solid Waste District
Advisory Council, where he created a series of solid waste forums that
brought together county, city and Indiana University representatives. He
serves as membership chairman on the Indiana Recycling Coalition's board
of directors and is a member of the annual conference committee. As a participant
in the Indiana Institute on Recycling's Solid Waste Prevention Program,
he conducted phone and on-site interviews with about 25 Midwest companies
to compile information on innovative waste prevention and management techniques
employed by industry and business.
Langbehn is director of the Lake County Solid Waste Management
District. Langbehn realized glass recycling could not be sustained without
developing a greater market and state infrastructure. Securing a $500,000
grant from the Department of Commerce, rather than from landfill tipping
fees, Langbehn rallied community support to bring Futuristic Tile, LLC,
to Lake County to build its second plant. The project is a public/private
partnership that will reuse the Northwest region's recycled glass for tiles
used for bathrooms and counter tops (and the 1998 Governor's Award plaques).
Langbehn also facilitated the opening of the Hoosier Saw Mill, which will
divert 600 trees from the city of Hammond waste stream per year. His district
has won several Governor's Awards for Excellence in Recycling.
A group of 60 individuals who believe that responsible
use, reuse and recycling should take place at work and at home, the roundtable
has been an important catalyst for recycling and waste reduction efforts
in Southern Indiana since 1992. Members include citizens, recyclers, the
city of Madison and businesses.
The Senior Citizens Organization promotes the needs of
older persons in Hamilton County. Volunteer members run a recycling center
behind their community center. The senior citizens opened the center because
they felt that recycling was a must for Hamilton County. The proceeds from
the sale of recyclables provide a revenue source for the community center.
In November 1997 alone the seniors collected 2,620 pounds of aluminum cans,
4,190 pounds of glass bottles and 44,920 pounds of newspapers.
Recycling has become a way of life for faculty, students
and the parish of this Ft. Wayne Catholic school for preschool through
eighth grade. The school invites the entire parish and neighborhood residents
to bring recycled paper, cardboard, plastic bags and aluminum cans to the
recycling bins on the school premises. Examples of the school's comprehensive
recycling program include: older students help younger grades carry and
empty classroom recycling boxes; students flatten cardboard, aluminum
and tin to conserve space in the cafeteria; the custodians have scrap metal
barrels in their workshop to sort various metals for recycling and reuse
two-liter bottle caps as storage containers for their gadgets; when the
school renovated its heating system last year, parents separated out recyclable
metals from the old hot water heaters and metal water pipes; art classes
include projects made totally of recycled products; and teachers relate
recycling to various subjects, including economics and stewardship.
Four schools in Switzerland County work with local businesses
and the Southeastern Indiana Solid Waste District to recycle paper, cardboard
and aluminum cans. The solid waste management district provides paper
and cardboard recycling bins at each school and pays for a truck and driver
to pick up materials. The local Nine West Group shoe factory provides
free collection boxes as needed. Teachers supervise students as they sort
materials and empty their classroom supply into collection bins. The school
district diverted approximately 20,000 pounds of cardboard in 1997. Proceeds
from the sales of recyclables help pay for classroom supplies and field
trips for special education classes.
McCullough has reported consistently on the recycling
activities of the Adams County Solid Waste Management District for the
Decatur Daily Democrat, circulation 6,100. McCullough has covered practically
every district meeting, even those in the early days that went well beyond
midnight. When the district's waste transfer building was under construction,
McCullough reported diligently and accurately on its progress, while keeping
the district accountable for its commitments.
Contact : Cy Smith
317-226-9877
CIDONE manufactures agricultural and commercial irrigation
products. The company received a Governor's Award for its OSMILEÖ
Membrane Pipe, an irrigation hose made completely from recycled tire rubber
and recycled polyethylene plastic. At full production potential, CIDONE
plans to use 2,772 tons of recycled rubber and 1,400 tons of recycled
plastic annually.
Contact: Darryl R. Dasher
317-352-4892
An automotive foundry that produces 120,000 tons of engine
head and block castings each year for medium-duty diesel engines has reused
nearly 70 percent û or 70,000 tons annually û of excess foundry
sand produced during manufacturing. Instead of going to landfills, the
sand is used as feed stock for a kiln that produces Portland cement. The
foundry worked with the state through the Indiana Cast Metals Association
to develop guidance documents for alternative uses for foundry sand.
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