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2012 Oklahoma Recycling School – Owasso Green Team For 3 years, the Owasso 7th Grade Center has worked at being more environmentally minded. With co-leadership from Jill Henrie, Kelly Flint and Neil Richards of the GreenTeam, the students worked tirelessly to make recycling successful in their school by planning meetings and volunteering to make the recycling collection process more efficient. First they started a program where they personally delivered the items to the Owasso Recycling Center, but now they use a company that comes to them. They teamed up with their custodian to do school improvements such as planting trees, flowers, installing benches and many more projects to make their school more energy efficient and beautiful.

2012 Oklahoma Recycling Non-Profit – Pride in McAlester Established in April 2008, Pride In McAlester was organized as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization with a mission to make McAlester a cleaner, safer, more beautiful place to live and work. Pride In McAlester does many things for the community such as a Painting Program, which works with volunteers to maintain public spaces, restoring the OKLA theater in Downtown McAlester and also recognizing individuals and businesses that take action to clean up their communities. Pride in McAlester even offers complimentary cardboard pick up for new residents of McAlester or citizens that have recently moved. This cardboard is then taken to the McAlester Recycling Center to be recycled.

Justin Few, President of the Board of Trustees Stephanie Giacomo, Executive Director Pride in McAlester

2012 Oklahoma Recycling Educator – Ruth Askew Brelsford Ruth Askew Brelsford is the Speech/Theatre Department Chair at Eastern Oklahoma State College where she also directs the Honors Program. With the support of the administration, Ruth and the Honors students made recycling on campus their goal. Eastern now has recycling bins in all buildings and a trailer for recyclables that can be utilized by local citizens, as well as students, staff, and faculty. The Honors Program partnered with other campus organizations and clubs to hold the first annual Recycling Carnival on Earth Day last year where all refreshments were purchased for the price of a recyclable. Honors students continue to partner with the Eastern Student Government Association to campaign against the use of Styrofoam in the school cafeteria. Ruth is also coordinating an on-going campaign on campus to continue to educate students about recycling.

Ruth Askew Brelsford with Honor Students

2012 Oklahoma Recycling Event – Route 66 Marathon The Williams Route 66 Marathon is leading the way for other racing events. It is a zero waste event and serves as a founding member of the Sports Events Community of Practice at the request of the Council for Responsible Sport. This committee evaluates ways sporting events can reduce their carbon footprint. In November 2011, the marathon board applied for certification credits in categories such as waste management, community impact and health promotion. The Williams Route 66 Marathon received ReSport Certification from the Council for Responsible Sport. To qualify for certification, the marathon showed participation in six categories: waste; climate; equipment and materials; community and outreach; health promotion; and innovation.

Route 66 Marathon Jessica Hargis, Director of Sustainability

2012 Oklahoma Recycling Business – Spirit AeroSystems Under the direction of Pamala Zora, Spirit AeroSystems has implemented many programs around its facility to qualify them for the Green Business Award. Since 2009, Spirit AeroSystems has processed over 3300 tons to the Covanta facility. They have collected over 340 tons of cardboard to National Waste since Spirit AeroSystems also has many smaller programs in operation. They collect solvent rags that are sent out to be processed. The company they work with extracts the chemicals and Spirit then reuses the rags. They send oil and petroleum fuels to Systech where they’re processed for fossil fuel replacement. Spirit AreoSystems collects metal roll off containers that are taken to local recyclers in Tulsa. They also have compactors all around their facility for cardboard recycling.

2012 Oklahoma Recycling Government – TARE After more than four years of extensive research and planning, the Tulsa Authority of Energy (T.A.R.E.) and the City of Tulsa recently implemented a new cart-based, pay-as-you-throw residential refuse and recycling program. With recycling being a central program feature, this new collection service provides Tulsans with more convenient, efficient and sustainable methods to dispose of trash, recycling and green waste. Under this new system, more than 85% of a household’s refuse can be recycled. As part of this new service, approximately 111,000 of the city’s more than 116,000 residential customers opted to participate in recycling and accept a 96-gallon recycling cart. This recycling participation will have a significant impact on the volume of recyclables collected and it is anticipated that as a result, new jobs and market opportunities will be created.

2012 Oklahoma Recycler of the Year – Kenneth Burkett Kenny Burkett is a remarkable visionary of waste recycling. His companies include American Waste Control, which is the largest commercial collection company in Tulsa, Tulsa Recycle and Transfer, which is home to the brand new recycling facility called Mr. Murph, and American Environmental Landfill (AEL), which has been recognized as the best managed landfill in the state. Kenny is probably best known in Tulsa for his company’s recent Mr. Murph initiatives to help reduce the city’s waste through recycling and saving resources. American Waste Control and TRT officially launched their Material Recovery Facility (Mr. Murph) in March 2011 with the expectation of increasing Tulsa’s recycling rates and reducing area landfills. Today, the facility is enabling Tulsa to recycle more products than ever before, including plastics, aluminum, cardboard, glass and paper, due to Mr. Murph’s advanced recycling automation. Recycling rates in Tulsa have skyrocketed because of Kenny’s leadership and caring approach to our environment. He also initiated an innovative approach at his disposal site, American Environmental Landfill, for using non-recyclable trash residue to produce renewable energy and provide over 4,000 homes in Sand Springs with power.

2012 Oklahoma Recycler of the Year – Kenneth Burkett Kenny recently received an award from the National Solid Waste Management Association for his professional impact in the area of waste management, plus, his innovative efforts for implementing “Mr. Murph” recycling programs throughout Tulsa. With over 50 years of experience in the waste industry, Kenny is a pioneering, dynamic leader, dedicated to recycling for not only Tulsa, but all of Green Country.

Thank You!