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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.
2 Oklahoma Recycling Non-Profit
– Pride in McAles
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.
Pride in McAlester
Justin Few,
Stephanie Giacomo,
President of the
Board of Trustees
Executive Director
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
The Williams Route 66 Marathon is leading the
Marathon
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 2011. 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
Kenny Burkett is a remarkable visionary Burkett
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!