Public Works Solid Waste Management Division Receives the 2008 Outstanding Small Government Leadership Award

              The Solid Waste Management Division of the Cecil County Department of Public Works received the 2008 Outstanding Small Government Leadership Award from the Maryland Recyclers Coalition (MRC) at their annual awards ceremony held at the University of Maryland's College Park campus on June 25, 2008.

            MRC's Outstanding Small Government Leadership Award is intended to recognize Maryland municipalities and counties with populations under 150,000 people for excellence in waste reduction and recycling over the past year.  One winner is selected by the MRC Awards Committee annually.

            According to the MRC's Awards Committee, Cecil County's Solid Waste Management Division was selected in recognition of its aggressive efforts to expand recycling and waste reduction in the County.  Those efforts include:

• Implementation and promotion of Single Stream Recycling.
• Expansion of the County's recycling program to include electronics, printer cartridges, textiles, batteries, fluorescent lamps, yard waste, motor oil, antifreeze, concrete, and asphalt material.
• Implementation of twice-yearly Household Hazardous Waste Day (HHW Day) collection events.
• Initiation of the collection of unwanted, unneeded, or expired medications as part of HHW Day collection events.
• Expansion of Solid Waste Management Division's educational outreach program to inform citizens of the County's various recycling programs, with a particular emphasis on school children. 

            "The County's Public Works Solid Waste Management Division is to be congratulated for their outstanding work in developing and promoting the recycling program.  We thank the Maryland Recyclers Coalition for recognizing their efforts, and the residents for participating and supporting this valuable program," said Board President William Manlove.  "It's great to see Solid Waste Management Division recognized for their efforts by the Maryland Recyclers Coalition," said Scott Flanigan, County Director of Public Works.  "The County's residents have enthusiastically embraced these initiatives as well and, as a result, we've tripled the County's recycling rate since 2005," Flanigan continued.  "In 2005, the recycling rate was 17%, the lowest in the State of Maryland.  While we are still waiting for the official results to come back from the Maryland Department of the Environment, we expect the recycling rate to be over 53% for calendar year 2007," Flanigan concluded.

            The Maryland Recyclers Coalition, headquartered in Laurel, Maryland, is a non-profit organization comprised of local and state agencies, private companies, and interested citizens with the mission to promote sustainable reduction, reuse, and recycling of materials otherwise destined for disposal and to promote the purchase of materials with recycled material content.  It seeks to accomplish this mission through education, policy development and promotion, technical assistance, and the development of markets for recycled materials. 

Tanya Adams (left) and Pete Bieniek accept the Maryland Recyclers Coalition 2008 Small Government Leadership Award from Bob Stumpff, Chairman of the MRC Awards Committee and Director of Public Works for the City of College Park, Maryland.