Frequent Finalist, Fayetteville Wins 2015 Envy Award

After being chosen as a finalist five of the 10 times the award has been given – including the last three years in a row – the City of Fayetteville stepped into the winner’s circle this year to receive the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality’s (ADEQ) 2015 Environmental Stewardship Award.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson made the award presentation Friday (April 24) at the ADEQ offices in North Little Rock.

Commonly called the “ENVY Award,” the honor was established in 2005 by ADEQ to recognize a major contribution by an individual or organization for efforts to enhance and protect Arkansas’ natural resources.

Chosen from among six finalists, Fayetteville won this year’s award for its “Recycle Something” educational and marketing program designed to increase recycling by city residents and commercial interests.

The effort, promoted through local advertisements and public presentations and displays, includes financial incentives for the use of smaller trash receptacles and encourages more recycling. In 2014, the city saved more than $213,000 in landfill costs, while earning more than $598,000 through the sale of compost generated from yard waste collections.

The city previously was a finalist for the ENVY Award in 2014, 2013, 2009, and 2008 for other environmental projects or programs.

“The City of Fayetteville, its citizens and government officials are to be commended for their continuing efforts to improve the quality of life not just within their city limits, but for the state as a whole,” ADEQ director Becky Keogh said. “We believe the ‘Recycle Something’ program is innovative in its approach to allow individuals to realize direct savings as a result of their actions to reduce waste and increase the reuse and recycling of materials. The educational approaches and community involvement are noteworthy, also, as evidenced by the slogan, ‘Be Big; Start Small’ used in the campaign. The award today is a testament to Fayetteville’s strong commitment to protecting the environment and serves as an example for other communities in Arkansas to follow.”

The other five finalists for this year’s award were:

· Camfil Air Pollution Control of Jonesboro, which operates the world’s largest air filter manufacturing facility, for its overall sustainability program involving a wide range of activities. Components of the program include new office construction incorporating several “green” elements; retrofitting of equipment on the factory’s paint line ovens resulting in reducing natural gas usage by nearly 29,000 cubic feet and recouping the project costs in less than a year; conversion of much of the facility to LED lighting; adoption of manufacturing processes which significantly reduced materials used and waste produced; and a pallet recycling program.

· Goodwill Industries of Arkansas, also a finalist for the third straight year, for a comprehensive sustainability program involving such elements as energy and waste reduction; recycling and salvage efforts; use of green building principles in construction and remodeling of office facilities; fleet management techniques to reduce fuel and operating costs; and purchase of green products whenever possible. Goodwill also collected nearly 19.5 million pounds of electronic waste, household goods, and clothing for recycling in 2014, and has set a goal of achieving zero waste within five years.

· Kraft Foods Group, Inc., for its sustainability and recycling efforts at its Fort Smith facility which processes various nut products under the Planters label. In 2011 the plant was the first of Kraft’s 37 plants to be certified as being zero waste for landfill material, and today is one of only five such Kraft plants. The Fort Smith facility has recycled more than 5,000 tons of materials since 2011, including just over 1,600 tons last year. Waste materials are either recycled or burned to produce energy at the plant. Food scraps are sold for use in animal feed production.

· The Lake Fayetteville Environmental Science Center for its environmental educational and outreach programs and conservation activities. The center, formerly known as the Aquatic Center, has been a cooperative effort between the Fayetteville and Springdale School Districts since 1974. In addition to offering numerous environmental educational programs for students in both school districts, the center offers hands-on activities in both laboratory and field settings for the students to study various aspects of different ecosystems. The center partners with numerous other environmental organizations in the northwest Arkansas area, and participates in a variety of projects, including periodic cleanups of Lake Fayetteville and the surrounding area.

· The Saline County Regional Solid Waste District for its “YEA! Team” (Youth Environmental Ambassadors) educational program to teach Saline County students about environmental issues and provide them with assistance for recycling efforts. The District provides recycling collection at all 25 public schools in the county, and students at each school are given assistance on setting up and operating their own recycling programs to collect recyclable materials. During a recent 11-month period the program collected a little more than 114 tons of paper and cardboard for recycling from all schools. In addition, two schools conducted individual electronic waste collection drives which resulted in diverting 4,800 pounds of e-waste from landfills.

The finalists were chosen from 13 entries received from local government units, private industries and commercial operations, and nonprofit organizations.

“Once again, we are quite pleased with the variety and quality of entries we received for the 2015 ENVY Award, although it makes it difficult each year for us to narrow the list to a group of finalists and just one winner,” Keogh said. “However, that’s a very good problem to have because it demonstrates that we have a wide range of entities in both the public and private sectors of Arkansas who are working hard to protect and enhance the environment of the Natural State.”

The ENVY Award presentation typically wraps up the ADEQ’s annual Earth Week observance, which in recent years has expanded to include activities over a two-week span to accommodate requests from outside groups wishing to participate in the agency programs.

Other agency Earth Week activities this year included visits to the ADEQ headquarters building by school children from schools in five different Arkansas cities for a series of interactive environmental programs April 13, 14, 20, and 21.