On July 7, the Santa Barbara County Public Works Department proved the old saying, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” when it received the 2008 Gold Excellence Award from the Solid Waste Association of North America for Integrated Waste, in recognition of the county’s waste management program.
SWANA’s national awards program recognizes excellence in solid waste management programs that promote positive social, environmental, and economically sound management principles. In announcing the award, SWANA said in a release that Santa Barbara County’s achievement for 2008 “is no small accomplishment given the excellent quality of this year’s nominations and the challenges faced by many of the programs and operations in the solid waste industry.”
The award was presented to the Santa Barbara County Public Works Department’s Resource Recovery and Waste Management Division. In 2001, the division won SWANA’s Silver Excellence Award for Landfill Management.
“In 1995, our diversion rate was only 30 percent and today Santa Barbara County is at 69 percent, making us one of the leaders for waste management recycling in California,” Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors chairman Salud Carbajal said in the release. “Our Public Works employees who have worked so hard with the community to achieve success are to be congratulated for receiving this national award.”
The division’s waste management system serves the cities of Buellton, Goleta, Santa Barbara, and Solvang, in addition to the northern and southern unincorporated areas of Santa Barbara County.
County programs and services include backyard composting, co-mingled recycling, commercial and multi-family recycling, school recycling, the Household Hazardous Waste Program, electronics recycling, construction and demolition waste recycling, a mulch program (green waste and wood waste recycling), and a comprehensive public education and outreach program.
For more information on county programs, visit www.lessismore.com.
This article appears in Jul 24-31, 2008.