DEQ News Release

 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

April 28, 2017

Finalists Selected for 2017 Environmental Awards

NORTH LITTLE ROCK – Familiar faces as well as new faces across the state comprise the finalist list for the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality’s (ADEQ) prestigious annual environmental awards.

This year marks the 13th annual ADEQ Arkansas Environmental Stewardship Award, also known as the “ENVY Award.” This award will be presented along with the 2nd annual Arkansas Environmental Technology Award, or the “TECHe Award.” Along with these two awards, the Office of Energy is introducing the Energy Excellence or “E2 Award.”

The ENVY Award was established in 2005 to recognize a major contribution by an individual or organization for efforts to enhance and protect Arkansas’s natural resources through sustainability programs and commitments to stewardship of the environment.

The TECHe Award recognizes the advances or innovative use of technology that breaks new ground in protecting resources or improving the environment by going beyond traditional environmental control measures, approaches, or outcomes. Nominations were solicited for Arkansas-based projects that showcase technology and computer use in advancing environmental objectives.

This is the inaugural year for the E2 Award. The E2 Award recognizes organizations that demonstrate outstanding leadership by implementing forward-thinking initiatives in areas of energy efficiency and resilience.

The winners of both awards, as well as the recipient of the E2 Award, will be announced by Governor Asa Hutchinson and ADEQ Director Becky Keogh at a ceremony on May 5, 2017, beginning at 10:00 a.m. in the Governor’s Conference Room at the State Capitol Building in Little Rock.

The three finalists for the 2017 ENVY Award are: Goodwill Industries of Arkansas, Saline County Regional Solid Waste District (RSWMD), and the Benton County Environmental Division.

The three finalists for the 2017 TECHe Award are: L’Oréal USA, of North Little Rock; Pratt & Whitney PSD of Springdale; and Clearwater Paper.

ASU Jonesboro has been named the recipient of the 2017 E2 Award.

Last year the Kraft-Heinz Company of Fort Smith was awarded the 12th annual ENVY Award, and Aerojet Rocketdyne Solar Farm at Highland Industrial Park in East Camden took home the 1st annual TECHe Award.

CONTACT: Kelly Robinson (robinson@adeq.state.ar.us or 501.682.0916)

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Below is additional information about the ENVY Award and TECHe Award finalists, as well as the E2 recipient.

ENVY Award Finalists:

Goodwill Industries of Arkansas is a not-for-profit organization focused on the triple bottom line—People, Planet, and Prosperity. This is a business that helps people while reducing their collective environmental footprint. Goodwill diverts an average of 25,000,000 pounds of waste annually from Arkansas’s landfills and then reinvests 96% of the revenue generated from the diversion back into our communities, providing education, training and employment services. Goodwill’s donation-driven waste diversion program is fundamental to its business and the key to its success. The Full Circle recycling model has four components—Recovery, Reuse, Recycle and Reinvest. Since 2008, Goodwill has been collecting e-waste at all of its locations. The business recycles an average of 390,000 pounds of electronic waste every year. Many of the electronics are refurbished and sold. By making technology available and affordable, Goodwill changes the potential and future opportunities of residents, communities, and students, helping them compete in an ever-changing and technologically advancing world. It has a Books 4 Kids™ program, and HELP (Health Equipment Loan Program), which makes items like wheel chairs and crutches available to those in need. Goodwill also focuses on its own sustainability. The Goodwill Resource Center, a 550,000 square foot facility in Little Rock, has reduced its electricity usage through a variety of upgrades resulting in a reduction of 3,113,598 kWh per year. It uses green cleaning products, used pallets and used Gaylord boxes, donated office equipment and furniture, and it revised travel routes and schedules to reduce mileage and fuel for its fleet.

Saline County RSWMD: The Youth Environmental Ambassadors, known as the “YEA!” teams, were designed by Recycle Saline: A Solid Waste District. Through the YEA! teams, students in each of Saline County’s twenty-five schools are educated about environmental issues and participate in hands-on recycling activities led by school teachers. Recycle Saline began organizing recycling pick-ups for the twenty-five schools in 2013. At that time, the county was only collecting paper and cardboard from the schools. In 2016, the program began providing single-stream recycling. In 2016, the YEA! teams collected 58.5706 tons of material from the schools. A separate and single recycling event collected 5,180 pounds of plastic bags. Community collection events during one year collected 25,333 pounds of household hazardous waste, 19,752 pounds of electronics, 661 used tires, and 41,540 pounds of metals. The YEA! teams also partner with Recycle Bikes for Kids. In 2016, 343 bicycles were collected and donated. The Re-fashion Bash has become an annual event in which students create fashion statements from recyclable materials. Scholarships are awarded to participating students during the Re-fashion Bash.

Benton County Environmental Division: Staff from the Benton County Environmental Division is working with seven school districts in sixteen small towns to reach 28,845 students in pre-kindergarten through the 12th grade. The staff teaches recycling through a variety of presentations and events. Some of the programs include You Can Be an Environmental Hero, Earth Day Poetry, Reuse Art, and the Earth Day Pledge and Tree Planting. The programs include games such as the Recycle Relay, Three R’s Dice, and Reuse Match Game; and stories like I Can Save the Earth, Michael Recycle, and Michael Recycle Meets Litterbug Doug. They have a hole-in-the-face photo stand called Captain Recycle, and one called Eco Woman. The Environmental Division has educated 600 teachers.

TECHe Award Finalists:

L’Oréal USA’s “Sharing Beauty with All” program sets forth ambitious goals for reducing their environmental impact through the entire life cycle of its products. At L’Oréal they are embracing their goals for operation, a 60% reduction from a 2005 baseline in water consumption, waste generation, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by the year 2020. At the end of 2016, an 82% reduction in water consumption, a 40% reduction in waste, and a 76% reduction in CO2 emissions was achieved. L’Oréal USA installed a 1.2 megawatt solar array on its property in North Little Rock. The array provides 10% of the manufacturer’s power needs, and will reduce 1,326 metric tons of CO2 per year. The company replaced six cooling towers with air-cooled chillers, saving 4,500,000 gallons of water per year. The addition of new wastewater recycling equipment saves 480,000 gallons per year. The installation of a demineralizer allows the company to reuse its HVAC condensate, saving 79,000 gallons per month or 948,000 gallons per year. The company is planning to capture rainfall from the roof to irrigate its landscaping. They also replaced 9,440 32-watt T-8 fluorescent bulbs with 6,278 LED bulbs. The LEDs use 62% less energy than the T-8 bulbs. Waste reduction efforts throughout the facility resulted in 290 tons less waste per year, saving nearly $300,000 per year in disposal fees.

Pratt & Whitney PSD located in Springdale is a turbine engine case repair and overhaul facility with products provided by commercial and military customers. In 2008, Pratt & Whitney began transforming its business by using continuous improvement tools to improve employee safety, reduce its environmental impact, and streamline operations. Through this ongoing process, Pratt & Whitney reduced its energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption and waste generation. Since 2014, the Springdale facility has continued to make progress. In 2014, Pratt & Whitney won ADEQ’s ENVY Award for the environmental improvements it made.

Clearwater Paper is the country's largest provider of private label tissue to retail grocery chains and a world-class manufacturer of high-quality bleached paperboard. In 2012, Clearwater Paper published its first corporate social responsibility report. Among other metrics, the report included company-wide goals to improve environmental performance by key environmental metrics. In a concerted effort to improve performance in the area of solid waste, water usage, energy usage, and emissions, the Cypress Bend facility formed sustainability improvement teams to identify and implement innovative ways to improve mill performance. Through the focused effort of these groups it was possible to streamline key processes, upgrade key process equipment, and enhance operating procedures. These changes allowed Cypress Bend to make significant progress toward the sites sustainability goals. The company reduced the amount of mud lime (solid waste) sent to landfills by 51,000 tons per year by installing a mud lime flash dryer and reusing it, reducing operating costs by $4.3 million per year. A number of combined projects reduced water usage by nearly 6,000,000 gallons per day, lowering operating costs by $0.4 million per year. Various improvements reduced electricity usage by 29,000,000 kWh per year, reducing operating costs by $1.5 million per year. Natural gas usage was reduced through a variety of upgrades and modifications resulting in 257,000,000 Btu per year, saving $1.8 million per year. Energy reductions resulted in a 15% drop in CO2 emissions, or 29,000 metric tons of CO2 per year.

E2 Award Recipient

Arkansas State University-Jonesboro and Johnson Controls signed a $15 million guaranteed energy savings contract through the Arkansas Energy Performance Contracting Program in February 2016, which will upgrade lighting, water, HVAC, and energy management systems across the campus. The project is guaranteed to save ASU-Jonesboro over $25 million dollars in utility and operational savings over the next twenty years. Further, the project will contribute in excess of $40 million in economic impact to the Jonesboro area. For taking this enormous step forward to advance energy leadership in higher education in the state of Arkansas, ASU-Jonesboro will be awarded the inaugural E2 award.