FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 
November 5, 2020
 
Contact: Brian Pugh
Waste Reduction Coordinator
City of Fayetteville
(479) 718-7685
bpugh@fayetteville-ar.gov

Fayetteville Recycling & Trash Division Receives National Recycling Coalition Award

                  
 
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. —The City of Fayetteville’s Recycling and Trash Division has been honored by the National Recycling Coalition (NRC) with an award for 2020 Outstanding Community / Government Program for its food-waste composting and recycling programs. The NRC’s annual awards are designed to recognize outstanding individuals, programs and organizations around the country, both for their achievements, and as models for other communities large and small. 
 
In recognizing Fayetteville, the organization honored the City’s recycling program and celebrated the recent city-wide ban on expanded-polystyrene foam.  In a press release announcing award recipients, NRC stated “[The City of Fayetteville is] reducing GHG emissions, saving the City tipping fees, reducing litter, and helping Fayetteville get many steps closer to its 40% waste diversion goal.”  The City’s food-waste collection program, initiated in 2019, has already diverted 457 tons of food waste away from the landfill in 2020 alone.
 
NRC’s Awards Committee Chair Lisa Skumatz commented on the process, expressing the views of fellow committee members, “We were pleased to receive so many nominees from all across the country, meriting winners from Alaska to Florida, and from the latest high-tech to long-standing rural models!  The committee worked hard to sort from among the very strong submittals to find those shining examples.”  She noted that “the winners embodied best practices, especially during this unique year due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the challenges that many organizations have been facing.”
 
“We are honored to be recognized for the work we are doing in providing sound recycling and cutting-edge composting programs,” said Brian Pugh, City of Fayetteville waste reduction coordinator. “The residents of Fayetteville also deserve a pat on the back when it comes to this award, because it is by their continued participation in and support for programs that can recover, reuse and divert from the landfill that we were able to receive it.  Finally, our staff deserves a lot of credit, as it’s because of them that the materials are collected, processed, composted and sold back to our residents to enrich the soil and support the economy.  We couldn’t do it without any of those factors, it is definitely a team effort.”   
 
To view video of the remote award ceremony, visit https://youtu.be/5OOCqgVEtds. Brian Pugh accepts the award for Fayetteville at minute 12.
 
At present, the City of Fayetteville diverts 19% of its solid waste from the landfill through recycling programs, waste-reduction education, and food-waste diversion. The City’s goal is to divert 40% of its waste by 2027.  More information about Fayetteville’s recycling and food waste composting programs is available at www.fayetteville-ar.gov/recycle.
 
Additional information about the NRC’s 2020 annual award recipients is available online at https://nrcrecycles.org/.

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