Covanta Receives Excellence Awards from SWANA
Covanta Energy Corp., a waste management and renewable energy company based in Morristown, N.J., is the recipient of three 2012 Excellence Awards from the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA).
Covanta Onondaga Inc., Jamesville, N.Y., was awarded Gold, Covanta Fairfax Inc., Lorton, Va., was named Silver, and Covanta Marion Inc., Brooks, Ore., received Bronze. All three awards are in the waste-to-energy category.
The awards were presented at the annual WasteCon conference in Washington, D.C. “The recipients of the SWANA Excellence Awards represent the best solid waste management practices in North America today,” says John H. Skinner, Ph.D., SWANA Executive Director and CEO. “Community leaders should be very proud of the valuable contributions that these projects provide to their citizens.”
SWANA’s Excellence Awards Program recognizes outstanding solid waste programs and facilities that advance the practice of environmentally and economically sound solid waste management through their commitment to utilizing effective technologies and processes in system design and operations, advancing worker and community health and safety, and implementing successful public education and outreach programs.
Programs also must demonstrate that they are fiscally and environmentally responsible through their compliance with all applicable federal, state and local regulations.
“Covanta is committed to delivering a safe and sustainable method of solid waste disposal that reduces greenhouse gases and produces reliable, clean energy. We are honored that SWANA has recognized these three facilities for their outstanding operations,” said Paul Stauder, Covanta Energy senior vice president of business management.
Covanta Onondaga, L.P. is the operator of the Onondaga County Resource Recovery Facility and serves Onondaga County, N.Y., and the greater Syracuse region with sustainable waste disposal. The facility processes approximately 990 tons of municipal solid waste per day into more than 39 megawatts of renewable energy—enough to power approximately 40,000 homes.
Covanta Fairfax Inc. is one of Covanta Energy’s largest Energy-from-Waste facilities, processing more than 3,000 tons of municipal solid waste per day into 80 megawatts of clean energy enough to power 80,000 homes. The facility recently installed a first-of-its-kind metals recycling system designed to recover very small particles of non-ferrous metal.
Covanta Marion, Inc. provides the 275,000 citizens of Marion County, Ore., with what the company says is a reliable and environmentally safe means of waste disposal. The facility is a key component to the county’s integrated solid waste disposal system, processing approximating 550 tons of waste per day into 13 megawatts of clean, renewable electricity.
Trade Organizations Form Biofuel Producers Coordinating Council
Eight biofuel industry organizations have announced the formation of the Biofuels Producers Coordinating Council to jointly advocate for national policy for increased energy security through domestic biofuel production. The new council will include Michael McAdams from the Advanced Biofuels Association; Brooke Coleman from the Advanced Ethanol Council; Mary Rosenthal from the Algal Biomass Organization; Brian Jennings from the American Coalition for Ethanol; Brent Erickson from the Biotechnology Industry Organization; Tom Buis from Growth Energy; Anne Steckel from the National Biodiesel Board; and Bob Dinneen from the Renewable Fuels Association.
The members of the council jointly pledged support for maintaining the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and continuing to achieve its goals. RFS sets a path for energy security, reduced reliance on foreign oil, and a cleaner, healthier environment by setting annual standards to increase production and use of biofuels in the United States. Since adoption of RFS, the council says U.S. production of biofuels has tripled and reliance on foreign oil has been cut by nearly one-third. The coundil adds the RFS is producing demonstrable results for U.S. energy security.