SWANA Announces 2023 Technical Division Award Winners

The awards ceremony will take place in-person at SOAR in Atlanta, Georgia on Tuesday, April 18 at 9:00 am ET as part of the SOAR Opening Keynote and Award Presentations

The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) is proud to announce the 2023 Technical Divisions Award winners.

• Communication, Education, and Marketing Technical Division Awards
  • Cristina Polsgrove - Distinguished Individual Achievement Award
  • Orange County, Florida - Outstanding Awareness Campaign
  • Outagamie County Recycling and Solid Waste - Outstanding Social Media Campaign
  • Recycling Partnership - Game Changing Tools
• Collection and Transfer Technical Division Award
  • Don Birnesser - Distinguished Individual Achievement Award
• Landfill Gas and Biogas Technical Division Awards
  • Dennis Bollinger - Hall of Flame
  • Ramon Rivera - Hall of Flame
• Sustainable Materials Management Technical Division Awards
  • Tim Raibley - Distinguished Individual Achievement Award
  • Maryland Environmental Service and Partners - Organization Award
  • Muscatine Organic Recycling Center - Organization Award Honorable Mention
• Waste Conversion and Energy Recovery Technical Division Award
  • H-POWER - Facility Excellence Award

SWANA’s award program recognizes outstanding solid waste programs, facilities, and individuals that advance the practice of exemplary solid waste management.

The annual Distinguished Individual Achievement Award (DIAA) recognizes efforts on behalf of individual SWANA members for service to the Technical Division, and support of SWANA’s mission to advance the practice of MSW management and overall long-term service to the solid waste management industry.

The Landfill Gas and Biogas (LGB) Technical Division Hall of Flame originated to formally acknowledge and recognize those who have made a significant contribution to the landfill gas industry. In place of the tangible award and formal induction that accompany the Distinguished Individual Achievement Award, induction into the Hall of Flame is done through a formal announcement of a selected group of inductees, and includes providing a signed certificate of achievement for each inductee.

SWANA’s Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) Technical Division Organization Award is given to one organization each year that is advancing the sustainable use of materials throughout their lifecycle to minimize waste and environmental impacts.

The Waste Conversion and Energy Recovery (WCER) Technical Division Facility Excellence Award recognizes excellence in projects that produce renewable energy from solid waste, whether through direct combustion or other methods.

The Communication, Education, and Marketing (CEM) Technical Division Outstanding Awareness Campaign celebrates community efforts that drive measurable improvement towards increasing participation in reduction, reuse, recycling, or other resource management programs, increasing health and safety of resource management initiatives, or reducing contamination to preserve the value of resources.

The Communication, Education, and Marketing (CEM) Technical Division Outstanding Social Media Campaign honors excellence in executing an education and outreach campaign as demonstrated through engagement and reach on social media platforms. Campaign actions may include increasing awareness or inspiring actions which reduce waste and climate impacts, improve safety, or otherwise uphold the mission and objectives of SWANA.

The Communication, Education, and Marketing (CEM) Technical Division Game Changing Tools recognizes an organization that equips communities with funding, technology, data, media, legislative, or community outreach materials, or other support needed to advance solid waste management to resource management, support public health and safety of those working in the industry, or ensure a just transition to the circular economy.

For more information, visit SWANA.org/Awards.