KDHE Home - News 1999 - News Release
Kansas
Department of Health & Environment
Bill Graves, Governor
Clyde D. Graeber, Secretary
For Immediate Release
Contact: Don Brown, 785-296-1529 or Janet Neff, 785-296-0669
1999 Kansas Pollution Prevention Award Winners Announced
Plaques were presented to the Pollution Prevention Award winners at the 1999 Kansas Environmental Conference on September 29, in Wichita. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) sponsors the yearly awards for businesses, industries, municipalities, and individuals who make significant contributions to the prevention of pollution. Award applications are screened by agency staff, then submitted to an independent awards selection committee who recommend final awards to the KDHE Planning and Prevention Section.
The following projects were selected to receive awards this year:
Wichita Water and Sewer Department/ Wichita Sedgwick County Department of Community Health with Paul's Radiator Shop and Keller's Radiator Service for their "Cooperative Efforts in Addressing Pollutant Minimization by Forming Partnerships Between Local Government and Small Businesses." This voluntary project was successful in significantly reducing lead, copper, and zinc concentrations found in sanitary sewer discharges.
Wood Recycle and Composting Center for their "Yardwaste, Foodwaste, Low Grade Fiber and other Organics Collection, Composting and Marketing Program." This program accepts a variety of wastes, keeping them from entering landfills or being illegally disposed. The Center initiated the program, which is coordinated with KDHE, Wichita and Sedgwick County community leaders, local businesses, schools, and various institutions. The recycling effort serves approximately 500,000 area residents.
The "Hillsdale Water Quality Project," by New Century, for their cooperative effort in improving water quality. This project was initiated in 1993 by a group of citizens who were concerned about the lake's future as a drinking water supply and recreation area. Project volunteers work to educate landowners about practices to help preserve the lake and work with municipalities on land use and planning issues. A variety of promotional events including the "Race for the Lake" serve to increase awareness of the importance of the lake.
Haldex Brake Products, Iola for their "Implementation of ISO 14001 Environmental Management System." Haldex was the first company in Kansas, and one of the first in the Midwest, to attain accreditation to the International Organization of Standards Guidelines for Environmental Management Systems - ISO 14000. Implementation was in November of 1997 with accreditation in October, 1998.
The Kansas Army National Guard for the new initiatives in their "Pollution Prevention Program." The Guard is committed to reducing hazardous waste by recommending substitute products, modifying processes, or purchasing and installing pollution preventing equipment.
Western Resources, Topeka, for their project "Recycling Electric Transmission Poles." In the spring of 1998, the Western Resources Green Team began working with private sawmills to cut used electric transmission poles into lumber to be used for environmental projects. So far, more than 9,000 board feet of recycled lumber have been milled and used in Green Team projects, such as a wildlife observation platform and classroom shelter, and over 1,000 bird nesting boxes.
CONSTAR, Kansas City, Kan. for their "Used Oil Reclamation" initiative. CONSTAR manufactures plastic containers. During the process, hydraulic oil becomes contaminated with foreign matter. Contaminants are removed through a filtering process, and the filtered oil is then reused several times. This reduces quantities of used oil disposed and new oil purchased.
The Wichita Sedgwick County Department of Community Health, for their "Pollution Prevention Small Quantity Generator Program." This program is targeted at small businesses, and has three primary objectives: pre-quality businesses for the EPA Small Quantity Generator disposal option, provide pollution prevention education through workshops and site evaluations, and facilitate a materials exchange program.
Cobalt Boats, Neodesha, for their new technology in "Acetone Recycling." Cobalt Boats uses acetone as a primary cleaning solvent during the production of pleasure boats. In an effort to reduce waste acetone, cobalt purchased equipment to provide in-house recycling. In only six months, enough acetone had been recycled to recover the initial investment. Cobalt has used this project as a springboard to evaluate other potential areas for pollution reduction.
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