2022 The Pennsylvania Recycling Stewardship Award

Harrisburg, PA – The Professional Recyclers of Pennsylvania (PROP) is pleased to announce the winner of this year’s Pennsylvania Environmental Stewardship Award.  This award was created to honor the memory of one of the country’s truest innovative leaders in environmental awareness and recycled products, Dan Weisenbach.  A tireless leader all over the country, his commitment to recycling was admired by all.  It is our hope that all winners of this award will carry on their work ethic and passion for recycling, the environment, and sustainability.

The award was designed to recognize the outstanding achievements, commitment, innovation, or success of individuals, businesses, municipalities, and organizations throughout Pennsylvania in the areas of recycling, waste reduction, reuse, composting, and sustainability.

This year, PROP is pleased to announce the winner of this award is the Town of Bloomsburg.  Bloomsburg has achieved many firsts in municipal recycling and has continued to navigate well through our current turbulent times.  Bloomsburg was the first multi-material curbside recycling collection program in the State of Pennsylvania. Their mandatory residential recycling program began in 1983, a full 5 years prior to PA Act 101.  They collect, process, and market their recyclables, and operate their own compost site – all with impressive efficiency.  The Town has benefited from the expertise of Charles Fritz, the current program director, along with his predecessors Florence Thompson and Carol Webster – all of whom have contributed strong educational efforts, innovation, and wise decision-making skills.  The Town’s tenacity enabled them to push through tough times that included numerous challenges over the years – a fire that destroyed their processing center, a storm that flooded their entire facility, and Covid-19 that caused all staff to be quarantined, leaving only one administrator on duty. In twenty years only three curbside collections had to be canceled.

Bloomsburg’s recycling program continues to be proof that a municipality can run a curbside collection program and processing center successfully.  Strong leadership and strategic decision-making, knowing when to make changes and when to stay the course, resulted in a big win for them.  Instead of following the single-stream recycling trend, they remained a source-separated recycling collection program.  This enabled them to continue to generate a clean, quality recycling product since 1977 – a unique accomplishment in these times and one that makes their materials continue to be in very high demand.