Tompkins County Named Partner Of The Year

Casella Waste Systems, Inc. is pleased to announce that Tompkins County, New York was recently honored for their leadership in sustainability at the inaugural Casella Sustainability Leadership Award Ceremony.

Tompkins County was honored as the 2020 Partner of the Year for advancing resource sustainability by forging great partnerships and embodying the spirit of Casella’s core value commitment to teamwork.

“It gives us a sense of great pride to honor the entire Tompkins County team for their leadership and outstanding work in advancing sustainability,” said John W. Casella, Chairman and CEO. “We hope that by bringing attention to their efforts, others will be inspired by their passion, commitment, and success.”

Tompkins County was among 30 Casella customers, including municipalities, colleges and universities, industrial manufacturers, food and beverage producers, and others nominated for their efforts. Winners were chosen by a panel of Casella executives and sustainability experts, including True Zero Waste Advisors, who evaluated each nominee on several criteria.

“We’ve had a long-standing partnership over 30 years with Casella and it's a really great example of how we've both had mutual success with our sustainability programs,” said Barbara Eckstrom Director of Recycling Materials Management for Tompkins County. “I knew when I first took the job here, we needed to see a public private partnership or it wasn't going to work, and that's what we've been able to create. I can’t tell you how grateful we are.”

A Casella partner since the early 1990’s, Tompkins County achieves an impressive 60 percent recycling rate today. Impactful programs have included: pay-as-you-throw tagging, county-wide curbside recycling, drop-off for hard-to-recycle items, early adoption of food waste services, and countless innovative and effective education programs. All of these efforts have helped to reduce contamination and put Tompkins County in excellent position to achieve its goal of 85 percent recycling by 2030.

“We’ve spent more than 45 years working towards a more sustainable future, and as we strive to help our customers reach their sustainability goals it is an honor to recognize their collective efforts. The customers and communities we have the privilege of serving are leading the way and inspiring others to live and work more sustainability and that continues to be the most rewarding part of our work,” Casella said.

View all of the 2020 Casella Sustainable Leadership Award Winners