Our Zero Heroes!
We're celebrating the dedicated business owners, school teachers, food service managers, area chefs, students, residents and myriad others who have gone above and beyond to support and participate in CVSWMD programs while helping to build central Vermont's Zero Waste future.
Winter 2011: Tom Gilbert, Executive Director, Highfields Center for Composting
CVSWMD is proud to name Tom Gilbert, Executive Director of Highfields Center for Composting in Hardwick, as our Winter 2011 Zero Hero! Tom and Highfields Center for Composting have partnered in numerous ways with the district for many years. Currently, the district hauls food scraps to HCC's new compost facility in Wolcott. The work done at HCC contributes greatly to the zero waste goals of CVSWMD and will create a healthier future for central Vermont. Thanks Tom! Read the full article....
Fall 2011: Melissa Pierce, Teacher, Union Elementary School
Our Zero Hero Award, like our newsletter, has gone Quarterly! The CVSWMD Fall 2011 Zero Hero Award goes to Melissa Pierce, a teacher at Union Elementary School in Montpelier. Since this award honors those who have gone above and beyond to further the Zero Waste goals of the CVSWMD, it goes without saying that Melissa has worked very hard to assure her students are educated about the food and waste cycles...and that they know they can ACT to create a better future! Learn more in our Fall 2011 e-newsletter. Read the full article...
August 2011: Ingrid Lukas-Howe & Teresa Ettouzar, Women & Children First
Ingrid is the Director of Women and Children First, Inc. in Barre and Teresa is the store Manager. This organization has a storefront on Main St. where they take in high quality used women and children's clothing and shoes. Proceeds go to operate the store and to assist those in need through donations to local charitable organizations. So good work is being done in the community while practicing the second "R", Reuse, and reducing the amount of waste entering the landfill! Way to go!
July 2011: Wendy Mackenzie, Teacher, Oxbow High School
Wendy Mackenzie has proven herself to be a dedicated Zero Waste advocate. She jumped on the opportunity to work with CVSWMD School Coordinator Gwen Lyons-Baker and used our services to conduct a whole school waste audit and our first ever Locker Clean-out Day. As adviser to the Oxbow Environmental Coalition, a student group, she has used these events to teach Oxbow students about their responsibility to waste reduction and the reasons it's so important to their future.
June 2011: Terry Redmond, Director, Nutrition & Food Services, CVMC
Terry Redmond has been an integral part of the success of Central Vermont Medical Center's food scrap diversion efforts. Terry has set composting operations up in the kitchen, dining areas, and patient/resident rooms at two CVMC facilities. He keeps the processes simple and makes food scrap diversion just part of the scenery. Terry and CVMC are dedicated to sustainability and doing the right thing for future generations!
May 2011: Karl Hammer, Owner, Vermont Compost Company
Karl has played a major role in the development of CVSWMD's two composting programs (Business and School Composting Programs). His dedication to the community's food security through soil health is unprecedented. A by-product of his passion for food and soil independence has been that his partnership with CVSWMD has helped to divert many millions of pounds of food scraps from the landfill.
We support Karl's work and the products he creates that help CVSWMD move the district toward Zero Waste! Thank you Karl!
We support Karl's work and the products he creates that help CVSWMD move the district toward Zero Waste! Thank you Karl!
April 2011: Tom Sabo, Teacher, Montpelier High School
Tom has been actively working with CVSWMD for many years. He works hard to teach every student at Montpelier High School about the environment and the importance of preserving habitat for the continuation of diverse species. He has long been a major supporter of CVSWMD's School Composting Program (now part of our School Zero Waste Program) and partners with us on many activities.
Thanks again, Tom!
Thanks again, Tom!
March 2011: Leslie Rabins - Owner, One More Time in Montpelier
Leslie Rabins is the
longtime owner of One More
Time, a successful consignment reuse business!
Leslie, who got into the business because of her passion for thrift shopping
and the need for a job, called the way the store operates "full circle
recycling". Leslie said she wouldn't
feel good about operating a new clothing store, since she is passionate about
the reuse ethic and loves the fun interactions and unique items she sees
in the consignment business. Even better, the economic down-turn may have
actually increased business at One
More Time, as consumers seek less costly alternatives to pricey mainstream
fashions.
February 2011 - Will Colgan, Director of Facilities Operations, New England Culinary Institute
The New England Culinary Institute (NECI) has been a long-time participant in CVSWMD's Business Composting Program, one of our longest standing Zero Waste initiatives. One of the program's greatest champions at NECI is Will Colgan, Director of Facilities Operations. We caught up with Will at NECI's downtown Montpelier restaurant, NECI on Main (formerly Chef's Table). Will told us that they now compost in all four of their large kitchens and that every student is taught about their Farm to Table philosophy. According to Will, "Once they saw how simple and easy it was to compost, they loved it!"
January 2011 - Christian Pruitt, Twinfield Union School
January's Zero Hero was Christian Pruitt, Food Service Director/Head Chef at Twinfield Union School, which serves the member towns of Marshfield and Plainfield. Christian has worked closely with our School Zero Waste Coordinator, Gwen Lyons-Baker, to engage staff and students in their highly successful School Composting Program. Christian has been incredibly enthusiastic and has embraced new practices that will not only save the school money, but enable to students to be able to recycle even more waste. Prior to the implementation of the program, the staff lugged out four very heavy sixty gallon trash bags to the dumpster each day. They now throw away only one lightweight trash bag per day! Easy on the waste stream and easy on the back as well!
