April 25, 2003

The Constitution Hall Recycling Team has been recognized by the Ingham, Eaton, and Clinton County Waste Reduction Awards Program (WRAP) for its efforts to recycle and reduce waste. Constitution Hall is the state office building that houses the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Agriculture in downtown Lansing.

The WRAP was developed to recognize the extra efforts made by mid-Michigan residents, businesses, governments, public institutions, and non-profit organizations to reduce waste and recycle. In this first year, 16 winners were chosen. The Constitution Hall Recycling Team won in the government category for Ingham County.

Plans for the building recycling program began in late 2001, as employees started moving into the building. Seeking representatives from all building tenants, the Team started meeting in early 2002. Since then the Team has developed an informational website, including community recycling programs; promoted the installation of software that automatically turns lights off in the building during evenings and weekends, saving thousands of dollars in energy costs; and implemented a number of special recycling collections for athletic shoes, cell phones, CD’s, light bulbs, and even children’s videos for donation to local hospital pediatric wards. This group of dedicated staff continue to meet on a monthly basis to identify and implement more ways of protecting the environment, saving money, and reducing waste.

The Team was nominated for this award by DEQ Waste and Hazardous Materials Division Chief, George Bruchmann and DEQ Environmental Science and Services Division Chief, Amy Butler. The DEQ promotes recycling and waste reduction in all its programs as part of its many pollution prevention efforts.

Editor’s note: DEQ news releases are available on the department’s Internet home page at www.michigan.gov/deq.

Revised April 25, 2003 by Pat Watson