MUSKEGON - The Muskegon County Environmental Coordinating Council honored eight individuals and a group of organizations at its Muskegon Area Environmental Excellence Awards celebration last month. Presented annually since 1992, the awards recognize significant contributions and a commitment to a better environment.

Rudy Bartels and Barb Green received awards in the Business & Industry category.

Bartels championed environmental initiatives at Herman Miller Inc. that helped the office furniture manufacturer earn a Best Corporate Citizen designation. He worked to substitute a liquid spray paint process with a powdered paint application process. As a result of the paint line switch, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were reduced from 100 tons a year to less than 20 tons a year. Bartels also initiated a program that reduced natural gas usage at several Herman Miller plants.

Green, another Herman Miller employee, pioneered waste reduction initiatives including the use of collection containers made from recycled materials and the reuse of skids and packaging materials. These efforts generated a reduction of 2.5 million pounds of hazardous waste from 1999-2004.

In the Education category, Grand Valley State University Annis Water Resources Institute Director Dr. Alan Steinman earned an award. Since becoming director Steinman has transformed AWRI from a small field research station to a nationally recognized water research facility. The institute conducts intensive studies of Muskegon Lake, Mona Lake and the Muskegon River. Its staff features a wetland ecologist, environmental biologist and a hydrologist.

An environmental excellence award was presented to Ken Brown in the Government category. Brown has managed the solid waste transfer station for the White Lake Area Solid Waste Authority for a decade. He has been able to reduce the amount of material going to the landfill by diverting discarded items and putting them back into functional use. Some reclaimed items have even been included in relief shipments to foreign countries.

Three individuals and one group of organizations were feted in the Natural Resources category.

Arn Boezaart, vice president of grand programs for the Community Foundation for Muskegon County, was honored for going above and beyond the call of duty when addressing Muskegon County’s environmental issues and concerns.

Wes Lomax was recognized for his hard work and dedication to many area projects. A retired Michigan Department of Natural Resources employee, Lomax has been active in promoting the Musketawa Trail and has taken the lead in ensuring plantings, overlooks and beautification of the trail.

Muskegon Area Chamber of Commerce employee Janessa Stroud spearheaded the county’s first computer recycling day. The event generated a large amount of publicity and resulted in a substantial number of computers being brought in for recycling, keeping them away from landfills where they could have fostered groundwater pollution.

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers earned an award for their combined efforts to remediate the contamination at the Ott Chemical Co. site. To eliminate groundwater contamination caused by waste byproducts from Ott Chemical, the agencies joined forces to construct a groundwater treatment facility to treat 1.3 million gallons a day. The organizations cooperated to acquire funding, oversee construction and operate the plant. It has resulted in the substantial clean up of the surrounding groundwater and surface waters.

The Muskegon County Environmental Coordinating Council presented its Lifetime Achievement award to Jim Austin. An environmental activist, Austin has actively opposed corporations that proposed projects that could harm the environment. He fought against firms like Cargill, North Star Steel and Nugent Sand through demonstrations and letter writing campaigns. He takes it upon himself to review every request from the state of Michigan for businesses that want to fill in area lakes and he monitors developers to make sure their projects will not harm the environment. Austin is a member and former president of Save Our Shoreline.

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This article appeared in the May 2, 2005 issue of MiBiz, read by upper management executives in West and Southwest Michigan. Print subscriptions are free to qualified individuals who do business in West and Southwest Michigan. For further information about MiBiz Network, visit www.mibiz.com.