Recycling: CCRRA celebrates the 2024 Centre County Green Community Partners

We love to promote our local businesses, institutions, schools and organizations who go above and beyond when it comes to waste reduction, recycling, composting and sustainability. To recognize our local “green” partners, the Centre County Recycling and Refuse Authority, along with the Centre Region Council of Governments, have created the Centre County Green Community Partnership Program that is open to all entities in Centre County who participate in recycling, waste reduction and other environmentally sound practices.

There is an online application to complete to be selected as a Centre County Green Community Partner. Interested parties answer questions on what they are doing to preserve our environment in areas such as waste reduction, energy efficiency and conservation, compost practices, reuse and recycling.

Once the online application is complete, a panel of experts review them for acceptance into the program. Once accepted, the successful candidates are invited to an Awards Luncheon and their business, institution, school or organization is spotlighted in various publications and social media channels across the county.

We are pleased to announce the 2024 Centre County Green Community Partners: AAUW State College; Centre Region Council of Governments Refuse and Recycling Program; Centre Volunteers in Medicine (CVIM); Envinity, Inc.; Foxdale Village; General Potter Farm; Good Day Café; Gray’s Woods Elementary School/SCASD; Habitat for Humanity Restore; Happy Valley Optical, Inc.; KB Offset Printing; Keck’s Collision Repair; Nittany Eye Associates; Nittany Valley Charter School; Park Forest Middle School; Penn State University; Pick Research Solutions, Inc.; Scraps & Skeins; Simplicity: A Bed and Breakfast; State College Presbyterian Church; The Queen, A Victorian Bed and Breakfast; The Village at Penn State; Village Heights and Weis Markets.

The panel also reviews the applications and selects a few to receive the coveted “Emerald Award.” This award is reserved for those who have really stepped up their game and have shown exemplary progress toward all things sustainable. The 2024 Emerald Award winners are: Envinity, Inc., Scraps & Skeins and The Queen, A Victorian Bed and Breakfast. This year we introduced the “Lifetime Achievement Award” presented to Julia Hix, a resident of Foxdale Village, for a lifetime of dedication to our environment.

All of our 2024 Green Business Partners were celebrated at the Awards Luncheon which was held on April 8 at Foxdale Village. In addition to this column, the Centre County Recycling and Refuse Authority will publish the names of all of our winners in our summer newsletter, on our website, and on all of our social media channels. Each 2024 Green Community Partner will also have their own day on the Authority’s Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages highlighting their accomplishments.

We only offer a chance to participate in this program every two years so look for our online application to open again in 2025 for a spring 2026 awards luncheon.

For more information on the Centre County Green Business Partnership, send me an email at aschirf@centrecountyrecycles.org. Congratulations to all of our 2022 awardees! We are Centre County proud!

Amy Schirf is education coordinator for the Centre County Recycling and Refuse Authority. Contact her at aschirf@centrecountyrecycles.org.