The first ever awards program for C&D recyclers has been developed by the Construction Materials Recycling Association (CMRA), Lisle, Ill. The first recipients of the awards, to be given in three categories, will be honored at the association’s Annual Meeting in March 2005.

“The goal of the awards is to honor those entities and individuals that have accepted the challenge of recycling C&D in an outstanding manner,” says Robert Hosier, General Environmental Companies, Des Moines, Iowa, and chairman of the CMRA’s Awards Committee.

The three categories the CMRA will honor are:

• Facility of the Year: Recognition to a facility actively recycling or diverting construction and demolition material from landfills. The facility must show superior or substantial contributions to the C&D recycling industry.

• Recycler of the Year: Recognition to an individual in the construction and demolition recycling industry who has made superior and substantial contributions to his/her company or industry in achieving sound operating practices.

• Governmental Recycling Program: Recognition to a county, state or federal government recycling program. The program receiving recognition must show superior or substantial contributions in construction and demolition recycling.

The entries will be judged on five main criteria. A minimum of sixty points are required for consideration of an award. Nominations should address each category specified. The Public Relation Statement will be the Summary Statement of the nomination submittal. The criteria are as follows:

Application Quality: 5 points

• Overall quality and appearance of the application, editorial and technical quality.

•  Is it easy to read, neat and well organized?

•  Has all the information been included?

Research: 20 points

• Describe and analyze the situation facing the facility, individual or government agency, obtaining of the facts and perceptions regarding the problem or situation, and the use of primary and/or secondary research. Include research data when possible.

• Give examples of written, oral and visual materials existent prior to implementation.

Planning: 20 points

• Discuss the overall planning goals of implementing a program or business plan.

• Describe the tasks used to meet the goals.

• Describe the program’s or project’s measurable goals.

• Discuss objectives, strategies, budget and customer groups identified and targeted.

Implementation/Execution: 40 points

• Describe program or business plan imple­mentation design.

•Discuss how well the elements described in the planning phase were accomplished.

• Submittals themselves will be evaluated and assigned points relative to their creative development, written effectiveness and use of graphics to convey the message to the public.

Results/Evaluation: 15 points

• Describe the mechanisms used to evaluate the program

• Demonstrate how the program was received and how its success was measured.

• Discuss how the program or business plan can be improved.

• Discuss how well the pro­gram/plan met the stated objectives and goals.