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Lincoln Young and Lynda Hogue |
Two Wilson County, Tennessee, energy professionals have been named to the 2018 Environmental Leader 75 (EL75) list because of their work with the Lebanon Gasification Initiative. This year's inductees include Lynda Hogue, aftermarket distribution manager for Carlex Glass America, Nashville, Tennessee, and Lincoln Young, director of recycling and sustainability at Rockwood Recycling, Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
The EL75 is a list of the top 75 executives in each business vertical (environmental and energy) as selected by the editorial and management team at digital media platform Business Sector Media, Fort Collins, Colorado, based on applications supplied by the individual, a peer, co-worker, manager, vendor or customer.
The award-winning waste-to-energy plant, owned by the city of Lebanon, was designed and built by Aries Clean Energy of Nashville. The downdraft gasification plant received the 2017 Top Project of the Year award from Environmental Leader, a Business Sector Media publication. The plant uses waste wood from Carlex as fuel for the plant. Rockwood Recycling collects and prepares the feedstock for the plant. This public-private partnership is designed to prevent wood waste from being sent to the landfill.
"Carlex and Rockwood are excellent examples of corporate sustainability stewardship," Gregory L. Bafalis, CEO of Aries Clean Energy, says. "I am pleased that we were able to nominate these two for their efforts, and now their hard work will not go unnoticed."
"I am so proud of the leadership taken by both Lynda Hogue and Lincoln Young to lower the carbon footprint of Lebanon and Wilson County,” Lebanon Mayor Bernie Ash says. "In conjunction with the gasification plant, this is another step toward our zero-landfill goal. I hope other companies will follow their lead and go green with us."
Carlex’s diversion rates to date are:
- 2015: 515 tons of waste sent to the landfill;
- 2016: 687 tons of waste wood diverted to the Lebanon gasification plant for fuel; 42 tons sent to the landfill after recyclables are pulled out;
- 2017: 665 tons diverted; 56 tons to the landfill; and
- 2018 (to date): 123 tons diverted; 5.92 tons to the landfill.
Young's company entered into a public-private partnership with the city of Lebanon for the gasification plant. Since the plant was commissioned in October 2016, Rockwood Recycling has repurposed 4,300 tons of renewable materials to be used as feedstock.
Selections for EL75 were qualitative, with a heavy emphasis on project goals and achievement, and numeric, regarding goals for reduction, productivity and so on. More than 300 were nominated nationwide. This is the second year of the program.
Honorees/inductees will be recognized at the Environmental Leader & Energy Manager Conference (ELEMCON) May 15-17 in Denver.