Montgomery County Recycling Achievement Recognition Awards

Montgomery County Recycling Awareness Week! Multi-Family Waste Reduction and Recycling Achievement Awards

Non-Residential Waste Reduction and Recycling Achievement Awards

Multi-Family Waste Reduction and Recycling Achievement Awards

Multi-Family Property – Recycling Committee

Awarded to a committee working on behalf of a multi-family property, and that has demonstrated outstanding leadership in promoting recycling and waste reduction. This award celebrates a group that has successfully engaged their community, implemented effective recycling initiatives, and fostered a culture of environmental responsibility. It honors collaboration, creativity, and measurable impact in advancing sustainability goals.

Resident Recycling Committee at Riderwood Village

Riderwood Village’s Resident Recycling Committee, in partnership with housekeeping manager Ronald McFadden, demonstrated a high level of coordination and impact in 2024. The property composted an outstanding 657,895 pounds of food scraps through their collector, Compost Crew, and recycled 1,550 pounds of batteries and 4,439 pounds of electronic items with A Better Way Computer Recycling. These items are collected through regularly maintained recycling rooms located throughout the property, as well as during biannual electronics recycling events. A monthly bulletin helps keep residents informed about opportunities to recycle a wide range of materials, further supporting a culture of sustainability. Their efforts reflect what’s possible when residents and staff work together toward a shared commitment to environmental responsibility.

Multi-Family - Outstanding Efforts in Waste Reduction and Recycling

Awarded to multi-family properties that have adopted exemplary efforts to develop, expand, or enhance their waste reduction, reuse and recycling programs while aiming for Zero Waste.

8101 Connecticut Avenue Condominium

8101 Connecticut Avenue Condominium turned a simple suggestion into meaningful action. During a routine recycling report verification that we conducted, the property manager asked us how they could do more. After our 2023 visit, they began collecting batteries on-site and went on to properly recycle them at the Shady Grove Transfer Station in 2024. It’s the kind of thoughtful follow-through that strengthens local waste reduction efforts.

Heritage House

Heritage House actively supports Montgomery County’s waste reduction and recycling initiatives through thoughtful engagement and collaboration. Property management facilitates plastic bag recycling collection for residents and partners with the Waste Reduction and Recycling Section staff to host recycling events and share educational materials, helping residents stay informed and involved. To better serve its diverse community, where many residents are native Mandarin speakers, the property has also requested program support and translation services. In 2024, Heritage House expanded its outreach by welcoming Be a Zero Hero, a youth-led organization dedicated to educating the public on recycling and waste management practices, which you will hear more about later in this event.

Homes on Quaker Lane

The residents at Homes on Quaker Lane demonstrate strong engagement and commitment to sustainability. The property has partnered with the Waste Reduction and Recycling Section to host recycling events, consistently drawing an average of 25 residents participating at each event. On-site composting is actively practiced, with the resulting compost used to enrich the community garden. Additionally, residents go beyond standard recycling by collecting batteries and electronic items for recycling, further supporting waste diversion efforts.

Park Potomac Condominiums HOA

Park Potomac Condominiums integrated sustainability into their day-to-day operations. In 2024, Park Potomac set up a new battery management program, allowing residents to avoid putting used up batteries in their trash, and instead enabling residents to drop off batteries at the concierge desk. This resulted in batteries being safely recycled. The property also collected books from residents and donated them to Friends of the Library, sent used toner and ink cartridges through a mail-in recycling program, and delivered fluorescent light bulbs to the Shady Grove Transfer Station for proper disposal. Their efforts show how several actions across different waste streams can add up to a very meaningful impact.

The Pearl

The Pearl in Silver Spring takes a truly comprehensive approach to sustainability. In 2024, they composted over 10,000 pounds of food scraps through their collector Compost Crew, recycled 9,425 pounds of carpet padding through the service of Apartment + Office Floors, and donated 3,924 pounds of clothing to GreenDrop. They also recycled 350 pounds of plastic through 1-800-Got-Junk. Most recently, they launched a vibrant community garden, giving residents a space to grow their own food, connect with neighbors, and deepen their commitment to sustainable living. These efforts make The Pearl a standout example of what’s possible in multi-family waste reduction.

Rock Creek Gardens Condominiums

Rock Creek Gardens has woven sustainability into everyday community life. In 2024, they composted 23,400 pounds of food scraps through their collector Compost Crew, placing large toters in each waste area for weekly collection. Beyond composting, the property holds biannual large item drop-offs, donating salvageable items to A Wider Circle rather than sending them to a disposal facility. They also host a community swap, maintain a resident-run garden, and even held a ‘salad event’ to share composting and gardening tips. Together, these efforts reflect a creative, hands-on approach to building a greener, more engaged community.

Sumner Village Community Association

Sumner Village Community Association took major steps to reduce hard-to-recycle waste in 2024. They recycled batteries, fluorescent lights, and toner cartridges, all efforts with Veolia Environmental Services and Complete Document Solutions. But their most notable achievement came when property manager Terry Osborne coordinated a self-haul drop-off of 1,180 pounds of electronic items —including computers, printers, and phones—to the Shady Grove Transfer Station for recycling. It’s a strong example of how communities can tap into County programs to expand their recycling impact.

The Willoughby of Chevy Chase Condominium

The Willoughby of Chevy Chase Condominium partnered with Montgomery County’s Waste Reduction and Recycling Section in Fall 2024 to launch a food scraps recycling program. Since then, more than 50 residents are actively participating, recycling food scraps directly from their units and contributing to a cleaner, greener environment through waste diversion and increased recycling efforts. In just the few months during 2024 after this program launched, the property successfully composted 800 pounds of food scraps. Additionally, the general manager and County staff collaborated to design a customized food scraps recycling poster tailored to the specific needs of their community.

Non-Residential Waste Reduction and Recycling Achievement Awards

Business - Outstanding Efforts in Waste Reduction and Recycling

Awarded to businesses that have undertaken exemplary efforts to develop, expand, or enhance their waste reduction, reuse and recycling programs, striving to reduce waste, reuse and recycle more while aiming for Zero Waste. 

Be a Zero Hero Group

For the Be a Zero Hero Group, member Kenneth Shu’s passion project turned into a community effort to reduce plastic bags from entering the waste stream and effort to raise awareness about the detrimental effects of plastics pollution in the environment. The CAPA-MC (Chinese American Parent Association in Montgomery County’s Growing & Giving Club) was a group formed by MCPS middle and high school students committed to sustainable living by growing fruits and vegetables and donating them to local senior centers. When Kenneth Shu, the club’s student leader, a sophomore at Richard Montgomery High school, voiced his concern about plastic pollution, the group decided to tackle the issue together and the Be a Zero Hero plastic bag and film recycling project was started.

A little over two years later, the group has collected over 3,240 pounds of plastic bags by creating 20 plastic film drop-off locations in community centers and at MCPS schools. The group is also committed to educating the public about plastic pollution through several outreach events, distributing and translating educational flyers in English and Chinese on ways to reduce plastic waste. Their commitment, drive, and resilience embody the name as heroes in our local community.

Compostology Corp.

Compostology, founded in 2020 by two Richard Montgomery High School students Angelina Xu and Advika Agarwal who have now graduated and passed on the torch to the 2024-2025 leadership team currently comprised of Kareena Gupta and Sophie Nguyen, co-presidents and Liliana Katz-Hollindar and Clara Becker co-vice presidents.

In collaboration with MCPS’s Sustainability and Compliance Division, their youth organization has implemented food rescue and diversion programs in schools, leading to the redistribution of unopened food to the community and the composting of food scraps. Through their initiatives, they have collected substantial amounts of food waste for composting and recovered unopened food items for distribution to students. With a focus on training student leaders and promoting peer-to-peer environmental education, Compostology has initiated over 14 programs in Montgomery County schools, showcasing their continued drive and dedication to waste reduction and recycling.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Boasting an over 90% recycling rate is no easy feat. But Howard Hughes Medical Institute has done so with their robust waste reduction efforts. A responsive and dedicated custodial team is at the forefront of the effort. Despite contracting and management changes, their commitment to waste reduction has stayed constant. Repeated contamination is flagged and reported so that management can conduct individual outreach and corrective action to prevent continued issues.

A major highlight of their waste reduction efforts is their use of durable items throughout the campus. Rather than emphasize recyclability, Howard Hughes targets waste with source reduction in mind and offers real cups, plates, and utensils for staff to use. The trash and recycling bins in the cafeteria have been removed since all waste generated can be composted or reused, and pantry dishwashers are located throughout the facility so dishes can be washed anywhere. Howard Hughes Medical Institute is a great model for implementing an environment of zero waste.

MacroGenics, Inc.

MacroGenics is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, manufacturing and commercializing innovative monoclonal antibody-based therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. Last year, a Green Team Committee was created to brainstorm ideas on how the company can reduce their carbon footprint, while also focusing on environmental sustainability efforts at work. Onsite efforts include transitioning from the use of plastic utensils to the use of biodegradable bamboo utensils in all kitchen areas. The installation of 2 Bevi Water Systems in the kitchens has also significantly reduced aluminum can waste. It is reported that by using the Bevi Water System in 2024, 36,000 plastic single-use water bottles were not used. A program to recycle Keurig K-cups is also in place for employees along with plastic and wood pallet recycling programs to further increase recycling efforts. Employees are also able to bring their electronic items to be collected and properly recycled year-round. With all the recycling efforts MacroGenics has implemented and increased education, recycling has increased enough that they’re looking to replace the recycling dumpsters onsite with compactors next year to meet their greater recycling needs.

Village Montessori School

Located in Montgomery Village, MD, Village Montessori School (VMS) is a preschool that provides Montessori education to children from 6 weeks old to 6 years old. Each school year, 20 kindergarten students are designated as recycling leaders who sort through recyclables to help ensure VMS is recycling right. VMS fosters a strong sense of community among students and their families by encouraging their involvement in recycling, reuse and waste reduction efforts. Parents send fruits and vegetables with kids for snacks and any food scraps left – about 13-15 pounds weekly - are then collected and taken to food scraps recycling drop off locations for composting. Plastic bags are reused for sending wet and soiled clothing back home with kids. Other plastic bags and plastic film are also collected and recycled using drop-off locations. To reduce waste, students bring reusable water bottles from home and prefer drinking water, decreasing the need to order individual single-use milk containers for students. Teachers also help minimize paper use by cutting sheets in half for classroom activities.

Whole Kids Academy

At Whole Kids Academy, sustainability and the outdoors are front and center for the 175 children enrolled. In their regular park time, students can appreciate the environment they are protecting and get a hands-on experience seeing how food scraps break down into compost in interactive soil boxes. The academy also goes above and beyond for their waste reduction, taking part in Terracycle collection drives to recycle waste that would normally be headed for the garbage can. They have sent multiple 38-liter boxes back to Terracycle each year filled with snack wrappers, chip bags, and other hard to recycle items. Preschoolers have even taken part in a project tracking their waste generation during lunch time. After collecting one and a half (1 ½) football fields length of single use plastic utensils, the academy has started a bring your own cups and utensils initiative for the children. The children will leave the school with an eco-conscious mindset.

Business - Waste Reduction and Recycling Champions

Awarded to individuals who made a positive difference in their school or workplace to keep our land, air, and water clean. This individual goes above and beyond the efforts of others to maintain a healthy environment in their school or workplace working diligently to engage others to actively participate in their waste reduction, reuse, and recycling efforts. 

Kamil Owoyemi

Kamil Owoyemi, a junior at St. Andrew's Episcopal School in Potomac, MD, turned a capstone project from his engineering design class into a practical composting initiative at St. Andrew’s. With a passion for food systems and addressing food insecurity issues, Kamil focused on building a composting machine for his engineering class last year. Over the summer, Kamil reached out to Mr. James, his environmental science teacher, to pursue an independent study and propose a realistic, phased composting program for the school - reviving previous unsuccessful attempts. Throughout his junior year, Kamil researched, developed, and presented a detailed plan for a food scraps recycling program to the school’s administration, which approved it. St. Andrew’s is now a Partner in the County’s Commercial Food Scraps Recycling Partnership Program with food scraps collected 3 times a week. Kamil works closely with Chef Jonathan of SAGE Dining Services to manage the kitchen composting program. He is also involved with the Student Leaders for Food Equality program through the Capital Area Food Bank and supports food insecurity efforts via DC Central Kitchen. Looking ahead to his senior year and beyond, Kamil hopes to expand the food scraps recycling program to include post-consumer food scraps from the lunchroom and work on an app to connect schools like St. Andrew’s to composting facilities.

Commercial Recycling Partnerships

Awarded to commercial food scraps recycling partners who have significantly increased their recycling achievement by separating pre-consumer and post-consumer food scraps from the waste stream and recycling them through participation in the Commercial Food Scraps Recycling Partnership Program.

  • U.S. Department of Health and Human Services at 5600 Fishers Lane
  • Hughes Mid County Consolidation Hub at Hughes United Methodist Church
  • Ohr Kodesh Congregation
  • Community Hope Center - Gaithersburg at Seneca Creek Community Church
  • Washington Episcopal School