 For those of you who aren't familiar with EcoMain, we are a quasi-municipal non-for-profit organization. We have 46 member communities. Of those 46 member communities, 21 are actually owner communities. EcoMain is committed to the waste hierarchy, which has been identified by both the state of Maine and the EPA as reduced reuse recycle first, and then organics recovery, such as composting, and then waste to energy, and then the very bottom rung of the waste hierarchy. The least desirable solid waste management strategy is land filling. Land filling, we feel, is a storage strategy and is a temporary strategy. Eventually that waste is going to have to be dealt with someday in the future. Our mission statement reads, EcoMain provides long-term solid waste solutions in a safe, environmentally responsible, economically sound manner, and is a leader in raising public awareness of sustainable waste management strategies. And public awareness is key here, and this event, the EcoExcellence Awards, is one of the tools that we use to connect to our communities and spread the word about sound solid waste management practices. The EcoExcellence Awards is really all about public awareness, about best practices in our communities, and they obviously we're a we're focused on recycling and best solid waste practices, but it goes beyond just that. Green efforts is what we're looking for. The really the thing we want to do is first identify those best practices, and then recognize and reward them, and then publicize it, and we do that through a series of press releases so that other folks can replicate these best practices in their communities. We've been doing this program since 2006. It grew, it was very small when we began the program, and it has grown about a hundred attendees at this event each and every year, and this year we had 22 nominations from 22 different communities. So it's a huge success for our member communities, and I think does a real nice job at publicizing these best practices that we want to replicate all over our communities. The first award goes to from Bridgeston and Harrison. It's a joint community award, and it's presented to the Lakes Environmental Association, and I saw it here from the Lakes Environmental Association, Colin Holm would call them, there he is. We have applause Matthew Frank who's here, an EcoBoard member who represents the town of Harrison. The towns of Bridgeston and Harrison both water beautiful, long lake, and so the work of the Lakes Environmental Association is of great importance to both Bridgeston and to Harrison. The mission is to preserve, and when necessary, restore the high water quality and traditional character of Maine's lakes, watersheds, and related natural resources. Programs that benefit from this non-profit organization include boat inspections to prevent the spread of non-native plants, removal and eradication of invasive millfoil from local lakes and rivers, water quality testing, on-site visits to individual properties, to analyze erosion programs associated with runoff and design issues, providing help and support to local code enforcement issues, on local code enforcement issues, and they also provide educational programs at Harrison Elementary School and the schools of SAD 61 to enrich earth science programs and to create the next generation of environmentalists. This is a well-respected organization, and congratulate you on your award. Watch carefully. The next community to be to be recognized is the nominee from the town of Cape Elizabeth, a fine town, very beautiful community. That's where I'm from. The community award goes to Ted Darling. There's Ted. Nate was Frank Stroh, and he was also supported in preparing that nomination, I believe, by Chris Franklin, the executive director of the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust. Come forward, Chris. Ted Darling, the last five years, has been chair of the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust. President of it, Frank, in preparing the nomination, cited some major achievements during Ted's leadership for the Land Trust that included the following. They protected a piece of land called Trundy Point, which extends out to the Atlantic Ocean, just in the Shore Acres neighborhood, provides beautiful views of the Atlantic Ocean. They acquired, working with the town of Cape Elizabeth, a trail easement on Elwides Brook, protecting an important habitat and providing a major connector for the town's green belt system around Great Pond. They helped to establish Turkey Hill Farm, a cultural learning farm that teaches children about nature and the importance of farming and worked with the owner of that farm to protect it with an easement. Perhaps most significantly is they acquired what's known as Robinson Woods II, which is a 63-acre parcel off Shore Road in Cape Elizabeth that is immediately adjacent to another 80-acre parcel that the Land Trust acquired. So to acquire 143 acres on Shore Road in Cape Elizabeth is a major, major accomplish with the cost of land in Cape Elizabeth. All of this was due to the leadership of Ted Darling. Let's congratulate Ted on all of his 80 acres. The next community award goes from the town of Shabig Island, Cumberland Land Trust. This award goes to the Shabig and Cumberland Land Trust and here representing the Land Trust is Penny Asherman. It's President. Well, congratulations, Penny. The nominator in this case was Susan McGinty, an eco-main board member representing Cumberland and as I mentioned earlier the Chair of Recycling Committee. The stated purpose of the Shabig and Cumberland Land Trust is to preserve and protect the intrinsic values and public benefits of the natural resources of the towns of Shabig and Cumberland, the mainland island and contiguous Casco Bay and to be responsible stewards in perpetuity for those resources in the trust. The organization has protected 650 acres in a total of 19 properties, 10 on the mainland in Cumberland and nine on Casco Bay. This land provides recreational and learning opportunities for the public, including information about coastlines, ponds, nesting islands, wetlands, riparian areas. Did I get that pronunciation right? Let's hope so. Did I? Yes. Great. Forest and farmland. Let's congratulate Penny and the Shabig and Cumberland Land Trust. The next awards to the town of Falmouth and we'll call them up separately. The first award is the Community Award and the Community Award goes to town manager Nathan Pore. The nominator for this award was the Falmouth Recycling and Energy Advisory Committee represented by Claudia King, Claudia here, great Claudia, who was a past EcoMain Excellence Award recipient and by Jed Wright. And also here is Bonnie Rodden. Bonnie is an EcoMain board member who represents the town of Falmouth. In their nomination of Nathan, the committee wrote, quote, through his commitment to helping Falmouth citizens realize their vision of a more sustainable town, through his attention to detail and follow through, and through his knowledge of regulatory processes and funding mechanisms, Nathan makes change possible. His recent actions include working with other towns to create legislation allowing municipal control of street lights. This would provide an opportunity for towns to install more energy efficient lights than has been permitted. He is working with Falmouth officials to ensure that changes made to Route 1 will be achieved in environmentally responsible ways and will be environmentally sustainable. With the choices Nathan Nathan makes every day, he also leads by example by lowering the thermostat in winter, incentivizing staff to use town-owned Priuses and even using fewer paper towels. And having been at the Falmouth Town Office, I would agree that anything you ever have there is a sustainable practice and well done. So congratulations Nathan Paul. And the Falmouth, that was the Falmouth Community Award. The Falmouth Business Awards goes to Stephen Woods from Tidesmart Global. And I understand someone else here from Tidesmart. There you are. How you doing? Kevin Joyce. Kevin will be receiving this award for Steve. Steve, as I mentioned, is the president and chief executive officer of Tidesmart Global, a group of companies with the green campus recently built in the town of Falmouth. Tidesmart Logistics, the company's on-site warehousing facility features a variety of green systems including radiant heating, motion sensitive lighting, a water reclamation system, zero-sort recycling, electric car charging station, pretty impressive. Solar panels to generate much of their own electricity and coming soon a green roof, a vegetative roof. Tidesmart, a company that specializes in green event marketing, operates by its principles too. Meetings are paperless. Apparently Steve didn't want to drive here. They use that too much fuel. And the company also is a great sponsor of environmental volunteerism. The nomination said as an employee and as a manor. It makes me proud to work for someone who is building his business in a thoughtful, environmentally responsible way. Kevin, would you please congratulate Steve for us and participate in the photo and so he'll see that the great award that your company's receiving. Absolutely. Thanks Kevin. Congratulations. Steve's also the council chair in Yamath. Some of you may or may not know him. Congratulations. We're now moving to Freeport. Not literally. The Freeport Community Award goes to Sandy Thompson. Sandy, I saw you earlier. Let's congratulate Sandy. And I have to add, live here for a minute. I first met Sandy when she told the town of Cape Elizabeth to stop burning trash at our old dump on Spurwick Avenue. And if those of you remember when dumps used to burn, Sandy worked for the DEP and she was dogged in her determination to to make us act environmentally appropriate. So it's not surprising all these years later you're being recognized for environmental activity. Great. Thank you. We didn't shake hands back then. Many years ago. Anyway, it was great to see her and so I'm really pleased she introduced herself. We got reacquainted. The nominator of Sandy was the Freeport Recycling and Solid Waste Committee, represented today by Patrick Norton and Recycling Facilities Manager Suzanne Duplissig. Great. The also here is Rod Greger. Rod is the Eco Main Board member representing the town of Freeport. Sandy is a longtime member of the Freeport Recycling and Solid Waste Committee and was nominated by her fellow committee members. She is credited with being the primary force behind the town's effort to promote composting as an environmentally sound and economically effective method of reducing its volume of waste. This is not surprising. Her advocacy has resulted in a collaborative program with the town's Recycling Solid Waste Facility to promote the sale of composting bins. In addition, the program has a provision to provide free composting bins to qualified residents. In 2012, her program sold 15 composting bins and provided another seven bins at no charge. To reinforce the program, Sandy constructed a composting display for the Falmouth Community Library and has organized meetings for the program participants to share their experiences. It is a great honor to have Eco Main present this award to Sandy. Congratulations. Thank you Sandy. Congratulations. Now to the town of Gorham. The Gorham Community Award goes to Tyler Kitter and Steve Sweeney of the University of Southern Maine. Steve cannot be with us today but is with Tyler USM Facilities Manager Bob Bertram. Please come forward. Is Bob here? Bob? Great. Good. Congratulations. USM Assistant Director for Sustainable Programs Tyler Kitter and Resource Recovery Supervisor Steve Sweeney have created an effective waste reduction program for 1,300 staff members. They call it the Tiny Trash Initiative. This program replaced the standard four-gallon trash container at each desk with a tiny one-quart desktop container labeled Tiny Trash and added a four-gallon recycling container, one-quart for trash, four gallons for recycling. Pretty impressive. Employees are now responsible for emptying their own trash but the custodial staff continues to empty the recycling containers. Tough group. Personalized presentations were made to each office cluster on Gorham and Portland campuses to encourage participation and to ensure understanding of the program. Preliminary results indicate an increase in the recycling rate and the reallocation of 45 hours of custodial labor per day. Tyler and Steve are also expecting that the $3,050 spent on trash container liner bags each year will decrease. This is a program that can easily be replicated in many office settings and we congratulate Tyler and Steve in the entire University of Southern Maine community for seeing this project begin and to see it continue. Let's congratulate them. The Town of Hiram. The Hiram Community Award goes to the Sacco Valley School Recycling Committee. Soccaby? What did I say? Soccaby? I'm getting dyslexic here. Here to receive the award are students Brandon Burnell. Come forward. Colby Sanborn and Cameron Sear along with lead teacher Betsy Orr and Principal Michael Lynch. Vice Principal Michael Lane. Stepping in for the principal. Great. The nominator for this award was Deb Doughty who was also a past eco excellence award recipient. Congratulations Deb. The Soccaby Valley Middle School Recycling Committee is a team of eighth grade students, eighth graders, right, who have voluntarily taken on the responsibility of collecting recyclables from the school offices, classrooms, library and other areas. They are and put your hand up when I say your name. Brandon Burnell. Brandon. Colby Sanborn and Cameron Sear. The committee's lead is physical education teacher Betsy Orr. Twice a week the committee members empty all of the recycling containers and because of their consistency and reliability almost every class participates. That true? That's good. To make it as easy as possible and to minimize any disruption the committee announces on TV2 when recycling bins should be placed in the hallway. Students then carry the recycling to a large recycling container in the parking lot making sure to capture any windblown material from the schoolyard. Good for you. Their nominator herself a past eco excellence award winner said the committee's dedication has resulted in far more recycling and far less work for the custodial staff. Let's congratulate the Sarco Valley Middle School Recycling Committee. Jay and Livermore Falls. A joint community award goes to the Andrew Scoggin Land Trust. Here to receive the award is board president Judy Martin and with her is Mary House of Otis Ventures. The Andrew Scoggin Land Trust currently manages conservation of more than 4,650 acres and with the help of a $259,000 grant from Land for Mains Future is purchasing an additional 1,300 acres from Burso paper for a community forest. It will be managed to conserve local landscapes for wildlife habitat while ensuring public access and maintaining the land as a working forest as well. In addition the owner of the Otis Falls mill property has donated a recreation trail easement in Jay and Livermore Falls. The trail easement will provide access in Jay and Livermore Falls which will promote the Andrew Scoggin River for seasonal recreation such as paddle sports and fishing. The town's access will in turn support local businesses. This is amazing conservation of more than 4,650 acres of land. This multi-use trail network clearly brings recreational opportunities to Jay, protects habitat and will bring tourism dollars to both Jay and Livermore Falls. Congratulations Judy and Mary. The town of Manchester. The community award goes to Barbara Goulouche. Barbara congratulations and Barbara's nominated was Pia Holmes the principal of Manchester Elementary School. Barbara is an educational technician at the Manchester Elementary School who goes beyond her normal duties to encourage green behavior in children and adults. She collects school recycling and monitors every waste basket in the school for misplaced materials. Good for you. She then rewards classrooms for the recycling work. Barbara even provides the service of taking the school's recyclable materials to the silver bullet receptacle located at the town hall. You've been busy. In the warmer weather she also maintains the school's gardens and shrubs and composts as much materials as she can. Barbara's principal, that would be you Pia, has dubbed her the eco-fashionista. Did I say that right? The eco-fashionista after she began wearing a brand of vest and jackets made from recycled materials. Her enthusiasm has spread to others who asked Barbara to hunt for more clothing of that brand. Congratulations Barbara. The final award I will be presenting in this series, before Susan takes over, is to the town of North Yarmouth and this is a community award and it goes to Skyline Farm. Here to receive the award is Pamela Ames, the vice president of Skyline Farm. Combinator was Dick Ropes, an eco-board member representing North Yarmouth who eagerly is looking forward to coming up for the photo. Skyline Farm is a non-profit organization that owns and maintains the 54 acres that were original to that farm. Though well known for preserving Custron carriages, it is also dedicated to preserving the fields, woods, and streams that are part of the Royal River watershed. Trails were purposefully designed for multiple non-motorized uses year-round and are open to the public. Skyline Farm volunteers are also avid composters and recyclers as well. The farm allows the use of its site for events and dinners and in 2012 hosted an event for 100 people that resulted in just one bag of trash. Everything else was solided for either composting or recycling. It was a lobster bake. Glad someone ate the lobster. I wouldn't. I just don't like it. Anyway, they have wonderful lobster bakes at Skyline Farm. Very good to go there. And I'd like to conclude before I get any more trouble by congratulating Skyline Farm for protecting green space, for increasing public access, and for initiating green practices. Congratulations. And Susan McKinty and I will now switch roles. Welcome Susan. I have new glasses so I've got to find the sweet spot here for reading. I'm going to be starting with a gunquit and this is a community award in the case of a gunquit and the community award goes to the a gunquit playhouse and we have Sandy Clark, Peter Lewis, and Amy Peacock here to accept the award. The nominator was the a gunquit recycling committee represented today by Barbara Early, Leslie Matthews, and Mike Lynch. Would you like to come up as well? Thank you. In the spring of 2012 the agunquit playhouse began its first recycling program ever with 95,000 people attending shows over the course of a season taking all of their paper bottles and cans out of the playhouse's trash was a significant improvement. Their program went beyond that however now an effort is made to reuse play bills and to recycle those that can't be reused to break down and recycle cardboard boxes and to institute recycling in the offices as well. Of the agunquit playhouse chair of the of the agunquit recycling committee Jeffrey Porter said in his nomination they continue to work with members of the agunquit recycling committee to find other ways they can be more green. Please join me in congratulating the agunquit playhouse. The next award is a community award in the town of Porter and it goes to the Socopy Valley Health Center. Here to accept the award from the Socopy Valley Health Center our volunteer Vicki Ladd executive director Mary Agnes Gilman and board president Judy Ingram and the nominator was Lorraine Cody. The Socopy Valley Health Center makes every effort to recycle all paper that does not contain sensitive patient information. Clearly marked bins and boxes are placed in individual offices and in other locations where paper is likely to accumulate such as the mail room by the photocopy equipment in the lunch room and in the front office. To dispose of papers containing of confidential information a volunteer first removes all paper clips and staples before running it through a shredder and I can tell you that takes some time. This material which has amounted to 8,000 large bags is then safely recycled. We'd like to thank Socopy Valley Health Center Recycling Efforts for setting an example for others to follow and this is again an example that any office could follow but it's really wonderful to see it when you have to take that extra effort to dispose of the sensitive information. So thank you very much. The next award is one of two awards going to organizations in Portland. The first is a community award going to the Cheers Club at Riverton Elementary School and Olga Valencia. And here to receive the award are students Ethan Thea. He could not make it but we'd love to have him here. He could have been. And Darcy Lawley and their leader Olga Teddy Valencia. The nominators were nominators were Jean Malia principal these glasses this is where I need to have it. Cathy Cole Community Coordinator and also here are Eco Main Board Member and City Councilor John Anton. John I haven't seen you. I plan to be here and Eco Main Board Member and Portland Solid Waste Manager Troy Moon who I also have not seen yet but they're here in spirit. Olga Valencia or Teddy Valencia is the leader and organizer of Riverton Elementary Schools Cheers Club which stands for Cultures Helping Everyone's Environment. There are 125 members of the club from grades two through five and they are responsible for many impressive school initiatives. They produced an educational video for both students and teachers about the school's new composting and recycling program. It was so well received that they were asked to present it and their program to a sustainability press conference held at King Middle School. This club has also raised money to adopt several symbolic sense several endangered animals. The club even developed an environmentally friendly cleaning spray to stop the spread of germs in the classroom. I hope you brought some of that. They started a worm composting bin and have assisted other classrooms in maintaining their worm bins. They have a butterfly garden raised beds and a community garden where we're all cleaned up. All of these gardens were cleaned up by club members and plants were started from seed in the fall. They harvested their vegetables and served them at a luncheon which they hosted for the new superintendent of schools in Portland. To conserve paper the school now uses fabric as a background for bulletin boards but that is a lot of paper to cover a bulletin board. Washable. To earn money for the school drink pouches are collected cleaned and bundled by the cheers club and Ms. Valencia is sponsoring a sustainability conference at which students from across the district will share ideas on additional ways to help the environment. So thank you very much for your many efforts and congratulations. The second award for Portland goes to a business and this award goes to Revision Energy. And here to accept that award is Phil Coop, co-founder and managing partner and because he recently installed my photovoltaic cells. And here also are the direct or well I'm pretty sure actually that Troy and John are not here but they planned to be here to to join you in this honor. For the past 10 years Revision Energy has helped reduce fossil fuel consumption and co2 emissions through the design and installation of solar energy equipment on homes and other buildings. In 2012 a new initiative was launched by the company to address co2 emissions from transportation which resulted in Maine's first solar powered electric vehicle charging station. The charging station is located in Portland and generates enough fuel of power to fuel four electric Chevy Volts for a year and that is enough to remove 24,000 pounds of co2 emissions per year from our atmosphere. So we like to thank Revision for taking this crucial first step towards vehicle emissions reduction in Maine. So it's really kind of a solar car and Phil has brought one of his Chevy Volts here and can take a look at it after the program. The next award goes to a business from the city of Saco and I did not forget this award goes to Patriot Subaru and here to receive that award are Tom Talbot communications director and Jackie Parker a green team founding member. Patriot Subaru was established in 2003 by Adam Arons and by 2012 it had become the first Subaru dealer in New England to be certified by Subaru as an eco-friendly dealer. Many of the initial green changes were made in response to national economic downturn to reduce costs through efficiencies. All expenses were reviewed for more eco-friendly alternatives and all employees were asked to make suggestions. From this came Patriot's comprehensive green plan and I think it's nice and kind of important to mention that being green can also be economically responsible because sometimes and certainly in the past it always seemed like it was an extra effort or an extra cost and it's nice to know that that is not always so unperture. Most recently Patriot worked with Efficiency Maine to become one of the first businesses in Maine to replace all outdoor halogen lights with new more efficient LED lights through a large expenditure by the company well there again not so I could but energy costs were lowered by 80% and the return on investment is just six years. Patriot has continued to make improvements including elimination of decorative balloons replacing them with live hanging plants. Very nice. All computers are turned off at night all uh there is recycling of all fluids like the oil from cars that come in car fluids and also paper, water, tires, batteries, metals and lead weights and there's composting of all food waste on the establishment of an organic garden which is tended by employees and customers. I have to mention that to my daughter next time she has her car serviced. Patriot generously shares its ideas with other dealerships and businesses both online and in person so we congratulate Patriot Subaru. Thank you very much. The next award goes uh to a group in the town of Scarborough. It's a community award and it goes to the Wentworth School Community Garden and here to receive the award the award is Joanne Stewart. Hi Joanne, lovely to meet you. The nominator is Michael Shaw, Scarborough Public Works Director and EcoMaine board member representing Scarborough. The Wentworth Intermediate School of Scarborough created an organic garden for both nutritional produce and for integrating lessons into math, social studies, literature and sustainability. Under the leadership of teacher Joanne Stewart and with the important cooperation of cafeteria personnel led by Leslie Dumas and director Judy Campbell the school's community garden had an outstanding year. Here's just some of what they accomplished in 2012. They planted and harvested root vegetables that were roasted and served as an adjunct to school lunches. They planted a raised strawberry bed. They grew locally donated heirloom rhubarb that was made into dessert and grew butternut squash which was used to make squash cake for all 800 students. They planted and harvested many kitchen herbs used by the school. They constructed a popcorn field and created a scarecrow based on a literary connection. And with the help from the Public Works Department they added a greenhouse to extend their growing season. They grew kale and other leafy greens as an alternative source of calcium, my favorite source of calcium. They grew cucumbers in answer to a student question, do they float? They discussed, discovered and researched harmful and beneficial insects. They began a worm composting project to research results. They visited two local farms and they have many plans, even bigger projects going on. Their plans continue into 2017 and I'm sure they'll be going stronger. We have a new school coming so new garden, new school. Great well thank you very much Joanne congratulations. The next award goes to South Portland. It's a community award and it's going to Doug Howard. The nominator was Doug Gailey, South Portland's city manager and vice chair of eco mains board of directors. When Doug Howard was hired as South Portland's public works director in February 2012 he inherited a problem that began in April of 2011. A 500 unit apartment complex with city services had repeatedly thrown trash in with their recycling causing entire loads of recycling to be rejected and burned as trash. City staff met with the apartment complexes management on many occasions and periodically pulled contaminated bins from the curve but to no avail. After many months the problem was clearly reflected in South Portland's rising costs. There was a lower number of recycling tons which have no disposal cost and a correspondingly higher number of trash tons and it was costing a significant amount of tax dollars, dollars that were not budgeted. In January of 2012 the city council was considering the removal of normal city recycling services and instead considering placing a silver bullet in the area of the apartment complex. If the silver bullet recycling container continued to garner contaminated materials then the apartment complex would be responsible for the costs. But at this time Doug was hired and he assessed the situation and determined that more education of the tenants would be more effective than talking to management. He began by placing stickers and magnets with specific information in the area where tenants could read them and specific information as to what was recyclable and what was not. He made periodic checks of the neighborhood and continued to work with individuals from the city and made on-site visits and handed out literature. Doug and staff also attended a summer block party along with the department's mascot. After 18 months of Doug's leadership the situation has turned itself around and they are recycling well at that 500 unit apartment complex. The next town is the town of Standish and this is a community award going to Reagan Ellsmore. The nominators were Amy Hubbard and Donna Sear of Bonnie Eagle High School. Donna is here today and she is the mother of Cameron who received an award hyrum earlier today. As a teacher at Bonnie Eagle High School Reagan Ellsmore created and implemented a recycling program on her own initiative without direction or stipend. Bonnie Eagle has an enrollment of 1,300 students and of course there's staff and administrative personnel and they had little or no recycling so almost everything was thrown out as trash. Reagan worked with maintenance, custodial and administrative staff and other stakeholders to develop a recycling program. She and her students then made training presentations to faculty on the use of their recycling buckets. Reagan's next step was to meet with stakeholders to curb waste in the cafeteria and to develop a plan that included elimination of styrofoam trays. Her students taught other students how to sort their trays at different stations one of which is for dumping milk which is a big problem in school cafeterias. Even though Reagan has left Bonnie Eagle to teach at another high school her recycling system is still in place and participation by staff and students continues a real testament to the effectiveness of her plan. And we thank her for getting that started. The next community is Waterborough and we have a community award going to David Pope and class. Miranda Raymond, Alyssa Dooley, Sophia LaFrance, Ivory Dickinson, Steve Fitzgerald, Lakley Tibidow, Chase Stearns, Kaley Dunlap, Emily Archer, Raymond Rabada, Casey Johnson, Time Witton, Chanel Oquita, Kaley Hall, and Will Geary. And I apologize for any mispronounced names. Here also today are Massabesic Middle School Principal Mark Fisher, who could actually not make it, and graduate student Chris Goodchild. The nominator was the Waterborough Transfer Station and Recycling Committee represented by Dennis Abbott, who is also an eco-mainboard member and representing Waterborough. Massabesic Middle School teacher David Pope involved his class in a challenge called Zero Waste, which was put forth by the Chewanky Foundation during the 2011-2012 school year. For the competition, middle school students were required to create a plan that covered six steps pertinent to reducing school waste, with two key areas being recycling and composting. The students examined waste from their school and their data showed that 32 percent of the trash generated was actually trash. Food waste accounted for 65 pounds of waste daily, and the remainder was compostable material and recyclables. Specifically, the school's 800 students produced 40 pounds of liquid waste each day, and they calculated more than 125,000 recyclable milk cartons were disposed of every year. David Pope's class earned third place in the Zero Waste Challenge and received a thousand dollars in January of 2012 to help fund the implementation of their plan, and today the students are removing milk cartons and liquid waste from the school's trash. The eighth grade students are training younger students to take over the program, and this year students began the next phase of their plan, which is to compost food waste. Congratulations, all of you. Thank you. She's on the count of three. One, two, three. Again, thank you, David Pope and class. The next award goes to the Town of Wyndham. It's a community award that's going to Bill Hansen. The nominator was Edra Long. RSU-14 School Facilities Director Bill Hansen has been a great supporter and promoter of all green programs connected to the schools. Recycling, composting, and growing foods in campus green spaces, he gladly works with teachers, cafeteria staff, and others to make change happen, change that will benefit the environment. Bill was instrumental in replacing paper towel dispensers in bathrooms with wall-mounted air blowers for drying hands. This not only saved paper, it improves hygiene as well, and he was also key to the success of a school garden house that was built to enable composting. Bill's personal involvement includes being present twice a week to help children and cheer them on as they carry their recycling bins from school classrooms to the recycling dumpsters. His nominator added that Bill is a class act and so deserving of this award. And now we come to the last but not least of the community awards. This is going to the town of Yarmouth. It's a community award for Mark Primo. The nominator was the Yarmouth Recycling Committee represented today by Diana Hibbard, a former eco excellence award winner. Sally Grover and Public Works Director Eric Street. Eric is also the Yarmouth representative to the EcoVane Board. And by Chamber of Commerce President Wendy Iott and Executive Director Carolyn Schuster. For the past two years, Mark Primo has been the director of the Yarmouth Clam Festival, an annual non-profit event that has an estimated attendance of over three days of 150,000 people. I hope you've all gone. Since his appointment, Mark has worked closely with the town's recycling committee to improve recycling and reuse options, especially for the many food vendors that take part in the festival. More than two tons of recyclable paper, tin, plastic, and cardboard were generated by food vendors and they have been that has been diverted from the waste stream each year. In addition, cooking oil is collected for recycling and returnable bottles and cans are collected for both recycling and fundraising. In 2012, Mark and the Yarmouth Recycling Committee went further by implementing a pilot program for the collection of food waste. Two public collection stations were placed in the festival's food area during peak hours and each was staffed by a volunteer. A very good idea. The result, a total of 820 pounds of food waste were diverted from the waste stream and into composting. With this success after just one year, Mark and the committee are hoping to expand the collection program for the July event in 2013. The recycling, the Yarmouth Recycling Committee is very appreciative of Mark and his efforts to make the clam festival a green event. Well, as I said, we've come to the end of the community awards and congratulations to all of you who received awards today for thus far today and thank you to all of those of you who nominated someone for an award today and thank you all for coming. And now at this time, it's my privilege to announce the Best Business Award. The winner of this award will receive a plaque made in Maine from recycled plastic and the winner of that award is Patriot Subaru. Please come forward. The final award is our Grand Award and I joined Susan in congratulating all of you. The Grand Award winner was chosen from among all of the community awards. The winner will receive this beautiful white rocking chair also made right here in Maine from recycled plastic milk jugs. Our judges had a difficult time, they always do, in making the selection. They used the awards criteria of effectiveness, increase in awareness, community impact, and ease of replication to make the decision. The winner is Tyler Kitter and Steve Sweeney of the University of Southern Maine. We need more nominations, so if throughout the next year if you see good solid green practices, best recycling practices, good solid waste diversion, if you see those examples in business or in your community life or in schools, recognize them, send in the entry so that we can reward them here at Eco Excellence Awards.