The Chester Environmental Partnership Thursday announced it recently honored Covanta's John G. Waffenschmidt, Vice President of Environmental Science and Community Affairs, for his efforts and leadership in environmental justice.
Covanta is a long-standing member of CEP and owns and operates the Delaware Valley Resource Recovery Facility in Chester, Delaware County.
Founded to improve health and environment through cooperative action, the CEP is an environmental partnership among the community, federal, state, and local government, businesses, local churches and nonprofit organizations that identify community issues affecting Chester residents and collaborate in developing solutions.
"I want to thank John for his support of CEP. With his leadership, we have been able to improve the lives of Chester residents and further the environmental justice movement on a national level," stated CEP Founder and Chairman Reverend Dr. Horace W. Strand. "I applaud Covanta as one of the first companies in the United States to establish an environmental justice policy for its work within the community. This is a national example of what working together can do."
Covanta's Community Outreach and Environmental Justice Policy was prepared in response to the need to ensure all communities, especially communities which are disadvantaged, have a fair and just opportunity to participate in the decision-making process in matters impacting their local environment.
The policy provides a tangible commitment by Covanta to engage fully with the communities in which it has, or will have, facilities to reduce discharges and minimize emissions, and to do this in a manner which ensures meaningful involvement by those communities.
"I'm deeply honored to receive this recognition from the Chester Environmental Partnership; I have been enriched by being a member of the CEP," said Waffenschmidt. "The question of how to integrate industrial facilities into communities in a positive way is in part answered by the process developed by the Chester Environmental Partnership under Dr. Strand's leadership. That format, which allows direct communication between companies and citizens, ensures that all parties are knowledgeable of each other's needs."
In addition to his work at Covanta, Waffenschmidt also serves on DEP’s Environmental Justice Advisory Board the National Stewardship Action Council Board, and the Product Stewardship Institute Advisory Council.
Covanta also operates energy-from-waste facilities in Dauphin, Lancaster, Montgomery and York counties, as well as a metals recycling facility in Bucks County and ECOvanta, an electronics waste recycling operation in Philadelphia.
For more information on its facilities in Pennsylvania and around the world, visit the Covanta website. Click Here for Covanta’s most recent Sustainability Report.
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