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SOUTH HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Collins Bus Corp. was recently honored with the 2011 Pollution Prevention (P2) Award by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) for its efforts in water conservation and solid waste reduction.

Type A school bus manufacturer received the award at a ceremony during the Kansas Environmental Conference in Topeka, Kan.

John Mitchell, director of KDHE’s Division of Environment, noted when presenting the award that the Kansas Pollution Prevention Program promotes pollution prevention as an environmental ethic to achieve improvements in public health and environmental quality.

The award is presented to entities that have reduced or eliminated waste at the source, reduced air emissions or practiced energy and/or water conservation. The P2 program allows KDHE to highlight specific efforts so that others might be able to incorporate the same projects into their business or manufacturing processes.

Collins Bus Corp. implemented programs to recycle wood pallets, cardboard and other waste material. A new single-stream recycling program and other waste-reduction initiatives reduced the amount of solid waste being sent to the Reno County Landfill by nearly 90 percent, officials said.

In addition, Collins made changes to its water test quality assurance operation that reduced water use by over 400,000 gallons per year.

“We’re proud to be recognized by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment for our efforts in pollution prevention. The employees of Collins Bus Corp. have fully embraced our efforts to reduce the waste stream across all of our operations,” said Kent Tyler, president of Collins Bus Corp.

Eaton Corp. and John Deere Corp. also received awards during the conference.