SOUTH HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Collins Bus Corp. was awarded the Green Corporate Citizen Award at the inaugural Corporate Recycling & Waste Conference in Orlando, Fla. 

Collins has been able to reduce its waste stream by more than 90 percent in just two years, officials said. In 2008 and earlier, the company was sending virtually all of its waste, with the exception of scrap metal, to a local landfill. Under a new program designed to analyze all types of waste, the company discovered that a significant portion of the nearly 1,000 tons a year it was sending to the dump could be recycled. Some of the items included pallets, cardboard and waste wood.

Collins began a company-wide recycling initiative in 2009, lowering its waste-to-landfill amount to 293 tons in 2010. In 2011, a new single-stream recycling program was started. The programs were started by Mike Strickland, Collins´ environmental, health and safety manager. He accepted the Green Corporate Citizen Award on behalf of the company at the conference. 

“Mike has been out front, leading in all of our environmental and waste-reduction efforts. These initiatives have proven good for the company and good for the environment,” said Kent Tyler, president of Collins Bus Corp.

The Green Corporate Citizen Award program is awarded by Waste & Recycling News and is sponsored by Greenstar Recycling. Collins won the award in a competition that was narrowed to three finalists, including General Motors Corp. and Turner Construction Inc.