Covanta wins award for excellence in community service

Covanta, based in Morristown, New Jersey, announced it has been honored with the 2019 Award for Excellence for Community Service from the New Jersey Business and Industry Association (NJBIA). NJBIA’s annual award acknowledges outstanding businesses and their leaders who have improved New Jersey’s economic climate and quality of life.

According to the company, supporting community programs and initiatives has long been an integral part of Covanta’s mission. For more than 30 years, the company has committed to issues such as furthering environmental education, supporting those in need and protecting the public's drinking water and waterways.

“We are honored to be recognized for our community service efforts in our home state by the New Jersey Business and Industry Association,” Stephen Jones, president and CEO of Covanta, says. “With our commitment to sustainability, we work to support environmental issues we believe in—issues like clean air and clean water. By supporting these, we are taking important steps to ensure we are protecting tomorrow for people, communities and our planet.” 

Examples of Covanta’s involvement in the community include:

• Establishing a recycling program and helping generate enthusiasm for learning about the environment in the Camden County School District.
• Providing a free service to address the lack of a standard system for safe and secure disposal of unused medications, keeping drugs out of the wrong hands and out of our waterways. Covanta facilities have destroyed over 6 million pounds of unwanted drugs and medications nationally.
• Hosting electronic waste collection events which have gathered and safely disposed of more than 103,000 pounds of consumer electronic equipment that is no longer needed, preventing it from contaminating the environment in which residents live and work.
• Combatting marine pollution as a founding partner of the Fishing for Energy partnership, which provides conveniently located collection bins for disposal of old fishing gear and marine debris.

Covanta’s energy-from-waste (EFW) facilities in New Jersey serve over 110 municipalities in the state. These facilities process waste that remains after recycling and generate renewable energy to area homes and businesses.

According to the company, Covanta’s EFW facilities prevent the release of 22 million tons of greenhouse gases per year by avoiding landfilling.