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South Carolina Challenges its Own
The state of South Carolina has implemented a broad Resource Conservation Challenge program of its own, hoping to help businesses, local governments, schools and citizens find ways to cut back on waste.
The primary goal of the Challenge is to identify ways to help these taxpayer-supported groups save money on waste disposal and energy costs, foster greater resource conservation and recycling, and promote the purchasing of environmentally-preferable products.
The Challenge began with a free, one-day workshop held last year at the State Museum and sponsored by EPA and the South Carolina Soft Drink Association. Attendees were greeted by Chad Walldorf, assistant chief of staff for Governor Mark Sanford, and were challenged to take the information and resources presented during the workshop back to their respective offices and departments and make a positive difference for the state's environment as well as its wallet.
There was also a moderated discussion about the biggest challenges and concerns faced by state government and the development of a task force to communicate regularly with attendees on progress being made.
A task force of 18 people representing various state agencies, colleges and universities have met three times since last May to develop a work plan, identify priority areas for attention and develop a Web site to serve as a repository for resources and information available to Challenge participants to assist their efforts to reduce waste, conserve resources and energy, and save money.
A task force also evaluated warehouses of old computers and searched for a vendor that could handle the waste responsibly. Doing the footwork and finding a contractor as a state saves individual agencies the cost of finding a suitable vendor on their own, explained Karen Owens, state environmental official.
Three subcommittees were formed to facilitate work on energy conservation, greater understanding on purchasing environmentally-preferable products, and developing communication tools to help Challenge participants achieve their goals.
Partners in the South Carolina Resource Conservation Challenge are the state's Department of Health and Environmental Control's Office of Solid Waste Reduction and Recycling partnered with the South Carolina Department of Commerce's Recycling Market Development Advisory Council (RMDAC), the State Energy Office and the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
For More Information:
- South Carolina
Department of Health and Environmental Control's Office
of Solid Waste Reduction and Recycling
- South
Carolina Department of Commerce's Recycling Market Development
Advisory Council (RMDAC)
- South Carolina
Energy Office
- South
Carolina Department of Corrections Prison Industries
- Are You Resource Conservation Challenged? (PDF) (1 pg, 29K, about PDF) Article from The Energy Connection (Summer 2003), a newsletter from the South Carolina Energy Office