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AROW Honors Recycling and Waste Reduction Efforts Throughout Wisconsin at Annual Awards Ceremony

The Associated Recyclers of Wisconsin (AROW) proudly held their annual awards ceremony last week at the 2018 Wisconsin Integrated Resource Management Conference (www.wirmc.org) in Elkhart Lake, at The Osthoff Resort. The ceremony, held on March 1st, recognized individuals and organizations for outstanding work in the field of recycling and waste reduction.

This year AROW gave out a total of five awards.

“AROW always looks forward to honoring those working hard in our industry. This year’s recipients clearly demonstrate the strength of recycling in Wisconsin with achievements in private industry as well as education,” said Meleesa Johnson, AROW’s President. “AROW is the voice for recycling and waste reduction in Wisconsin and we are proud to recognize these individuals and groups.”

The recipient of the prestigious Christy Dixon Recycler of the Year Award was Sharon Ehrhardt, Solid Waste/Clean Sweep Specialist for Jefferson County. This recognition is given to an individual whose career demonstrates the highest professional standards. “Sharon is one of the most important people I met as I began my job with Watertown,” explained Rick Schultz, street superintendent for the City of Watertown, when asked how to describe Sharon Ehrhardt. He goes on to say that without her he would never have successfully pursued such a wide variety of waste diversion and recycling programs. “Recycling was just not something that I thought I would be doing, but Sharon was there all the way helping me operate and improve programs.”

Rick’s statement epitomizes Sharon and her enthusiasm for the work that she does. She has been dedicated to “recycling causes” not only in Jefferson County, but around the state. Sharon has spent the last 17 years of her career convincing sometimes inconvincible county and local municipal officials that waste reduction, recycling and Clean Sweeps are indeed in their best interests. Sharon has served as co-chair of AROW’s Product Stewardship Committee for the last five years and was active with the committee prior to that. She attends nearly every AROW Board and Council on Recycling meeting and is not shy about providing her opinions. She served on the Pharmaceutical Waste Working Group from its inception and recently volunteered to serve as its secretary.

Sharon’s vision is probably best expressed in the manner in which she signs her emails: “Make recycling part of your life!” AROW is proud to add Sharon Ehrhardt to our list of Christy Dixon Recycler of the Year award recipients.