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The city of Medford has diverted more than 2 million pounds of waste from landfills since the inception of a new municipal collection program targeting waste reduction began in July 2024. (Photo courtesy city of Medford)
The city of Medford has won this year’s Outstanding Community Award from the Northeast Recycling Council for its efforts to reduce waste and create a more sustainable waste collection system through its free curbside composting program.
The Northeast Recycling Council honors a community, an organization and a person each year for their contributions to recycling education and innovation. Medford will be recognized at the council’s ninth annual Environmental Leadership Awards Ceremony on Oct. 7 in Boston.
The NERC cited the city’s efforts to implement a municipal collection system that reduces waste — a multi-year collaboration involving a citizen Solid Waste Task Force, elected officials, residents, businesses, service providers, and nonprofit and academic institutions.
According to city officials, Medford has diverted more than 2 million pounds of waste from landfills since the program began in July 2024.
“This award shows that the work we’re doing in both composting and recycling is having real, transformative effects on how our community thinks about waste and the steps we’re taking to create a more sustainable environment for the future,” Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn said in a prepared statement. “We are honored to be recognized by the Northeast Recycling Council for these efforts.”
Sophie Leone, NERC’s development and program manager, called Medford’s program a “perfect representation of NERC’s mission to minimize waste, conserve natural resources, and advance a sustainable economy through facilitated collaboration and action.”