Missouri Organic Recycling

Environmental Excellence Award

Missouri Organic has 100 employees and 5 locations. By composting 50 tons of food waste every day, MOR is both making a great recycled product and also reducing the source of methane emissions from our landfills. To deal with contamination in the waste stream, MOR built and installed a custom-designed system of a depackager, storage tanks, and a large mixing vessel to rapidly move food waste from liquid into a well-built composting pile. The depackager ejects wet cardboard and plastic which are mixed with ground used pallets and sold as “refuse derived fuel” to a nearby cement kiln. This makes their process “zero waste to landfill,” a very desirable designation.  Through Its Urban Lumber Company branch, Missouri Organic Recycling diverts large trees from the waste stream into beautiful furniture and wood products.

The community building efforts of Missouri Organic are comprehensive. They donate compost and mulch to schools, community gardens, churches and many more throughout the year. In 2017 MOR hired a Director of Outreach and Education. 7 years later they have 6 people working full or part-time on educating the public about responsible waste management. Through workshops, public appearances, promoting their in-school composting curriculum and more, MOR helps develop more informed customers and better environment stewards. The Food Too Good to Waste Science unit has served more than 16,000 students in Kansas through 3 consecutive grants from the solid waste bureau of KDHE. In addition to that the company has sponsored and organized 3 annual Compost Festivals for the KC metro. These are large gatherings of 2-300 people learning about composting and watching the building of a 60 foot long compost windrow made of ground up leaves and beer dregs. Finally, starting in 2022, the Climate Friendly Yard Makeover was launched. The goal was to demonstrate how three different residential properties can become more climate- friendly, using less inputs, growing healthy food, etc. Starting the third year now, the properties will be open for a day of tours on June 15th.

Thomas R. Gredell, P.E., BSCE, MSCE

Lifetime Achievement Award

GREDELL Engineering Resources, Inc. (GER) offers civil engineering design with an environmental focus. GER was founded in 2001 by Thomas R. Gredell, P.E., BSCE, MSCE. After graduation from the University of Missouri–Rolla, Mr. Gredell worked for the state of Missouri’s solid waste management regulatory permitting program for 12 years. Prior to starting GER, he worked nine years for private consulting firms, first as a project manager and vice-president of a Missouri consulting firm from 1992 through June 1998, then followed by 2.5 years as a project manager for a regional Midwest consulting firm. GER has experienced steady, controlled growth since 2001. Based in Jefferson City, they have branch offices located in Springfield, Missouri, and Olathe, Kansas. The Jefferson City office is strategically located within 1 mile of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) headquarters and their Elm Street office. This location provides GER with central geographic access to the state of Missouri and the state regulatory agencies.

Tom has been involved in the MWCC since its days in Columbia.   He was The President of MWCC in 2001-2002.  Has served on the Board of Directors, Golf Tournament Chairman, and Sponsor of the Scholarship Raffle. A true mentor and Leader.

In Memory of Carla "McDowell" Banham

[Written by: Tom Gredell, P.E., GREDELL Engineering Resources, Inc. ]  Carla “McDowell” Banham passed away ‘before her time’ this spring after a battle with cancer.  Known to MWCC and waste industry members simply as Carla McDowell, I did not know her legal name (Banham) until after she had left us!  Carla was born into the waste industry. Her dad, Jerry McDowell, started McDowell Trash Service in 1951 and was active in the solid waste industry his entire life.  Carla followed in her dad’s footsteps and was active in the waste industry her entire life.

I got to know Carla back in the 1980’s very early in my career when I was a solid waste regulator at the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR).  I can’t remember if I first spoke to her regarding her father’s sanitary landfill that was permitted in Lafayette County, or if I first spoke to her when she would MDNR to get a ‘special waste’ approved for the landfill she was working for in the KC area.  Carla was memorable and affable and friendly, despite being a special waste salesperson!  She was a GOOD salesperson!  She was easy to talk to and knew when and how to push for ‘the sale’.  Working with her in the 1980’s while at MDNR, she would push, probe, query, beg or try to reason with me until she was given the special waste approval (OR NOT!) that she was looking for.  But she was never annoying and never got angry or snide!  SHE WAS A “PROFESSIONAL” IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD.

In 1994-1995 she was the President of the MWCC!  As president, she would have been involved on the MWCC Board for AT LEAST 5 years before that.  While I cannot recall her specific contributions to the MWCC, she was on the MWCC Board at the end of the 1980’s when the controversy of hazardous waste regulation was dying down and solid waste regulation was taking the forefront.  Missouri had implemented Closure & Post-Closure in the late 1980’s and Subtitle D was being talked about and implemented in the early to mid-1990s.  Carla helped navigate the MWCC through that time of change.

After her term on the MWCC Board ended in 1996, Carla could have quit coming to the MWCC like some other before her had done.  But she was dedicated to the waste industry and enjoyed being around her industry peers!  She was invested in the value of MWCC!   Carla was in the Clean Harbors booth last year, and I’m sure she will be with MWCC in spirit this year!  To sum it all up, Carla McDowell was a Lifetime Waste Professional!  And she will be missed!

Prior Recipients