Robert M. "Robbie" Robinson

Lifetime Achievement Award

Robert M. Robinson, or ‘Robbie’ as most in the Missouri’s Solid Waste Management world in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. He was born in 1937 and grew up on a farm south of Kansas City. He earned his Engineering degree in 1960 and went on to earn his MS in Engineering in 1963 from UMC. Robbie started his career with the Missouri Department of Health in 1968.  In 1974, when the MDNR was formed Robbie moved over to staff Missouri’s new environmental programs. Soon after joining MDNR, he became the Director of the Solid Waste Management Program, whose objective was to implement the 1973 Missouri Solid Waste Management Law and rules.

Robbie and a hand-full of others (including Rick Roberts) set out to close or transform all private and City dumps in Missouri, into well operated sanitary landfills. In 1981, Robbie left MDNR to work at Burns & McDonnell, where he continued spreading his knowledge and wisdom of waste management.

When Robbie retired, his peers joked that ‘Now he only works 40-hours per week!’. In his retirement, Robbie continued to dabble in solid waste management projects for old clients, peers and friends that he had previously worked with, providing advice that only someone who has ‘seen it all’ could provide. If Robbie Robinson is not the ‘Godfather of Solid Waste’, he is inarguably the ‘Father of Solid Waste Management’ in Missouri, and a true legend in the industry.

Scott Martin

Jan Dillow Coalition Contribution Award

Scott Martin was president from 2018-2019. The theme of the 2018 conference for which Scott was chair, was “Back to the Future.” It was memorable for the DeLorean that was brought to the conference and great attendance. Scott’s involvement and dedication to both SWANA and MWCC has helped to build a stronger relationship between the two organizations resulting in the Missouri Chapter of SWANA sponsoring the Solid Waste Track for the past several years. He continues to serve on the advisory board for the Missouri Waste Control Coalition. Scott is a design engineer and project manager at Burns & McDonnell and has been instrumental in helping to increase the private company involvement and support of MWCC and our Annual Environmental Conference.

In Memory of Anna Custer

Jan Dillow Coalition Contribution Award

Anna Custer served as president from 2021-2022.  She had the distinction of being conference chair for not one, but two conferences: the 2020 conference, which was canceled due to COVID-19, and the 2021 conference, post COVID. She put all her energies into making it one of the best conferences as demonstrated by the attendance, helping both MWCC and the industry recover from COVID disruptions. Anna was a Senior Account Executive for Pace Analytical and brought her unique perspective from working in the labs to the Missouri Waste Control Coalition.  She was instrumental in bringing special topics to the conferences over the years such as CCR and PFAs. She unexpectedly passed away in November 2022 and her humor, work ethic and knowledge of the environmental industry will be sorely missed.

• John Haasis - Jan Dillow Coalition Contribution

2016

• Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing Corp. - Environmental Excellence
• Steve Fishman - Lifetime Achievement
• Steve Meyer - Jan Dillow Coalition Contributions

2015

• Avenue of Life - Environmental Excellence
• Brandy Kean - Jan Dillow Coalition Contributions
  

2014

• City of Springfield, Missouri - Environmental Innovation
• St. Louis Earth Day's Recycling on the Go Program - Environmental Leadership
• Kevin O'Brien - Lifetime Achievement
• Mark Russell - Jan Dillow Coalition Contributions
  

2013

• Closed Loop Recycling - Environmental Innovation

• City of Columbia - Environmental Innovation