The Chester Environmental Partnership (CEP) recently honored Covanta’s John G. Waffenschmidt, vice president of environmental science and community affairs, for his efforts and leadership in environmental justice.

Covanta owns and operates the Delaware Valley Resource Recovery Facility in Chester, and is a long-standing member of the CEP.

Founded to improve health and the environment through cooperative action, the CEP is an environmental partnership amongst the community, federal, state, and local government, businesses, local churches, and non-profit organizations that identify community issues affecting Chester residents and collaborate in developing solutions.

“I want to thank John for his support of CEP,” said CEP Founder and Chairman Reverend Dr. Horace W. Strand. “With his leadership, we have been able to improve the lives of Chester residents and further the environmental justice movement on a national level.

“I applaud Covanta as one of the first companies in the United States to establish an environmental justice policy for its work within the community. This is a national example of what working together can do.”

Covanta’s Community Outreach and Environmental Justice Policy was prepared in response to the need to ensure all communities, especially communities which are disadvantaged, have a fair and just opportunity to participate in the decision-making process in matters impacting their local environment.

The policy provides a tangible commitment by Covanta to engage fully with the communities in which it has, or will have, facilities to reduce discharges and minimize emissions, and to do this in a manner which ensures meaningful involvement by those communities.

“I’m deeply honored to receive this recognition from the Chester Environmental Partnership; I have been enriched by being a member of the CEP,” said Waffenschmidt.

“The question of how to integrate industrial facilities into communities in a positive way is in part answered by the process developed by the Chester Environmental Partnership under Dr. Strand’s leadership. That format, which allows direct communication between companies and citizens, ensures that all parties are knowledgeable of each other’s needs.”