Tuesday, Nov. 15 - Mark Naef, CEO of Naef Recycling, Syracuse, NY received the “Recycler of the Year” award from Sharon Fisher, President of The New York State Association of Reduction, Reuse and Recycling at their 16th annual recycling conference, "Waste is A Resource in the Wrong Place” held in Rochester, NY.

Sharon said Mark received the award because of “his longstanding commitment to recycling as exemplified by such activities as his company’s recent  recycling scholarships awarded to two high school students in Onondaga County; his open door policy of offering tours of his plant 12 months of the year to any community group that wants to tour Naef Recycling and  his involvement in the Go Green program in schools in the city of Syracuse.”

Mark Naef, President of Naef Recycling has a long history of involvement with recycling.  He was canvas director with Recycle First, a local advocacy recycling group founded in 1988; a Recycling Specialist with RRT/Empire Returns, a company that built the first recycling center in Onondaga County and Marketing Manager for Daystar Recycling, a private paper brokerage company serving municipalities and private recyclers in New York state. Mark is past Vice President and a current board member of NYSARRR.

The Life Time Achievement Award was presented by President Fisher to Suzanne LaLonde, retired Director of Recycling and Waste Reduction for the Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency. Under her leadership OCRRA developed an award winning county recycling program which has achieved one of the highest recycling rates in the state of New York.  She served on the New York State America Recycles Day Steering Committee since its inception and continues to make herself available to speak about recycling in Onondaga County.