With Litter clinging to her sweater, Liz Sweedy, Morris County Clean Communities Coordinator, visits a classroom to tell the students why they shouldn't litter. She reads the book The Wartville Wizard and shows slides from the book. She introduces them to her puppets and tells them about storm drains and how litter travels through them and how plastic wrap looks like a jellyfish in the water and is eaten by fish. Liz Sweedy has given 45 of these small classroom presentations this spring to over 900 elementary school students. In addition, she contracts with several educational presenters who also educate in the Morris County schools, usually in an assembly type format to all ages of students.
  

October 15, 2003 - The Association of New Jersey Recyclers (ANJR) bestowed  the 2003 REX (Recycling Excellence) Award on Morris County District Recycling Coordinator Kathleen Hourihan at “Drive Home Recycling,” the 23rd Annual Recycling Symposium and Luncheon. Sponsors of “Drive Home Recycling” were ANJR; the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste, and; the New Jersey Recycling Forum. 

The REX Award has been presented annually since 1994 to an active ANJR member who is well-versed on the issues of recycling and solid waste and who promotes ANJR goals through action and advocacy. 

A 1990 honors graduate of Cook College in New Brunswick, New Jersey, Kathleen holds a B.S. degree in environmental science.  In November 1993 she completed the first New Jersey Recycling Certification Series program offered by the Cook College Office of Continuing Professional Education. 

In June 1993 Kathleen began working at the Morris County Municipal Utilities Authority (MCMUA) as an assistant recycling specialist, and in August 1998 she became the Morris County district recycling coordinator. 

For several years she has served on the ANJR Board of Directors where she has been involved in several projects including overseeing the publishing of Beyond the Curb…, the ANJR newsletter. 

Kathleen, a Morris Plains resident and a member of the Morris Plains Recycling Committee, is also a Morris Habitat for Humanity volunteer who served on its board for six years.  As a Habitat Board member, she was secretary of the board and then chair of the public relations council.  During summer 2003 she spent a week in Anniston, Alabama, working on construction projects.  Former President Jimmy Carter, who was also volunteering at the Anniston project,  was photographed with Kathleen. 

            “Kathleen is very patient during ANJR Board meetings,” said Cumberland County Recycling Coordinator Dennis DeMatte, who presented the REX Award to her.  “She waits until nearly the end of meetings to ask detailed questions.” 

            “She’s a first when it comes to being passionate about waste prevention and recycling,” Dennis added.