Missouri River Relief

Environmental Excellence Award

Missouri River Relief (MRR) is a grassroots organization comprised of dedicated and highly motivated volunteers who clean miles of shoreline in Missouri and beyond. 

MRR is a passionate and eclectic group of staff and volunteers committed to cleaning the shores of the Missouri River and its tributaries, educating participants through hands-on experiences, and encouraging exploration and use of the river for recreation. One of the unique aspects of this group is their meticulous cataloging of all the trash they collect, resulting in a detailed account of each year’s efforts. All collected trash is sorted, and aluminum, glass, and plastic are recycled thanks to recycling partners and facilities.

Since its humble beginnings in 2001, MRR has significantly enhanced this great American river by removing tons of trash from its shorelines. The Missouri River, like many rivers that flow through urban areas, is plagued by litter. Unfortunately, even today, many people view rivers as their personal dumping grounds. Missouri River Relief is working to correct this situation by shedding light on this crisis while educating the public.

Nicholas Paul

MWCC Lifetime Achievement Award

Nick Paul has been an integral part of the Solid Waste staff in the City of Columbia for over 21 years. He started his career at the landfill before spending time as the Superintendent over all three phases of Solid Waste operations: Collections, the Landfill and Recycling Operations. Nick also spent time as Interim Director of the Transit Division. During his career he was invaluable in leading the Solid Waste safety committee, participating in the Citywide Safety Committee, serving as a board member of the Missouri Recycling Association and as a valuable member of the MWCC.  
 
Nick has spent the last decade as Superintendent of Recycling Operations. During this time he oversaw the transition of the Material Recovery Facility from a predominantly part time staff to a full time staff and the transition from an eight hour sorting schedule to a ten hour sorting schedule which allowed for a more efficient operation with fewer breakdowns in the aging equipment. 
 
Nick Paul has lived a life of service. He served our nation as a member of the U.S. Army for 20 years and the City of Columbia for over 21 years. It will be no surprise for those who know him to learn that he “adopted” certain elderly customers and neighbors. Not only would he personally help them with their solid waste issues, he would also help them with other city issues and check on them during power outages. He is well liked throughout the city in no small part due to his penchant for buying donuts for his staff, bribing the Human Resources Department with donuts and candy, and his timely apologies for using profanity; a habit that carried over from his military career. 

Nick has had a continuous presence with the MWCC since 2005. He has served on the Board of Directors for a number of years.  He is  a regular attendee of Board of Directors meetings always willing to help where needed.  Nick is a Champion for the Scholarship program, making him the highest selling raffle ticket seller for years generating more than $15,000 in sales himself.  His passion for this is what has made our Annual raffle for the Scholarship program a success. Congratulations, Nick!

Larry Lehman

Jan Dillow Coalition Contribution Award

Larry has been a long-time employee at the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, where he currently serves as Deputy Director, Division of Environmental Quality,  He has been with the department since 1993 and has served in a variety of positions in the department’s Environmental Remediation Program, Waste Management Program, Environmental Services Program and the Land Reclamation Program.

He has also been a long-time member of the Missouri Waste Control Coalition (MWCC). He has served on the board of directors, then as an officer, culminating as President for a two year period from 2019 - 2021. He was Conference Chair for the  2019 conference with the theme of “Balancing Environment and Economy, ”  which had more than 450 attendees. 

As President, Larry marshalled the MWCC through COVID. The 2020 conference was canceled, but MWCC stayed active by offering free webinars throughout the year to maintain contact with its members. His leadership and energy during this period kept people engaged and brought us together for the 2021 conference.

Larry continues his involvement with MWCC as a member of its advisory board and conference track facilitator. 

Greg Bischof,  CHMM

Lifetime Achievement Award

Mr. Bischof is a consummate environmental professional with over 35 years’ experience in environmental investigation and remediation. Over 28 of those years have been with Environmental Works, Inc. (EWI) – a comprehensive environmental solutions provider. In his time at EWI he has managed and overseen a wide variety of remediation projects directly minimizing contamination impacts throughout the central states. Those sites required specific cleanup/ remediation planning, closure feasibility assessments, and negotiating access agreements and property transactions with property owners supporting their efforts under PSTIF, BVCP and others.

He has managed over 200 MRBCA sites from characterization to remedial technology development, installation and management to regulatory agency communication support. Those sites involved contaminants such as VOCs, RCRA metals, PCBs and others. He has also worked extensively on a variety of railroad sites – one major railroad project required collection of samples from over 70 locations. His leadership enabled the excavation of 1,700 tons of impacted soil executed with no downtime for the railroad, setting the standard for efficiency and safety in the industry. This work has improved the environmental quality for thousands of sites.

Greg formerly served on the Springfield-Greene County Environmental Advisory Board. He and his wife Denise are Springfield-Greene County "Choose Environmental Excellence" Members, and volunteer frequently with the James River Basin Partnership for area river cleanups. With his forthcoming semi-retirement this summer, Greg is looking forward to pursuing his Master Gardener certification and increasing volunteer involvement within his community.

Outside of his many professional accomplishments, he is an avid outdoorsman, leader, teacher, and mentor to many EWI staff who now lead significant remediation projects. He intentionally shares his knowledge, insight, and experience to enrich and educate the next generation of environmental professionals.

Mike Inman

Lifetime Achievement Award

Mike Inman began his career as a Temporary Laborer I on October 8, 1990 working for the Department of Public Works. At that time recycling and other environmental services were just in the fledgling state of beginning in the City of Springfield. As the City launched the voter approved Integrated Solid Waste Management System
(ISWMS) in 1991, Mike was promoted to Laborer II in September of that year. As the Solid Waste Management Division began to take shape and the other pieces of the ISWMS began to form and take shape around the core landfill piece, Mike began to play a key role in many of the key decisions that formed the foundation of the system. Mike was involved in the daily work of infant “recycling sites” that consisted of little more than gravel lots with a few bins and small hand fed wood chippers, but his role continued to grow as these sites expanded and became more permanent including the opening of
the first year-round permanently staffed Household Chemical Collection Center (HCCC) in the state of Missouri in 1994. This resulted in Mike being promoted to the Collection Center Assistant in July of that same year.

Mike continued to be a leader in the City’s development and growth of not only the HCCC, but also the Yardwaste Recycling Center, and multiple recycled materials drop off locations throughout the City. As a result, Mike was promoted to his current title of Collection Center Coordinator in May of 1996.

Under Mike’s continued leadership the Yardwaste Recycling Center, HCCC, and drop off locations have grown to modern, state of the art, permanent staffed locations that are vital to the ongoing success of the City of Springfield ISWMS. These sites and their staff frequently serve as examples of success for other communities including providing training and support for communities across the region. Additionally, under Mike’s leadership, these sites frequently receive the highest levels of satisfaction compared to all areas of City services as ranked by the citizens of Springfield. Currently averaging
over 250,000 tons of diverted materials and over 300,000 customer visits on an annual basis, it’s not an exaggeration to say that these facilities have provided services to millions of customers and diverted millions of tons of materials from Missouri landfills during Mike’s thirty-five year tenure as a City employee.

His growth as a City employee, and his leadership in the foundation and growth of Springfield’s ISWMS exemplify service to the citizens of Springfield, the City, and the environment and are worthy of the Lifetime Achievement Award.