Kimberly Moore knows our planet is changing and she’s on it. Since 2013, the Kennedy Space Center’s recycling system has streamlined its efforts to reuse materials with a Web-based portal called the Sustainable tracking Tool for Automated Recycling, or STAR. An executive assistant with Wichita Tribal Enterprises, Moore was recently honored for her untiring work supporting efforts to preserve the environment by ensuring office material is recycled.
NASA continues to make a difference in people’s lives. One way is by saving resources as well as increasing recycling revenue with the STAR portal. The effort is designed to process requests for emptying recycle collection bins or ordering new ones.
During a Kennedy Institutional Support Services III, or KISS III, contract staff meeting on March 17, Glenn Semmel, NASA’s Environmental Management Branch chief at Kennedy, joined Annie Williams, a NASA Environmental Protection specialist, in presenting Moore with the 2014 STAR Top User Award.
Moore serves as a Wichita Tribal Enterprises executive assistant in the NASA Procurement Office at the Florida spaceport. As the KISS III contractor, Wichita Tribal Enterprises provides institutional support services in areas such as technical training, employee development, clerical support, and financial management support.
The Environmental Management Branch of Center Operations created the STAR Award to honor efforts to support and use the recycling system.
According to Williams, the recycling program at Kennedy was originally established as a “milk run” process, with every recycle container emptied on a weekly or monthly basis. However, with the STAR Web-based portal, it is now an “on demand” process, with containers emptied only when a service request is submitted.
“To do this the Sustainable tracking Tool for Automated Recycling portal was created,” she said. “Now employees submit a request when their recycling bin is about three-quarters full. Since we were looking for a way to both advertise the program and acknowledge employees who are using it, we came up with the STAR Award.”
The STAR Award is presented annually to the single top user based on how many times someone submits a request.
“The star design on the plaque was made of plate glass windows removed from the firing rooms of Kennedy’s Launch Control Center, or LCC,” said Williams. “The windows were a permanent fixture on the LCC from 1963 until they were removed during a 2010 renovation project.”
Semmel and Williams also presented three “Catch an Environmentalist” Awards to Moore, Cindy Pfeil of InoMedic Health Applications Inc. and James Larubio of the Brevard Achievement Center. Pfeil and Larubio were recognized at staff meetings for their areas of work.
According to Semmel, the three were recognized for focused efforts contributing to Kennedy’s recycling program. “Catch an Environmentalist” recipients are presented certificates recognizing both individuals and teams that have notably contributed to environmental stewardship at the space center based on frequency of STAR’s use.
“Your efforts for submitting recycling requests into the STAR system have earned you a spot in the 2014 Top STAR User category,” he said.
“Without these champions, we would not have a recycling program,” said Williams. “The revenue we receive from recycling also comes back to Kennedy and is used to fund Sustainability projects.”
For information on the center’s recycling program, employees may call 321-867-3305. When recycling containers are three-quarters full, visit the STAR website at http://star.ksc.nasa.gov to request that the container be emptied.
Semmel explains that while recycling is an important part of protecting the environment, there is more to the overall effort.
“Many of us primarily associate sustainability with the task of recycling,” said Semmel. “In fact, recycling is the largest environmental movement the world has ever known, especially given its reach into our professional and private lives and the numerous municipalities that perform the work. However, sustainability is much more. It spans environmental, economic and social equities. Along that ‘triple bottom line,’ every directorate at Kennedy can help transform our center into a 21st century premier sustainable spaceport.”