Prince William County roundup

North Woodbridge focus of development session

The future development of North Woodbridge in Prince William County will be the focus of an upcoming planning charrette hosted by the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, Supervi-sor Frank Principi, the Northern Virginia Regional Commission and the Woodbridge Civic Asso-ciation.

The charrette is scheduled for Nov. 13-15 at Botts Firehall, 1306 F St., Woodbridge. The public is invited to attend. To register and for more information about the charrette go to http://www.newwoodbridge.org, call 703-792-4646 or contact bjohnson1@pw cgov.org .

A charrette is a word of French origin that refers to an intensive effort to complete a design. In the context of this charrette, it is an intensive, interactive process that brings the community and planning and design experts together and through a series of exercises, develops concepts re-garding a community's strengths and weaknesses, identifies community desires, and de-velops a broad vision for how the community can get to its desired destination.

For more information, contact G. Mark Gibb, Executive Director or Aimee Vosper, Director of Planning and Environmental Services, Northern Virginia Regional Commission, at avosper@no varegion.org or 703-642-4623.

Prince William landfill wins two awards

The Solid Waste Division of the Department of Public Works has been recognized with two pres-tigious awards. The first award was presented by the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) for landfill management. The second award, presented by the Prince William Regional Chamber of Commerce, was presented to the landfill for being the Innovative Business of the Year.

Public Works received the 2008 Landfill Management Excellence Silver Award from SWANA at its annual WASTECON conference in Tampa, Florida. This award is presented for meeting and exceeding strict criteria in design and construction, environmental controls, regulatory compli-ance, planning, operations, financial management, equipment and technologies utilization, public acceptance, appearance and aesthetics, and innovation and creativity. SWANA is the leading professional association in solid waste management and serves over 8,100 members.

•The Chamber of Commerce awarded the Solid Waste Division with the Innovative Business Practice of the Year. The division strives to lessen the environmental impact of consumer waste. The County landfill is designed with state-of-the-art environmental controls, including an alterna-tive hybrid liner system that exceeds regulatory requirements and an extensive groundwater monitoring program. Gas emitted from the landfill is converted into useable energy. The "Too Good to Waste" area received a Governor's Environmental Excellence Award and proves that one man's trash is truly another man's treasure. Nationally, the landfill is considered a model facility for its innovative efforts to reduce, reuse and recy-cle.

For more information about the Solid Waste Division or the above awards, contact the Solid Waste Division, Department of Public Works, 5 County Complex Court, Suite 250, Prince William, VA 22192 703-792-4670. You can also learn more from our Web site at http://www.pwcgov.org/recycling.