35th Annual CRA Awards
Each year, the Carolina Recycling Association honors top performers that advance waste reduction and recycling in the Carolinas. The 2025 Awards recipients were honored at the Annual Conference in Wilmington, NC. Continuing this year, the award categories were consolidated into a general pool and a panel of judges selected outstanding people, projects, and/or programs to recognize. There were five nominees that rose to the top with creative and new ways to approach recycling and help improve the way recycling and waste reduction happens in the Carolinas! CRA also awarded our annual Volunteer Super Hero of the Year Award!
PowerHouse Recycling Inc
Powerhouse is leading the charge in solar panel recycling across the Southeast, installing the east coast’s first dedicated solar panel recycling line in 2023. The specialized machinery allows for 98-100 percent pure recovery of silicon, glass, and metals from decommissioned solar panels, diverting them from landfills and reintroducing them into the production cycle, creating a true circular economy. These investments are bringing much needed recycling infrastructure to the region as a growing volume of solar panels will need responsible end-of-life management solutions with upcoming legislation and disposal regulations.
Synergy Electronics Recycling & RePolyTex
Synergy, along with its subsidiary RePolyTex, have a groundbreaking approach to mixed plastic recycling, specifically from electronic waste.
They have developed a revolutionary process that eliminates the need for extensive separation by type.
Their innovative technology utilizes 100% of the mixed plastic stream derived from electronic recycling, including the portion typically discarded. The process transforms this heterogeneous plastic waste into durable and versatile composite boards, called Mamba Board, suitable for a wide range of applications.
The resulting composite boards exhibit high strength, weather resistance, and durability, making them a viable and sustainable alternative to traditional materials in various industries.
By eliminating the energy-intensive separation processes, their approach significantly reduces the carbon footprint associated with plastic recycling. Furthermore, the production of the Mamba boards requires less energy compared to manufacturing traditional materials, further minimizing their environmental impact.
Simply Green Recycling
Simply Green Recycling is a leader when it comes to making a difference in the community on a “normal”day by providing an array of recycling services to Western North Carolina. However, when Hurricane Helene hit the area, the company kicked their community impact into another gear.
Immediately following the storm, Simply Green began assisting with recovery efforts. Unable to run regular recycling routes due to road conditions and inaccessibility, they put their trucks to use delivering water and supplies to those in need. Even after regular recycling pickup resumed a week later, the company continued delivering supplies to mountain communities and helped distribution sites recycle cardboard and plastic. BeLoved Asheville expressed their gratitude, sharing on Facebook:
“Even in the hardest times, do the right thing,” I overheard him say to himself as we loaded all the recycling into his truck. Simply Green Recycling Pick Up arrived at the Warehouses just days after we began the Rapid Response at BeLoved Asheville. He asked if we had any plans for recycling. We told him we hadn’t had time to even think about it. His response was simple: “You all handle the love—you know better than anyone how to help and love our community. I’ll handle the recycling.” And just like that, we saw him organizing bins for plastic and cardboard. Days later, he started hauling loads of recycling. Among all the stories of love we’ve witnessed in these weeks following the hurricane, this one warms our hearts. It reminds us that even when times are tough, doing the right thing is what makes a difference.”
Southeastern Container
Southeastern Container has 2 amazing projects:
- FLAKE TO PELLET – They have been designing technology that will allow them to procure PET FLAKE and turn it into the pellets needed to make the preforms and bottles used at over 50 Coca-Cola operations in the US and Canada. One of the barriers in getting bottles back to be made into new bottles has been availability of RPET pellets. by bypassing this process SEC will be able to procure RPET flake directly from processors directly into bottles. This process has not been done before.
- HDPE PALLETS – Traditionally, the beverage industry has used wooden pallets that break easily, and many times end up in a landfill. The opportunity came to replace these wooden pallets with plastic pallets made from recycled HDPE. Not only are these plastic pallets more durable and longer lasting they can now be recycled easily through this program in Asheville, NC. Broken and damaged pallets get shipped to SEC’s partner, KC Plastic where they grind them down and reprocess them into pellets. SEC takes these recycled pellets and build brand new pallets for the Coca-Cola system to use again and again. This innovation has helped divert over 10M lbs of landfill waste from the system.
John Demary
John is the Solid Waste Director in Pitt County and is the reason Greenville, NC has a MRF today! His work was instrumental in RDS’ purchase and retrofit of the ECVC recycling facility after they ceased operations in 2023.
John put a tremendous amount of work and effort into evaluating a range of options to be sure that recycling could continue in eastern North Carolina. The Greenville MRF is a critical piece of the state’s recycling infrastructure, serving an 8-county region in eastern North Carolina where no other recycling facility exists. He ensured that not only Pitt County, but all of ECVC’s customers were able to continue bringing recycling to the facility, while RDS acquired the property and made improvements before reopening the facility in Summer 2024.
Volunteer of the Year – Anna DeLage, SC Department of Commerce
Anna DeLage was honored with our 2025 Outstanding Service Award in recognition of her exceptional dedication, time, and expertise in supporting and strengthening CRA. Her guidance has been instrumental in the success of our events, programming, and collaborative efforts.
Anna is an exemplary partner, consistently demonstrating an unmatched attitude of service. She embodies the kind of professionalism and commitment that any industry would be fortunate to have—and we are truly grateful to have her on our team.