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2021 Richard I. Stessel Waste Management Award

Richard I. Stessel (1956–2001) was a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of South Florida and an avid A&WMA enthusiast. He influenced A&WMA’s Technical Council to include greener, energy-efficient, and integrated engineering solutions in solid and hazardous waste management, using materials science and engineering together with industrial ecology, environmental, and subsurface engineering, along with geological science in innovative solid and hazardous waste management. His vision of the environmental engineering cycle always considered recyclable materials, resource recovery in the matrix of pollution abatement, remediation, restoration, and disposal. Established in 2012, the Richard I. Stessel Award is presented annually by the Association for outstanding achievement in the engineering and science of waste management excellence. The recipient of this award must demonstrate technical accomplishments considered to be major contributions in innovative strategies, treatment, recycling, reuse, or engineering/scientific excellence in the principles of resource recovery engineering and waste processing waste management.

A&WMA presents the 2021 Richard I. Stessel Waste Management Award to the following individuals:

Lee Lundberg
Timothy Townsend


LEE LUNDBERG
For nearly half a century, Mr. Lundberg has been a leader in the development and implementation of innovative and sustainable solutions for the processing and management of wastewater treatment residuals and other waste materials. He has been employed by consulting, construction and operating firms and has also maintained a private engineering practice for more than 25 years. Mr. Lundberg’s experience covers a broad spectrum of applications, highlighted by projects involving processing of municipal, industrial, biological, medical, agricultural and mining wastes and residuals, with a significant focus on thermal processing of sludge and biosolids from wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) facilities. His specialized areas of expertise include: combustion, gasification, pyrolysis and thermal processing; dewatering and drying; energy recovery; biogas treatment and utilization; waste-to-energy; cogeneration and independent power.  
 
Mr. Lundberg has been a pioneer in the application of leading edge technologies and energy recovery to configure systems that provide safe, effective and efficient approaches to waste management. His goal has been to develop systems that can operate with minimal fossil fuel usage and enhanced emissions control. His projects and design concepts include a number of first-in-kind full-scale applications of innovative technologies to WWTP sludge and biosolids processing, focusing on combustion, gasification, pyrolysis and drying systems. His work on the “Green Energy From Biosolids” Project Team for Metro Vancouver earned Mr. Lundberg the 2009 Sustainability Award of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of the Province of British Columbia.   
 
Mr. Lundberg has authored and presented over 36 technical papers related to incineration, waste heat recovery, air pollution control, operational improvements/retrofits, process analysis, waste-to-energy, wastewater treatment and residuals processing. He was a principal contributing author and reviewer for a number of Manuals of Practice (MOPs) published by the Water Environment Federation (WEF), including the Design of Water Resource Recovery Facilities MOP; the Wastewater Solids Incineration Systems MOP; and the Energy Conservation in Water and Wastewater Facilities MOP. Mr. Lundberg has been a member of the Air & Waste Management Association for more than 40 years, during which time he has been a member of the Allegheny Mountain Section and has been active on a national level in Technical Council for over three decades. His involvement in Technical Council began as an officer at the committee level, then progressed to the Division and Group levels, culminating in service as Vice Chair, then Chair of Technical Council. During his term as Chair of Technical Council, Mr. Lundberg also served as a member of the Association Board of Directors.
 
In addition to his extensive involvement with A&WMA, Mr. Lundberg has actively participated in several other professional societies, including more than 40-year memberships in the Water Environment Federation (WEF) and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), among others. Along with his professional activities, Mr. Lundberg has served for over 24 years on the Board of Directors and the Finance Committee of Residential Care Services, Inc. (RCS), a non-profit community-based corporation that provides housing options and support to consumers of mental health services in Allegheny County, PA.   


Lee Lundberg

Richard I. Stessel Waste Management Award