History
The
management of solid waste in the United States began evolving
in the 1970s as rising environmental awareness spurred federal
legislation to preserve and protect natural resources. This
pace of change quickened dramatically in the 1980s with a new
wave of initiatives at the state level. Prompted by public concern
over a "throwaway society" and rapidly disappearing local landfills,
states passed hundreds of laws setting standards for landfill
design, construction and operation; requiring adequate disposal
capacity within their borders; and encouraging or requiring
the establishment of solid waste recycling collection programs.
Out of
this legislation emerged an industry of 15,000 public and private
sector organizations. A new generation of landfills was constructed.
Thousands of recycling programs were launched. And from 1970
to 1992, revenues grew from $4 billion to $30 billion.
Despite
this progress, fact-finding by professors at Yale University
and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that research
by the waste industry was so small as to be immeasurable, government-funded
research was limited, and no clear path existed by which to
bring new technology from the laboratory to the workplace.
The
early Foundation leaders designed an organization in 1992 that
would serve as a subsidiary and resource for the National Solid
Wastes Management Association (NSWMA) and, later, the
Environmental Industry Associations (EIA). This
changed dramatically in 1998 when -- in a strategic move to
reflect more accurately the Foundation's mission to develop
environmental solutions for the future -- the board of directors
renamed the organization the Environmental Research and
Education Foundation (EREF).
The Environmental Research and Education
Foundation (EREF) is an independent public grant-making entity
whose mission is to develop environmental solutions for the
future. As an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) 501(c)(3)
charity, EREF is committed to serve the public good and widely
disseminate the results of its research. EREF does not
represent any specific interests, by design or inference, within
the waste service industry. EREF's board of directors is a decision-making body that has
clear responsibility for establishing a set of basic policies
that define the program interests and fundamental objectives to
be served by EREF. EREF is a member of the Philanthropy
Roundtable, a national community of conservative grant-makers
committed to serving the needs and interests of the public.
Mission
Developing
environmental solutions for the future.
The
Foundation Values
Technological
innovations that promote the safety of waste service employees
and the public, as well as waste service productivity and
resource conservation.
Educational
initiatives to increase the public's understanding of waste
services.
Scientific
discoveries and applied research that advance state-of-the-art
waste services for the ages.
A scholarship
program for Ph.D., or post Ph.D. environmental scientists in
memory of Francois Fiessinger, Ph.D.
