During the annual meeting of Heating, Airconditoning and Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) in Maui, Hawaii, Thermostat Recycling Corporation’s Executive Director Mark Tibbetts recognized three HVACR distributors for their efforts to promote TRC’s program and help reduce mercury pollution.

“It comes with great pleasure to recognize the contributions this impressive group made to the TRC program and the examples they set,” Tibbetts said. “During the summer months, this year’s winners helped divert over 57 pounds of mercury from solid waste through their collection efforts.”

The Mercury Thermostat Recycling Awards program recognizes the contribution of HARDI Wholesale Distributors who demonstrate a commitment to the environment by promoting thermostat recycling and helping keep mercury out of the waste stream.

The winners are — Mercury Thermostat Promoter Award: Baker Distributing Company Jacksonville, FL. Baker Distributing Company is collecting mercury thermostats at over 220 locations nation-wide. Recognizing success requires program awareness both internally and externally; Baker implemented a campaign that targeted both employees and customers. Baker Distributing reached external audiences via a number of channels including its monthly newsletter and statements, TRC promotional materials in all Baker locations and a TRC banner ad on its homepage www.Bakerdist.com. Baker also educated its employees about the program through its quarterly sustainability newsletter and monthly employee newsletter.

Mercury Thermostat Promoter Award — Johnson Supply Houston, TX. Johnson Supply is collecting mercury thermostats at its 23 locations throughout Texas and Louisiana. Each Johnson Supply location has the recycling container in a visible location, all its employees are very familiar with the program, and they work to educate Johnson Supply customers on the importance and impact of the TRC program.

Among other promotional activities, Johnson Supply added a tag line to each invoice stating its thermostat recycling efforts, and in August 2011 promoted the program through a $1.00 credit on their Johnson Supply Tool Card for each thermostat returned. Johnson Supply also included a full color print advertisement in its summer catalog, seen by thousands of its customers.

Mercury Thermostat Recycling Heavyweight Award & Pound-for-Pound Award — USAirconditioning Distributors. USAirconditioning Distributors is collecting mercury thermostats at its 43 locations in the western U.S. and Florida. USAirconditioning Distributors has actively promoted the recycling of mercury thermostats, and its customers have embraced the program. During the summer months, US Airconditioning Distributor locations shipped TRC over 2,100 waste mercury thermostats, keeping 29 pounds of mercury out of solid waste. Amazingly, over half of the thermostats came from the City of Industry location, yielding 17 pounds of mercury. As such, US Airconditioning Distributors is recognized not only for its total contributions to the program, but also for the efforts of its City of Industry location.

TRC is a not-for-profit corporation founded in 1997 by thermostat manufacturers to collect and properly dispose of mercury containing thermostats removed from service. TRC currently has over 3,000 collection sites nationwide.