Congratulations to the Hutchinson Correctional Faciity and Warden Sam Cline, members of KOR, for being honored with the WasteWise State Government Partner of the Year Award Wednesday from the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Hutchinson facility was the only recipient of the award in the country this year.

In 2008, Warden Cline began to recycle paper, plastic, metal and textiles to save money. Within a year, the facility cut the cost of their trash in half.

In 2010, Cline began to recycle old mattresses from the prison, local municipalities and universities. More than 17,000 mattresses have now been recycled at the facility. The program is run at no additional cost to taxpayers according Cline.