In 2018, the Recycling Excellence (REX) Award was renamed the Jean Clark Recycling Excellence Award.

Jean Clark was widely regarded as the state’s “Mother of Recycling”. She, in the 1970s, developed one of the first community recycling centers in her hometown of Montclair. It soon became a model for municipal and county recycling programs that followed.

Jean Clark received many awards: “Recycler of the Year” from the National Recycling Congress (1980), “Recycler of the Decade” (1980) from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the New Jersey Pride Award in the field of Environment (1986), the Wells College Alumnae Association Award, (2000), and the ANJR REX award in 2006.

Jean Clark was an active ANJR member for many years who generously shared her knowledge and wisdom with many members.

Jean Clark passed away on June 24, 2018, at the age of 95.
To learn more about Jean and her views on recycling visit our YouTube page.

The Jean Clark REX Award is presented to an active ANJR member who embraces the vision and values of ANJR, promotes the goals of ANJR through action and advocacy. They must maintain professional standards, and act responsibly and be well versed on the issues of recycling and solid waste.

1994 Ann Moore 2007 Barbara Fiedler
1995 Nancy Paquette 2008 Alice Tempel
1996 Ron Hutchinson 2009 Alan Yoss
1997 Penny Jones 2010 Melinda Williams
1998 Anthony Giordano, Sr. 2011 Carole Tolmachewich
1999 Linda Hardy 2012 Carol Broccoli
2000 Virginia Lamb 2013 Monica Gismondi
2001 Dominick D’Altilio 2014 Mark Vangieri
2002 Dennis DeMatte, Jr. 2015 Gary Sondermeyer
2003 Kathleen Hourihan 2016 Patrick McGaheran
2004 Albert Fralinger, III 2017 Donna Caputo
2005 Wayne DeFeo 2018 Bill Lehman
2006 Jean Clark 2019 Ernest J. Kuhlwein Jr.
2022 Neil Blitz