Protecting our environment is something we in Westchester take very seriously. Governments, individuals and businesses must work together to keep our water, air and land clean and healthy. It's our duty to ourselves and to future generations.

Towards that end, the county government has many programs, including those that focus on recycling, flooding,  global warming and land preservation. We continually build on what we have and then take it further. For example, just this year we expanded the list of items that can (and should) be recycled to include plastic bags and expired medications.  

We also run many programs to promote environmental education. Our Veggie Van -- a "mobile classroom" van retrofitted to run on vegetable oil -- continues to make appearances at schools and numerous community events.  Our Hilltop Hanover Farm is an environmental center, open to the public for a variety of programs.

As a government, we continue to buy hybrid cars, as well buses that run on ultra low-sulfur fuels. We buy cleaning supplies that don't hurt the environment and promote pest-management methods that do no rely on pesticides. We protect open space and have enacted laws to get contaminants such as mercury out of our water.  And we adher to high environmental standards at our airport, which is one of only a few in the nation where the management system has achieved ISO 14001 certification.   

Our goal is to be innovative, to take small and large steps to make a difference.

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