Kim Bradford, a graduate of the University of Michigan and a Detroit native, is Covanta‘s environmental state manager in Pennsylvania. That position carries the weight of responsibility, but she wears it well. As we celebrate Black History Month, we asked for a few minutes from her busy schedule to converse with rolling out’s publisher and CEO Munson Steed.
Here is their conversation:
Munson Steed: Hey, ladies and gentlemen. It is Black History Month, a special moment and a special day and time in the lives of all those who have come before us, and also in the lives of those who are existing right now. So, one of my favorite things to do is talk to the brothers and sisters who are making a difference in various industries. And I am so proud today to have my dear sister, Kim Bradford. How are you?
Kim Bradford: Doing pretty good. How are you?
MS: I am fantastic and super Black today. Super proud at this moment. Why don’t you share your title and your current role at Covanta?
KB: All right. My name is Kim Bradford. I am the environmental manager for the state of Pennsylvania. I’ve been with Covanta for approximately seven, going on eight years. I got my start in Maryland at our Maryland plan and am currently working as the environmental specialist here at our Conshohocken facility, which is about 30 miles outside of Philadelphia.
And I also provide boots-on-the-ground, environmental compliance support to our energy waste facilities in the state of Pennsylvania.
MS: Cool! How do you recognize Black History Month in your personal life and professional life?
KB: So growing up in the city of Detroit, it was in our DNA, it was in our culture to celebrate Black History Month in the Detroit public schools. We have programs; we participated in events outside of school. We routinely sing the national Black anthem…
Going to the University of Michigan it was also celebrated. … The University of Michigan holds one of the biggest consortiums for MLK Day, and then that also spills over into Black History Month.
So [I celebrated] through K-12, college, then that helped me in my adult life — attending church, and participating in events. At church this past weekend, [I had] an opportunity to learn about the Tuskegee Airmen, their impact on World War II, and how one of the airmen was… He flew and escorted Norman Lear, and made sure that Norman Lear was able to perform his mission safely…
MS: What new information have you learned that you’d like to share?
KB: I learned about my grandfather; he was a Montford Point Marine. The Montford Point Marines were pretty much the first Marine command to help in the fight in World War II. It was just like the Tuskegee Airmen; they were a segregated group because African Americans were not allowed to train and fight in combat with white soldiers.
… [My grandfather] was also awarded a congressional medal here recently because of his service…
MS: Well, thanks for that… When you think about the importance of your work and what it is to actually work in the community, what do you love? And what should we know about you and Covanta working inside the community?
KB: Well, I love the fact that in my role, I get to be a gatekeeper and to ensure that our data that is communicated and is reported out to the community, to the regulatory agencies that then may end up being obtained by our community partners, or people who are concerned about our emissions, that our information is accurate and true. And I do my best on a day-to-day basis to ensure that our information is in compliance.
I also enjoy going out where I can to events to share the story of how it is a renewable source. The air pollution controls that we do have on our facilities, the regulatory compliance things, the regulatory compliance steps that are put in place to ensure that we are complying with our air permits, our solid waste permits, and our water permits and discharge. Working with my counterparts inside to ensure that what we are doing is above board, that we are complying with what we’re supposed to subscribe to, and that I can then also communicate with a straight face that we take environmental compliance at Covanta…
I also pride myself on the fact that we are trying to become more of a sustainable materials company, where we’re looking for new innovative ways to take materials that would have normally been landfilled or used for some other purpose, and we’re able to harness the energy from them, turn them into new fuels, turn them into new products to help benefit the environment…
MS: We thank you for that. What surprises you about work and your impact? What are the big surprises and the big wins?
KB: The big wins are when we are able to successfully permit new and innovative technologies to go on our process; [also], being a part of teams, such as a team at our Delaware Valley facility, to help design, permit, and construct new state-of-the-art NOX reduction control technologies in that facility….
MS: I love that. Sustainability and [the environment]: can you share why that’s important in the community?
KB: Well, one of the biggest things I think about is that we only have one planet, even though they are trying to look at opportunities for us to go live on Mars. More likely than not, we will not see that, you know, we will not call it that, so that technology is so far [in the future]. So we have to take care of the Earth…that we’re living on right now, and it’s a beautiful place.
And through sustainability, it helps for us to extend the life of our facility, to reducing, or possibly reducing emissions from resources that are causing climate change. Helping us to reduce our impact on landfills, so that we can have our land space, we can develop other things, develop sustainable farms, or put in, you know, cleaner energy or put in other energy from waste facilities to manage our waste. Help for us to reduce the need to extract metals from our, from the Earth, from extraction of metals, such as aluminum that are, that is very, is very energy intensive, is very labor intensive.
And if there’s opportunities to take materials, like the metals from our process, and reuse them into new products, you know, that helps to reduce the burden or the need to extract metals from, from the earth, and, and also, the need for other energies like petroleum, and things of that nature.
… Covanta is able to help with the metal extraction on the back end. We are here in the state of Pennsylvania. We are seen as a renewable source of energy, and we take pride in that and make sure that we operate our facilities so that we can continue to be seen as a renewable source of energy out on the grid, as opposed to fossil fuels.
MS: Beautiful! Anything else that you’d like to add?
KB: As a company, we, like I said, we’re continuing to grow, increase our sustainability footprint, [and] work with customers to help them to reach their sustainability goals. A lot of our clients and our customers are looking for opportunities where they want to be zero landfill because they recognize that our technology is sound, is proven, is good, and it is also [climate change] reducing. So I’m really happy to be a part of a good narrative or good story around sustainability, and … in figuring out ways to be more sustainable, and sustainably manage our materials and our waste streams.
MS: Great. Well, I’m going to thank you for that. It really makes a difference when we have individuals like you in our community who are at the seat at the table. Who are there to see so that we can trust the changes that are affecting the world, this planet, and this community. I want to thank you for coming on, and being a part of Black History Month, and making a big difference in our community. Kim, thank you so much for all you continue to do to make a difference and as a sister with superpowers. You got all those powers over there. I’m just thanking you for using them for good.
KB: Thank you.
MS: You’re welcome. This is Munson Steed for more Black History Month and Black every single day here on rolling out.
[Editor’s note: This is an extended transcription. Some errors may occur.]
