Columbia University hosted the Bi-Annual Conference of the Waste-to-Energy Research and Technology Council (WTERT) in New York City on October 7-8.  A highlight of the meeting is the presentation of the WTERT 2010 Awards. These Awards recognize outstanding contributions to education, research and practice of sustainable waste management worldwide.  The City of Vienna (Austria) was honored for being one of the cleanest (as well as “most livable”!) cities in the world. Lee County in southwest Florida, that includes the city of Fort Myers and the islands of Pine and Sanibel, also received the WTERT award for being one of the first urban areas in the U.S. to approach “zero waste” by minimizing landfilling.  The caliber of the finalists in this competition was so high that it was extremely difficult to settle on the final winners. The finalists were (alphabetically): Berlin (Germany), Greater Copenhagen (Denmark), Malmo (Sweden), Marion County‐Oregon (U.S.), Munich (Germany), the island‐nation of Singapore, Metro Vancouver (Canada), and Zurich (Switzerland).