RU Speakers 2015

Click on names to see company bios or LinkedIn listings. Order of appearance in the list below does not indicate when speakers spoke at the event.

Timonie Hood,  Zero Waste & Green Building Coordinator at U.S. EPA Region 9, will present, “The Latest from the EPA.” Hood will discuss the latest U.S. EPA trends and data on materials generation, recycling, composting and disposal rates; and share updates on new measurement scoping projects on packaging source reduction, construction and demolition materials and food.

Nick Lapis, Legislative Coordinator, Californians Against Waste, presents, “2014 Legislative Year in Review.” Lapis discusses how 2014 proved to be a monumental year for statewide recycling policy with the passage of a statewide bag ban, significant changes in law around organics, recycled content manufacturing, and use of recycled tires. What does 2015 hold? Lapis will let us know.

Mandi McKay, Sustainability Coordinator, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.“Brewing a Zero Waste Program” Presentation will discuss Platinum Zero Waste Certification process, program highlights, and closed loops examples within the company. McKay is the Sustainability Coordinator for Sierra Nevada Brewing Co where she helps manage the company’s environmental initiatives including energy generation, resource conservation, recycling, composting, and employee education.

Jordan Figueiredo, NCRA Board Member and USA Ambassador for Feedback, presents “Sparking the U.S. Food Waste Revolution” Figueiredo will be reporting out on the groundbreaking Zero Food Waste Forum and Feeding the 5000 Oakland, giving updates on what’s happened since and what is in store for 2015, the Year Against Food Waste.

Corinne Atwood, Executive Director of the BC Bottle and Recycling Depot Association, presents “Update on British Columbia’s EPR Programs and the launch of RethinkitBC.”

Jeff Kirschner, Founder of Litterati, presents “Litterati: Using Technology to Clean the Planet” Kirschner will take a look at how a global community is forming to map, identify and collect, the world’s litter.

Holly Minch, Board Chair of LightBox Collaborative, presents “Rethink Stuff.” Can we build a New American Dream rooted not in *stuff* but in more free time to build lives of meaning and connection with friends and loved ones? Minch will share ideas to challenge our thinking on consumption, as well as tools and opportunities to help define a new vision in your community.

Bruce Philbrick, Transfer Station Operations Manager, Metro (Portland, Oregon), presents, “Just the Food, Please: Metro Changes the Standards for Commercial Organics.” Philbrick tells the tale of how ten years ago in Portland, OR, Metro ventured into commercial food scraps composting. The experience, fraught with challenges, lead Metro to recently take unprecedented action by prohibiting all non-food items from the green bin.

Sue Palmer, Economic Development Director, St Vincent de Paul of Lane County, presents, “Results of Mattress Bounty” Palmer tell us about the Mattress Bounty pilot program carried out in Alameda County in the first quarter of 2015.

Maria Alejandra Leon, Leader of the Campaign for Sustainable Recycling & Member of ILWU Local 6; Employee at Waste Management’s Davis Street facility, “The Campaign for Sustainable Recycling: Fighting for a Fair Standard for Alameda County’s Recycling Workers.” In her talk, Ms. Leon will discuss the historically poor working conditions in Alameda County’s recycling industry, provide a history of the Campaign for Sustainable Recycling, and share recent successes. Ms Leon is a strong advocate for workers’ rights and has been a leader of the Campaign for Sustainable Recycling since its inception. Ms. Leon is a native of Mexico and the proud mother of three children.

Paul Liotsakis, GO Box SFBay, presents “GO Box: Reusable take-out containers for Bay Area food vendors and their customers.” Liotsakis will give an update on the work of GO Box SF Bay to bring reusable take out containers to the San Francisco Bay Area and how cities and companies can get involved with this timely initiative

Sue Vang Policy Analyst, Californians Against Waste, presents “SB 270 Bag Ban Referendum Update.” In 2014, California made history by adopting the first statewide plastic bag ban, SB 270. CAW will provide a brief background and update on the industry’s current efforts to repeal SB 270 through a referendum.

Randy Russell, Project Manager, Louis Berger Group, “CalRecycle’s Waste Tire Recycling Management Program: Promoting and Developing Alternatives to the Landfill Disposal of Tires. Russell discusses CalRecycle’s Market Incentive programs for managing CA-generated waste tires.

Peter Slote, Senior Recycling Specialist and Acting Solid Waste and Recycling Programs Supervisor, City of Oakland, will discuss “Oakland’s New Path.” Ten years in the making, Oakland’s historic new franchises start in 2015 and put Oakland on a path to dramatically increased diversion of residential and commercial discards from the waste stream and into the economic mainstream through 2035.

Lily Kelly Senior Program Associate, Global Green will present “Assessing Enhanced Food Scrap Recovery Programs at Multi-Family Buildings” Multi-family buildings, face a variety of unique challenges concerning implementation of food scrap recovery. Global Green USA’s Coalition for Resource Recovery is partnering with Alameda County municipalities, haulers, and property managers to determine the diversion improvements that come from going above and beyond what is legally required through tenant outreach, equipment provision, and waste audits.

Tom Padia, Recycling Director at StopWaste’s presentation is titled “Mandatory Ordinances in Alameda County.” In 2012 the Alameda County Waste Management Authority adopted Mandatory Recycling Ordinance 2012-01. Tom will review the active enforcement approach, opt-in/opt-out aspects to the regional ordinance, and other unique features. Karen Coca

Scott Beckner, Senior Environmental Specialist with CalRecycle, will provide an overview of the deployment status and policy drivers of anaerobic digestion (AD) for the management of urban derived organic residuals and renewable power generation in California. Beckner will review and compare various AD technologies, discuss environmental performance and review how local governments are approaching the deployment of these projects.

Laura McKaughan, President, NCRA Board of Directors, presents “NCRA 20/20: Building on the Legacy of the Past with a Vision for the Future.” McKaughan takes a look back at the past 20 years of the Recycling Update Conference and the Zero Waste movement in the Bay Area and gives insights into what might lie ahead for NCRA.

Cary Oshins, Director with the US Composting Council “Curb to Compost: How to include food scrap collection in an existing yard debris programs” The Compostable Plastics Toolkit is designed to help determine if a compostable plastics program is appropriate for your organization and to guide in properly managing your compostable plastics.

Teresa Favuzzi, Executive Director, California Foundation for Independent Living Centers , presents “Assistive Technology Reuse.” The volume of Assistive Devices being used by seniors and people with disabilities is increasing, and will continue to increase as the population ages. Learn about Ability Tools AT Reuse initiative to divert wheelchairs, scooters, walkers etc. and get them to people who need them.

Ruth Abbe, President, Zero Waste USA, “The Launch of Zero Waste USA (dba of the GrassRoots Recycling Network and National Affiliate of the Zero Waste International Alliance). Abbe will also talk about the Zero Waste Community Recognition Program and Zero Waste Communities Tool Kit. Abbe is president of Zero Waste USA which was created to inspire communities to embrace and achieve Zero Waste. She is the principal of Abbe & Associates and focuses on Zero Waste planning and infrastructure.

Jesse Woltjer, SF Environment “Recycle Where: An online search tool for responsible disposal.” Recycle Where is an online recycling and reuse database for residents and businesses in several Bay Area cities and counties to find the highest and best use for things at the end of a use cycle.

Tibora Girczyc-Blum, Director, SCRAP Humboldt “Beyond Art: Creative Reuse on the Road to Innovation.” Girczyc-Blue will discuss how creative reuse can be a vehicle to support innovation and problem solving skills in the fields of science, technology, engineering and architecture. Her presentation will give examples of how creative reuse can challenge and enhance traditional thinking.

Monica Wilson, US and Canada Director of GAIA, “Setting standards on the road to zero waste: ending subsidies for incineration, improving plastics recycling in China.” To achieve zero waste, we need to create the conditions for recycling and composting which involve both state and national policies as well as conditions for recycling workers and communities. New subsidies for incineration in conventional incinerators and in coal plants and cement kilns are a growing threat to Zero Waste in international policy, and here in California. To talk about the conditions of workers, Monica will be joined by GAIA ally Wang Jiuliang who will show a short section of his new film documenting mixed plastics recycling in China.

Paul Burns, Fire Clay Tile, Recycling begins when someone buys a product made from an unwanted material.   Putting it into the blue container is a small step to recycling.  Having a local economy with the ability to produce product from a locally generated material closes the loop in the most sustainable way.

Bill Pollock, Program Manager, Alameda County Household Hazardous Waste program. “Medication Disposal in Alameda County and the Safe Medication Disposal Ordinance”