RECYCLING UPDATE

Recycling Update XIV took place on March 24, 2009 in Oakland.

Since 1996, the Northern California Recycling Association has been conducting annual conferences that try to bring the best of what's "new and different" to our members and friends; this year was our 14th consecutive event. Each speaker has only ten minutes to give their message but there is extensive time given to breaks, lunch and after-event gatherings to share industry chit-chat. Existing programs can always be faster, better, or cheaper and we try to highlight those people who are actually doing the work. We prefer operators to consultants and existing programs to still-in-visioning or only-in-planning projects. We will produce a 30 minute DVD of this program which should be available for download later in the spring. We do make an audio record of the speeches but have found the interest in speech transcripts to be slight.

Here's a review of what happened at this year's event:

Speaker List and Presentations from the RU '09 Conference

1. Aaron Brown.  Using European models and practice, Mr. Brown is trying to develop some 100 tons per day anaerobic digesters feeding on food debris and other organics discarded materials, including a project in Oakland.  His firm is Pacific Biogas. Aaron Brown's presentation

2. Linda Christopher is a former NCRA president and the Executive Director of the Grassroots Recycling Network. She lives in Pennsgrove near Petaluma. She will talk to us about GRRN’s Cool 2012 Campaign.

3. Rob D’Arcy manages the HHW program for Santa Clara County and is a board member of the California Product Stewardship Council; he will bring us an update of that fast-moving program area. Rob D’Arcy's presentation

4. Tim Dewey-Mattia is the Public Education Manager for the City of Napa’s recycling program and will tell us how he found some Boy Scouts to help the city with some e-waste collection work at mutual benefit. Tim Dewey-Mattia's presentation

5. Cliff Feldman is the Recycling Programs Manager for the South Bayside Waste Management Authority which covers southern San Mateo County. They have just selected NORCAL Waste Services as their new hauler and the operator of their San Carlos transfer station. Cliff Feldman's presentation

6. Jim Greco is a thirty-five year veteran of the solid waste industry and now works to assist local governments mostly in the Sierra counties with their AB 939 compliance work. He brings us his analysis of SB 1016 which tries to rewrite how goals are enforced in California. Jim Greco's presentation

7. Eric Havel is the Environmental Education Manager for the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland and has invented a speed sorting of recyclables game that he will demonstrate to you after he tells you about Chabot and its programs. Eric Havel's presentation

8. Susan Kinsella is a long-time veteran of the recycling paper industry now known as Conservatree and is active in the Environmental Paper Network. She lives and works in Novato.

9. Dan Knapp founded Urban Ore in 1978 and has operated his reuse and salvage business in south Berkeley for the last six years; gross sales last year were $2.4 million.  Recently Urban Ore had an opportunity to buy the three acres under their business and Dr. Knapp will describe the issues involved in raising and borrowing the money necessary to accomplish that task.

10. Mollie Mangerich is the recently appointed head of the Sonoma County Waste Management Agency which operates the county’s household hazardous waste program and oversees other waste-related functions. Mollie Mangerich's presentation

11. Bernard Meyerson started a recycling program in Fresno in the early 1970s and has been a materials packer and broker for many years. He works in Oakland and lives in San Francisco.

12. John Moore, Esq. is the general counsel to NCRA, in private practice in Oakland and a graduate of Boalt Hall at UC Berkeley.

13. Patty Moore is the president of Moore Recycling Associates, Inc. of Sonoma, California and the president of the California Plastics Recycling Corporation. Her message considers the rapid growth of post-consumer plastics reprocessing companies in California. Patty Moore's presentation

14. Rodney Muir is the zero waste chair for the Sierra Club of Canada and operates Waste Diversion Canada from his home in Toronto. He is particularly knowledgeable about the bi-weekly collection of trash in communities where organics are collected source-separated from residential properties. Rodney Muir's presentation

15. Mary Munat, doing business as Green Mary, is the first privately-owned, event recycling specialist in California. She brings us information on improving materials separation systems at public events. Mary Munat's presentation

16. Jana Nairn works in marketing for Golden Byproducts, a San Joaquin County firm, that processes used car tires into marketable products. Jana Nairn's presentation

17. Tom Padia started in recycling at UC Santa Cruz in the 1970s and is now the Recycling Director at the Alameda County Waste management Authority, known as StopWaste.Org.

18. Wanda Redic is a staffer with the city of Oakland and responsible for the city’s reusable bag program. Wanda Redic's presentation

19. Steve Sherman is a graduate of Yale and Cornell and has been a recycling consultant for 20 years. He recently opened the northern California office of the Cascadia Consulting Group and brings us a message today about the parameters of a commercial recycling program. Steve Sherman's presentation

20. Janice Sitton formerly operated a small business, Good Green Graces, and is now the events recycling staff leadperson at the City of San Jose.  She returned from a recent visit to New Zealand with photos of collection systems there. Janice Sitton's presentation

21. Lisa Skumatz is a Ph.D. resource economist, specializing in recycling issues. Her innovative paper shows the place of increased recycling in greenhouse gas reduction work and rates it very high in effectiveness, low cost (relative to other ventures), and job creation. Ms. Skumatz at her own expense attends our annual programs from her base in Boulder, Colorado and brings us the latest work in her area.

22. Meri Soll is a program manager at StopWaste.Org and was recently responsible for the demolition of Building 802 at the Oakland Army Base with high salvage for reuse and wood recycling. Meri Soll's presentation

23. Jesse Tieger is the recycling coordinator for Amador Valley Industries which is the waste and recyclables hauler for the City of Dublin. Jesse recently improved the source separation activities at a local grade school and will bring us his pictures. Jesse Tieger's presentation

24. Tom Watson is with the recycling and environmental services division of King County, located in Seattle. He is a source reduction expert.

25. Monica Wilson is the international coordinator for the Global Alliance for Incineration Alternatives located in Berkeley. Her talk will bring us up-to-date on various high temperature conversion projects now being discussed locally. Monica Wilson's presentation

26. Gary Wolff became the new Executive Director of the Alameda County Waste Management Authority in January, 2009 and will bring us news of what’s new and different at that agency.  He is the former Vice-Chair of the State of California’s Water Quality Control Board, a professional engineer, and holds a Ph.D. in resource economics from UC Berkeley. Gary Wolff's presentation

27. Jimmy Yang is an owner of Newport CH International, a paper and other scrap materials broker, in Brea, California. He will bring us information especially on the Chinese paper markets and their response to the global economic situation. Jimmy Yang's presentation

28. Arthur R. Boone, Program Coordinator; reached at arboone3@yahoo.com