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Gil Friend Named as Palo Alto Chief Sustainability Officer

Gil Philip Friend Named as Palo Alto Chief Sustainability Officer
12/9/13, City of Palo Alto News Blog

City Manager James Keene announced today that he has selected Gil Philip Friend to serve as the City’s first Chief Sustainability Officer. Friend is founder and CEO of Natural Logic, Inc., a leading strategy firm helping companies build value at the intersection of business and sustainability.

Friend will begin in his new position on December 9. The selection was made following a national search and recruitment process that included extensive input from community, business and environmental stakeholders, as well as interviews with panels representing a broad section of the community.

Gil is a pioneer in the field of sustainability, and has extensive experience leading and developing strategic sustainability practices for cities and companies across the globe,” said City Manager James Keene. “His thought leadership has inspired many, and he has instituted some of the most innovative programs in the field, including the first sustainability business dashboards nearly 20 years ago. Gil’s deep experience and connections will be instrumental in making Palo Alto not only the greenest city in America, but also a major contributor to advancing world-class sustainability strategies that link to the San Francisco Bay region and beyond.”

Click here to view the full press release.

Nature of Materials 2

Nature of Materials – Part Two: Reuse, Textiles, Ceramics, Chemicals, and Soils

Tuesday, November 19, 2013, at USEPA, San Francisco 9am – 4:45pm, 75 Hawthorne Street. Stay tuned for online registration.

MoveOn Petition To Safeway

MoveOn Petition To Safeway: Stop The Closure Of SF Supermarket-Based Recycling Centers!

San Franciscans have a right to redeem their bottles and cans for the California Redemption Value they pay at the store. Without the recycling centers that Safeway hosts, San Franciscans will lose a convenient way to get their money back. Click here to sign petition: MoveOn

CalRecycle/SWANA Workshop, 10/9

CalRecycle/SWANA High Diversion & Compensation Workshop, 10/9

The SWANA Gold Rush Chapter is co-sponsoring CalRecycle “High Diversion & Compensation” workshop on October 9^th in Oakland. This FREE workshop is designed to help you avoid the rate “death spiral” by understanding the relationship between changes in customer subscription levels, collection and processing costs, agency fees and customer rates. You will hear case studies from other communities and get practical information that you can use in rate setting and in managing your solid waste programs and contracts. SWANA Continuing Education Units will be available for participants in the workshop. To register, email Kim Erwin at kerwin@hfh-consultants.com.

October 9, 2013 – 9 am to 1pm Flyer
Elihu M. Harris Building, Room 2
1515 Clay Street, Oakland, CA 94612

From the CalRecycle website: To achieve AB 341’s 75% goal, new models for local funding of materials management activities (such as recycling and composting) will likely be necessary to sustain these activities into the future, independent of landfill disposal fees. CalRecycle is exploring new models of funding mechanism(s) for such activities and will co-sponsor three FREE workshops by HF&H Consultants. These workshops will focus on funding interactions at the collection and post-collection levels and how different approaches might impact service providers (public and private) and various regulatory agencies (State, County, City/District). They are designed to provide City and County official/staff with information about managing rates related to collection, processing, and disposal of discarded material, and insights into managing solid waste and recycling rates in the face of evolving programs and ever-increasing diversion goals. The workshops will include dynamic presentations, interactive rate models and tools, and real world case studies. MSW and Recycling Coordinator, City Manager, County Administrator, Finance Director, and/or Public Works Director who manages a rate structure/increase are highly encouraged to attend this workshop.

Member Appreciation Picnic A Success!

NCRA took advantage of September 9’s particularly warm weather to host its annual Members Picnic at Lake Temescal in North Oakland, The gathering featured a BBQ spread, iced beverages and a little bocce ball and croquet. The event was well attended and successful in getting the word out. The food was awesome, the waste was minimal and the weather participated (albeit a bit hot).A sincere thank you to all that made it out. Great job Membership Committee – Jessica Connolly, Tomer Shapira and Lori Marra. Thanks to Jessica for the cool poster, to Portia Sinnott and Diedre Tubb helping with the promotions, and to Lori, Diedre and Jenny Cutter for game supportDid you take photos? Please send them to ncra@ncrarecycles.org and we will add them to the gallery below. So far we have 4.Our next gathering of this nature will be the holiday party in December. Stay tuned! Jeff and Betsy?