Category: Front Page Announcements

RU 2025 Call for Presentations, Speakers and Topic Nominations

Application form closes November 15, 2024

NCRA is seeking speakers for the 2025 Recycling Update (RU) to share what is new and different in all aspects of waste reduction and Zero Waste. We especially invite speakers who have not yet presented at this dynamic, fast paced event.

Join over 500 attendees – in-person and on-line, from local government recycling staff, policy makers, consultants, haulers and processors from across Northern California.
 
All speakers have ***10 minutes*** for their presentation plus 2 minutes for questions.  One advantage is that everyone in attendance will hear your ideas – no breakouts or tracks.

We run a pretty tight ship, so it’s important that each speaker be well prepared, and stay within their allotted time.

All presentations must reflect NCRA’s commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Please make a conscious effort to address these issues as you prepare your submissions, both in textual and graphic elements. In addition, the selection committee encourages proposals focused on SB 1383 implementation and Reuse & Repair.

Speakers receive free registration as well as an optional one year of membership.  For additional information, please use the form to ask questions.

2024 Board of Directors Elections – Candidate Statements

Nine NCRA members – including 2 incumbents, have been nominated to serve on the 2024-2025 Board of Directors. There are five two-year positions to fill.

Voting opens Wednesday, November 15 and ends Thursday, November 30 at midnight. Results will be presented to the board for ratification, then to the candidates via email and later to the membership via the December newsletter.

Early November 15, custom voting links will be emailed to current members. If you do not receive our SimplyVoting email that day, but believe you should –  your membership is current as of November 15, 2024, please contact the office.

NCRA BOARD OF DIRECTOR CANDIDATES, 2024

Click each picture for the candidate statement.

North Bay Zero Waste Week Reuse Fair and Clothing Swap, 10/12

In honor of North Bay Zero Waste Week, NCRA is collaborating with Zero Waste Sonoma, Zero Waste Marin, Reuse Alliance, United Cerebral Palsy of the North Bay/Petaluma Recycling Center and Zero Waste Action – Sonoma County, to organize the Rohnert Park Reuse and Repair Fair Clothing Swap. Sloane Pagsl of Zero Waste Sonoma is the lead organizer, joined by NCRA Board Members Alina Bekkerman, Casey Fritz and Xinci Tan as well as ED Portia Sinnott – wearing her Zero Waste Action hat.

The Fair will be held Saturday, October 12, 2-5pm at the Rohnert Park Library. NCRA members and associates are invited to attend. Please consider volunteering. We need help with promotions, setup, monitor and cleanup. Sign-up here.

New Bylaws Adopted!

Thank you to all that voted! The new, more streamlined NCRA Bylaws passed with 99.4% of the voters voting for ratification and 0.6% against!
 
Those that voted against ratification are welcome to contact the Executive Director if you have not already done so. If you were concerned that the policies listed in the 2019 Bylaws would be lost, rest assured these past policies will be included in the Policy Manual currently under development.
 
As you can see from the SimplyVoting letter posted below, only 53.5% of the NCRA membership voted. Unfortunately, many hours of staff and board time were required to get a slight majority. In the future, we need to make it even more clear to all members – new and old, that voting is an expectation of membership.
 

Annual Meeting Well Received!

Thirty-nine, or possibly more, people attended the May 16 Annual Meeting including 14 via Zoom!  Most were members, though as usual, non-members were also very welcome. We hope all enjoyed the program and the 2024 – 2025 brainstorm, pictured in the photo below.

NCRA Annual Meeting Brainstorm, 5/16/2024. Photo by Freddy Coronado.

Thank you to all that were involved in the planning – especially the Board Members – current and past, that led the meeting, worked to make the dinner, program and Green Drinks a success, plus the staff working behind the scenes.

Cheers to StopWaste for again being our host, and Angelina Vergara and Jeanine Sidran of StopWaste for collaborating with us!

The presentation was well received – it can be viewed at the end of this post.

Below, Bailey Hall, Co-Chair of the Zero Waste Advocacy Committee and Legislative lead presents with Gwynn Mackellen her co-organizer for the NCRA Goes To Sacramento Day.

NCRA Annual Meeting, ZWAC Leaders Bailey Hall and Gwynn Mackellen, 5/16/2024.
Photo by Freddy Coronado.

Volunteer with NCRA!: NCRA is mostly a volunteer group. Want to help out – for an afternoon or more? Some tasks are quick and easy, while others are complex with steep but satisfying learning curves. Committees usually meet monthly via Zoom. Each is detailed in depth in the presentation below and generally on the website. The meeting schedules are in each newsletter.

Save The Date: This meeting is held every May, generally on the third Thursday. An interesting, interactive event, it is where we start settings the course for the coming year. For some of us, it is as much fun as Recycling Update.

Questions welcome via the Contact Page.

2024-NCRA-Annual-Members-Meeting-Final-2024-05-16.pptxDownload