Recycling Update 2019 Speakers Announced!

Over 20 presenters will inform and inspire the 24th Annual Recycling Update conference.  See our ZWW/Recycling Update page under our Events Tab to register.

Here is our partial 2019 Recycling Update Conference line-up, in alphabetical order:

Peter Schultze-Allen, CPSWQ, QSP/QSD, BFQP, LEED AP – Peter Schultze-Allen is a Senior Scientist at EOA Inc. with extensive experience in the environmental field. He specializes in green stormwater infrastructure, litter reduction, zero waste policy, complete and green streets, sustainable landscaping, and urban forestry practices. His past experience includes two years with Recology in SF, eleven years managing the environmental programs for the City of Emeryville and five years at EOA where he has been providing GI, LID and litter-related technical assistance and program support to municipalities around the Bay Area.

The design of buildings has a large impact on the levels of waste and litter generated during operation. Mr. Schultze-Allen will present a summary of findings from a recent Bay Area report on designing buildings to meet stormwater and zero waste goals.

Jennifer Arbuckle, Recycling and Public Education Manager, Northern Recycling and Waste Services – Jennifer is a Northern California Native, Master’s Degree from CSU Chico in Environmental Geography, been working in the environmental field for the last 17 years, the last 12 being with Northern Recycling and Waste Services as Recycling and Public Outreach Manager.

Jennifer will highlight the statistics and various situations resulting from the unprecedented disaster of the Camp fire.

Timothy Bouldry, Director, ISWA Scholarship Programme –  Timothy photographs and documents open dumpsite activity in developing countries, as well as the communities informally recycling in these areas. He has pointed attention to the topic of environmental and humanitarian injustices for ten years. He currently resides in Nicaragua where he is directing The ISWA Scholarship Programme that provides education to youths that agreed to not return to the dumpsite in order to pursue an education. More info about can be found at TimothyBouldry.com and ISWAkids.com.

Timothy Bouldry will be presenting The ISWA Scholarship Programme that is providing education for 70 youths and parents who are transitioning from a life of informally recycling at a dumpsite in Nicaragua, towards education and planning their futures. Nicaragua has been experiencing a lot of civil unrest due to their administration and the authorities they control. Human rights injustices will also be discussed, along with how politics and corruption affect municipal waste. 

Martin Bourque, Executive Director, Ecology Center – Since 2000, Martin has led the Ecology Center, a community-based organization incorporated on Earth Day in 1970. Under Martin’s leadership, the Ecology Center is leveraging local direct community service programs to have state and national impact. Martin has spearheaded innovative efforts such as creating a farmers’ market industry group, pioneering electronic food stamp access and incentives at farmers’ markets, and passing the nation’s first Soda Tax. By linking local grassroots grit with highly competent program implementation, and increasingly effective policy advocacy, Martin has led the Ecology Center to become a high impact engine for change.

Kourtnii Brown, Founder, Common Compost – Kourtnii is an environmental policy analyst and worm composting enthusiast, and the founder of Common Compost in Oakland, California.  Her idea for a community compost cooperative won the Living the New Economy’s Hackathon in November 2014, from which she received entrepreneurship support to launch a 3-year compost pilot project with funding from local grants and partnerships throughout the Oakland farm-to-fork community. She currently serves as a compost policy consultant to the Sustainable Economies Law Center and is also the Steering Committee Chair of the California Alliance for Community Composting.

The Ins and Outs of Community Composting – Community composting is an important facet of a diverse composting infrastructure and provides education to help catalyze larger scale municipal efforts. Kourtnii Brown, policy consultant with the Sustainable Economies Law Center, will address what policymakers and stakeholders can do to support community-scale composting efforts in terms of identifying legislative definitions, best management practices, and regulatory exemptions that standardize and ensure well-operated community composting sites. The presentation will provide a short overview of the legal and policy trends impacting each stage of the composting process, including 1) organic material generation, 2) hauling, 3) composting, and 4) distribution of compost.

Maricelle Cardenas, Community Outreach and Education Specialist, StopWaste – Maricelle is a community educator who has supported various education and outreach projects at StopWaste since 2010 and Jeanne Nader Program Manager, StopWaste – Jeanne runs the Community Based Outreach Project, which includes SWEET. Previously, Jeanne led the Master Composter training and residential outreach on sustainable gardening. She has been a Program Manager at StopWaste since 2001. Her background is in environmental education and community organizing.

SWEET – StopWaste Environmental Educator Training – StopWaste staff, Jeanne Nader and Maricelle Cardenas, will present the story of SWEET – an innovative and nimble train the trainer model that certifies Alameda County residents as environmental educators and community connectors. Jeanne will provide an overview of the SWEET training goals and nuts and bolts. Maricelle will share how StopWaste and SWEET grads have leveraged the Food Waste Reduction program focus into community outreach, education and mobilization opportunities.

Joshua Perez-Cramer, Operator, Independent Recycling Services – Joshua is the Operator of a Construction & Demolition Facility in East Oakland, who has been working in the environmental industry for the past five years, starting out working for a Solar Company as well as selling Energy Efficient Home Improvements. He is also an Environmental Educator with Stopwaste and enjoys volunteering with NCRA and Zero Waste Youth Events.

Josh will be discussing experiences working with different departments and jurisdictions; the pro’s & con’s with C&D Regulations and working with several departments; hauling vs. processing- source separation; education and community outreach; and the importance of 3rd party verification.

Lisa Duba, Principal, Gigantic Idea Studio – Lisa is a founder and principal at Gigantic Idea Studio, Inc in Oakland, California. She has worked to promote environmental programs and behaviors since 1995. Her work includes campaign planning, messaging and creative concepts in the areas of waste reduction, recycling, and pollution prevention. Current and past clients include City of Palo Alto, Livermore, Oakland, County of Santa Clara, and the Clean Water Program Alameda County.

Outreach Campaigns to Combat Curbside Contamination – Global markets require recycling feedstocks that are significantly cleaner than what’s typically collected curbside in the blue cart. Municipalities are responding with outreach to address wish-cycling and proper preparation of recyclables. Stefanie will share two campaigns created for two Bay Area cities.

Roland Geyer, Professor, UCSB’s Bren School of Environmental Science and Management – Prior to joining the Bren School Roland held research positions in Germany, France, and the UK. Since 2000 he has worked with a wide range of governmental organizations, trade associations, and companies on environmental sustainability issues. In his research he uses the approaches and methods of industrial ecology, such as life cycle assessment and material flow analysis, to study pollution prevention strategies based on reuse, recycling, and material and technology substitution. Roland has a graduate degree in physics and a Ph.D. in engineering.

Making Recycling Work – Reuse and recycling have the potential to significantly reduce the environmental impacts of industrial production, but suffer from widespread misunderstandings and have so far fallen short of their promise. This presentation will discuss how common misconceptions about recycling have been preventing it from reaching its full environmental potential and explore strategies to change this.

James Green, Founder, FixmyKix – James Green is a 19-year-old African American born in San Francisco and raised in Oakland, Ca. His passion for sneakers and entrepreneurship led him to found FixmyKix.  FixmyKix is a mobile marketplace app for the service of sneaker restoration and customization to be bought and sold, to promote artistic entrepreneurship among young people and to reduce shoe waste in our landfills. James believes Entrepreneurship transforms lives and founded FixmyKix so that sneaker restoration and customization services can be more accessible to all and sneaker artists can now better access their customers.

Patrick Hayes, Recycling Specialist, City of Oakland – Patrick is the Former Director of the California Straw Building Association, and has now worked with the City of Oakland for 18 years, leading development of the C&D Ordinance, and introduced online submittals, developed green building ordinances, and was the Technical lead on the Non-Exclusive Franchise system for C&D. Currently, Patrick is developing a biodynamic farm with blackwater recycling and goats, and his biggest effort is now teaching an 11-year-old how to disregard the box.  

Patrick will outline the highlights of Oakland’s C&D non-exclusive franchise system.

Rob Hilton, President, HF&H Consultants – As President of HF&H Consultants, Rob has provided recycling and solid waste consulting services to more than 150 public agencies across the United States. He has been involved in over 350 projects covering a wide range of strategic, operational, programmatic, contractual, and financial issues. He has already negotiated four franchise agreements that had to anticipate the requirements of SB 1383 before it was complete and has been engaged by several other agencies around the state to develop SB 1383 plans.

It’s Not As Scary As You Thought: How to Start Implementing SB 1383 Programs – SB 1383 is being described as the biggest legislative milestone since the adoption of AB 939. Many jurisdictions across the state (particularly ones without organics collection programs) are anxiously anticipating the final adoptions of SB 1383, but implementing SB 1383 may not be as bad as they think.  This presentation will: Provide a big-picture summary of SB 1383, highlighting requirements that will likely have the biggest impact on local jurisdictions; describe practical steps local jurisdictions can do now to ensure their agencies are SB 1383-compliant; spotlight local governments that have recently adopted or modified franchise agreements to meet SB 1383 requirements.

Jen Jackson, Toxics Reduction & Healthy Ecosystems Programs Manager, San Francisco Department of the Environment – Jen and her team lead a variety of programs and implement policies that reduce toxic pollution and improve environmental and public health, such as an ordinance banning the use of food service ware containing fluorinated chemicals, a first-in-the-nation requirement for grocers to report antibiotic use in meat and poultry production, an award-winning Integrated Pest Management Program, a municipal Green Purchasing Program, an urban biodiversity program, and an extensive residential household hazardous waste disposal program. Prior to joining San Francisco in 2015, Jen worked in wastewater and stormwater pollution prevention for almost eight years in the public sector, and began her environmental career in the non-profit sector at Sierra Club and Save The Bay. Jen earned her master’s degree in Resource Management & Environmental Planning with a focus on water resources.

Fluorinated chemicals are a class of more than 5000 chemicals that are persistent and some have been shown to harm human health. The City of San Francisco is tackling the myriad uses of these persistent organic pollutants, including in food service ware, carpet, furniture, and firefighting foam.

Doug Kobold, Executive Director, California Product Stewardship Council – Doug has worked in the Solid Waste and Recycling industry and “talking trash” for over 26 years.  The past 18+ years, prior to taking the helm as the Executive Director at the California Product Stewardship Council (CPSC) in August 2018, were spent at Sacramento County where he held the position of Waste Management Program Manager in charge of the Business Development & Special Waste division. He has served on the Northern California SWANA Chapter Board of Directors as Chapter President and currently serves as Vice Chair on the California Chapters Legislative Task Force (LTF).

With the passage of SB 212 (Jackson, 2018), California will have safe, free, and convenient unused/unwanted medicine disposal options in every county in just a few short years.  SB 212 also creates a requirement for safe return containers to be distributed free of charge with every sharp/needle sold. This presentation will cover the important features of SB 212, an update on the ensuing regulations drafting process, a rough timeline for the roll-out of the statewide program, and other pertinent information.

Gina Lee, Founder, Circular CoLab – Gina is the author of The State of the Circular Economy in America, the first United States focused Circular Economy landscape study which analyzes over 200 Circular Economy initiatives.  Gina has over 15 years of experience working in Corporate Social Responsibility and Social Impact in the United States, China, and Germany.  Her past roles include overseeing partnerships with Fortune 500 corporations and top-tier business schools for the Aspen Institute, working with the Schwarz Group in materials management, and leading programming and corporate relations for Mercy Corps Beijing. She is skilled in engaging with organizations from across the policy, government and private sector and has managed workshops and pilot programs with organizations including TATA, the American Sustainable Business Council, TEDxLA, and the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator.

My presentation will provide an overview of the guiding principles of the Circular Economy and highlight innovative American businesses and organizations that have already built circular solutions.  The presentation will also include trends and challenges facing the development of the Circular Economy here in the states and provide some ideas for moving forward.

Brennan Madden, Senior Consultant, RRS – Brennan’s technical skill set provides economic, modeling, and data analysis to a wide range of clients within our waste recovery, materials recovery facility (MRF), renewable energy, and organics sectors. Brennan’s background is steeped in renewable energy, industrial ecology, and project management, with specialization in life cycle analysis, life-cycle design, integrated assessment, as well as photovoltaic, biodiesel, and anaerobic digestion energy. Brennan has also been integral in refining the TruCycle recyclability/compostability assessment in multiple countries. His expertise includes economic and material feasibility, GIS analyses, as well as tool, database, and model development. Brennan holds an MS in Sustainable Systems and a graduate certificate in Industrial Ecology, both from the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability.

Robin Franz Martin, Executive Director, Joint Venture Silicon Valley – Robin came to Joint Venture’s Food Rescue Initiative in 2017 to head the A La Carte pilot program, bringing 20 years of experience in public health and community team building. Most recently she led volunteer building projects for LifeMoves, Bay Area, an organization committed to ending the cycle of homelessness in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties.

Robin started her career with the NAACP working on urban environmental health issues, later working in Boston at the Education Development Center on national and international public health issues, and as Executive Director of the Central Square Business Association. She also founded a summer camp program for at-risk middle school students, fostering personal and social change through exposure to sustainable agriculture and healthy food options.

Robin will discuss A La Carte, a fleet of refrigerated food trucks that resemble their trendy food truck cousins, but without cooking and washing facilities. Every day the trucks collect surplus edible food from university and corporate campuses and drive directly into neighborhoods where a high concentration of people living with daily food insecurity can have a normal, dignified experience as they select meals free of charge. To alleviate any barriers, no personal information is gathered.

Teresa Montgomery, Sustainability Manager, South San Francisco Scavenger Co.Teresa has over twenty years of experience in the solid waste and recycling field. She has a broad background in marketing and has developed and carried out a number of successful public information campaigns. She has extensive experience in the public and private sectors. From 2005-2015 she worked as the Director of Communications for the Pellegrini group of companies: Alameda County Industries, Garden City Sanitation, Livermore Sanitation, Mission Trail Waste Systems, and SAFE. In 2016, Teresa moved over to the South San Francisco Scavenger Company where she now works as the Sustainability Manager. She also maintains a part-time role at Garden City Sanitation.

Using Magic to Clean up Commercial Organics – During the summer of 2017, Blue Line Transfer added a Scott Turbo Separator to its arsenal of processing equipment. Loads of commercial waste containing a high volume of food scraps, food-soiled paper, and plastic & bioplastic bags are directed to the Scott and magically transformed. A significant amount of material previously sorted manually, sent out for processing, or hauled directly to landfill is recovered for on-site anaerobic digestion. The magic “salsa” created by the Scott allows Blue Line to landfill less, digest more, and increase gas production for their CNG fleet. Win. Win. Win.

Dr. Molly Morse, CEO, and co-founder of Mango Materials – Molly received her Ph.D. in Civil & Environmental Engineering–with an emphasis on anaerobic biodegradation of biocomposites for the building industry–from Stanford University, and her B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Cornell University. Dr. Morse has contributed to multiple patents, publications, and presentations. Along with other Mango Materials team members, she is currently working to up-scale the biomanufacturing technology of using methane gas to produce biodegradable materials.

Molly will be talking about next generation biopolymers and their potential for addressing closed-loop carbon cycles.

Julie Muir, Zero Waste Manager, Peninsula Sanitary Service/Stanford Recycling – Julie Muir works for Peninsula Sanitary Service/Stanford Recycling and has managed Stanford University’s Waste Reduction, Recycling, and Composting Program for the last 25 years.  She leads Stanford University toward a zero waste campus through a rigorous and comprehensive program of waste reduction, reuse, recycling, and composting. She enjoys most working with students and the campus community on waste reduction and educating on the connection between materials management, the economy, and climate change.  Julie Muir is Past-President and current Senior Advisor to the California Resource Recovery Association and Chair of the Zero Waste Campus Council.

Tailgating Zero Waste at the Stanford Stadium – As Stanford University moves towards its goal of Zero Waste by 2030, Stanford’s Department of Athletics, Physical Education, and Recreation (DAPER)  has focused on the adoption of new Zero Waste initiatives to further its commitment to sustainability.  This presentation will present the opportunities and challenges of supporting sustainable tailgating including using new dumpster trailers, green tailgate checklist, and fan engagement. Stanford won the Most Improvement award in 2017 from the PAC 12 Conference’s Zero Waste Bowl for its expanded tailgate recycling and composting initiatives.

Roxanne Murray, Recycling Programs Coordinator, City of San Mateo –  Roxanne has 17 years of experience working in the solid waste field, five years in the private sector as a Recycling Coordinator for Allied Waste and the last 12 years as the City of San Mateo Solid Waste/Recycling Programs Coordinator. Roxanne oversees the City’s solid waste contract with Recology San Mateo County; is responsible for all the City’s waste reduction programs; and works with the City Council, County and South Bayside Waste Management Authority regarding the City’s waste reduction efforts.

Ron Kasper, Recycling Coordinator, City of San Mateo – In Ron’s 33 years with the City of San Mateo, he has served many roles in both the Parks and Public Works Departments. For the past nine years, Ron has been the City’s Recycling Coordinator. The focus of his time at work is tackling the City’s illegal dumping issues. For the past four years, due to Ron’s efforts, they have seen close to a 50% reduction where the City had to take the responsibility for removing illegally dumped debris.

Ron and Roxanne’s presentation will highlight the efforts to reduce illegal dumping over the past few years in our City. Due to these efforts, we have reduced the number of times the City has had to take responsibility for the removal of illegal dumping by close to 50%.

Jerame Renteria, Organics Marketing Specialist, Zanker Road Resource Management – Jerame is a seasoned member of the marketing team with over 6 years of experience focusing on recycled commodities markets and branding for outbound inert/organic products such as Class II Base Rock and Soil Amendment.  Some of his key roles include the managing of installations for recycled landscape products for client projects while maintaining customer relations for more than 1,600 Demolition Contractors, Debris Box Companies, and General Construction Contractors. Jerame works closely with Operations at Zanker Recycling making sure material being recycled is non-hazardous and acceptable in accordance with Zanker’s Class III landfill designation.

Advanced C&D Processing SystemSilicon Valley is known as the land of innovation when it comes to computers and information technology, but few people know that it is also the land of recycling innovation. Case in point: Zanker Recycling’s newest operation, the Advanced C&D Processing System which is using AI technology to sort C&D debris into marketable commodities.  Robots are the driving force of this advancement which will lead the C&D world to its next level.

Susan Robinson, Senior Director of Policy and Sustainability, Waste Management – Susan Robinson is Senior Director of Policy and Sustainability at WM.  Her 30+ years in the industry includes work in the public sector, non-profit environmental work, consultancy, and over 25 years in the private sector.  Susan’s experience includes global commodity marketing, research, and analysis of industry trends, and twenty years managing municipal solid waste and recycling contracts. She currently leads WM’s Sustainability Team.

Over the past three years, using US EPA’s Facts and Figures tonnage data, WM’s national average cost information, and EPA’s WARM tool, WM created a GHG abatement curve for the solid waste and recycling industry.  More recently, we used updated pricing and tonnage information to focus on the recyclables processed at single-stream MRFs to understand the environmental impacts and cost of the materials that we manage. Our goal for this exercise was to understand how we might prioritize our efforts for maximum environmental benefits, and at what cost.

Roberto Sabatini, President, Environmental Novociclo S.A. – Roberto has worked previously with mathematical modeling for flood forecasting at the Working Group on Hydrology and Environment. In 1998, Sabatini founded Ethermidia, one of Brazil’s first internet companies which became a leader in the Santa Catarina market. He also founded EnsinoWeb, a web-based education company, as well as Gincana Premiada, which focused on educational entertainment. Since 2008, Sabatini has been involved with Lixo Zero, a waste management and recycling program for companies, complexes, and communities. He is a member of Zero Waste International Alliance (ZWIA) and serves as the president of Instituto Lixo Zero Brasil. He has a degree in civil engineering from the Federal University of Santa Catarina.

Roberto will discuss the most recents updates in Zero Waste in Brazil.

Steven Sherman, Principal, Steven Sherman Consulting – Steven has worked on organics program planning and implementation–yard trimmings since 1988; food scraps since 1992–as a consultant to local governments, haulers, and processors across the country. He has helped to develop or further the success of several leading municipalities in our field, including San Francisco, StopWaste, Berkeley, Metro (Oregon), the East Bay Municipal Utility District, Portland, and the South Bayside Waste Management Authority. Steven’s skills cover program and project planning, budgeting, and implementation; economic and data analysis; policy evaluation; long-range program planning; survey development; meeting facilitation; staff management and mentoring; contractor selection and contract management; and organizational development. Steven earned an M.S. in Resource Economics from Cornell University and a B.A. in Environmental History from Yale College; he also holds graduate certificates in Financial Planning and in Advanced Indonesian Language. 

Picking Plastics in Paradise: Using Citizen Scientists to Characterize Marine-Borne Plastics in Indonesia — Steven Sherman participated in a citizen science-based initiative, led by the non-profit organization 5 Gyres, to document and characterize plastics in the marine and coastal environment in Indonesia. This presentation addresses the waste characterization methods employed and results found.

Kristin DiLallo Sherrill, Chief Marketing Consultant for California Electronic Asset Recovery, Inc. (CEAR) – Kristin has worked with CEAR for over 11 years. She oversees customer relations and marketing strategies. Kristin has played a vital role in the relationship with many of CEAR’s largest customer acquisitions. She holds her BA in Communications with an emphasis in Environmental Public Relations. Her industry knowledge and customer relations have helped CEAR become a leader in IT Asset Disposition, Data Security and electronics recycling.

Kristin will discuss lithium battery hazards from a recyclers perspective.

Nate Stein, CEO, PS Creations LLC – Nate grew up in the restaurant industry, and his dad moved to California in the 70’s from New York where he attended the Culinary Institute of America. He started off with a bagel company that he sold to Otis Spunkmeyer and then moved into Delis and restaurants and then finally having a catering company. And that’s where it all started for Nate. 3.5 years ago Nate was working a 300 person wedding event and had over 600 plates he needed to wash…from those plates the Platescrape innovation was born.

Nate will discuss Platescrape’s journey and how it can influence California.

2018 Recycling Update – Speaker Video Presentations

We are pleased to offer you the video presentations for the 2018 Recycling Update conference; more will be added weekly, so please check back and spread widely!

Allie Lalor , Greg Dudish , Alina Bekkerman , Dennis Uyat, “Lessons Learned from Zero Waste Youth Brazil”

Terry McDonald , Executive Director, St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County, Inc.

Nicole Tai , CEO, GreenLynx

David Allaway, Senior Policy Analyst, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality

Jeff Denby , Co-Founder of The Renewal Workshop,“Enabling a Circular Economy for Apparel”

Jerame Rentaria , Zanker Materials Processing, “DM Reduction System at Zanker Facility”

Hilary Gans , Manager, SBWMA

Michael Lok, Asian Health Services

Kevin Kumataka, SF Green Business Program

Sharon Daraphonhdeth, UC Berkeley

Jennifer Acton & Erin Cooke, San Francisco International Airport

Kelly McBee, Californians Against Waste

Mikhail Davis, Interface

Will Bakx, Sonoma Compost Company

Patrick Mathews, Salinas Valley Recycles

Ken DaRosa, Chief Deputy Director, CalRecycle

Ruth Abbe, President, Zero Waste USA

David Allaway, Senior Policy Analyst, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality

Kerry Parker, Recycling Specialist, City of Alameda and Samantha Sommer, Waste Prevention Program Manager, Clean Water
Action

Sara Fuentes, Sustainability Program Manager, Commercial Industrial Waste Applications, Inc. (CIWA, Inc.)

Zoe Heller, Assistant Director of Policy Development, CalRecycle

Kate O’Neill, Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, UC Berkeley

Monica Wilson, Policy & Research Coordinator, GAIA

Jack Macy, Commercial Zero Waste Senior Coordinator, San Francisco Dept. of Environment

John Moore, Legal Counsel, NCRA

Tim Dewey-Mattia, Public Education Manager, Napa Recycling & Waste Services

 

Recycling Update 2018 Speakers!

Over 20 presenters will inform and inspire the 23rd Annual Recycling Update conference.  See our ZWW/Recycling Update page under our Activities Tab to register for RU and to see the activities being planned for the annual Zero Waste Week.

David Allaway, Senior Policy Analyst, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.  David will address Oregon’s efforts to move up the hierarchy with a focus on reducing wasted food, reuse/repair, and the built environment; Oregon’s transition to sustainable materials management; and the development of new statewide systems to measure progress towards broad sustainability goals that include – but go beyond – traditional weight-based waste recovery metrics.

Ric Anthony, Principal, Richard Anthony Associates, “Why Bottle Caps?” – Bottle caps are one of the most frequent plastic items found in coastal cleanups. There is need to bring the producers these products and packages to the World table to draft Zero Waste responsibility plans for proper management of discarded plastic via redesign for recyclability, buyback purchasing opportunities (closed circle), and recovery campaigns for vagrant plastics on land and sea. In ten minutes I will discuss the science and the campaign which includes legislative action to force the redesign to leash the lid, a lawsuit to fund the cleanup and a public education campaign that includes returning the caps found in coastal cleanups back to the producer.

Will Bakx, Soil Scientist/Owner, Sonoma Compost Company, “It Ain’t Over until the “Overs” have a Home” – When making finished compost or mulch, ‘overs’ are screened off to create a clean, uniform marketable product.  The ‘overs’ are the coarser woody fraction that used to go to biofuel plants for green energy.  As biofuel plants are shutting down or raising the bar on what products they accept, Woodageddon has arrived.  Or, Chunky Mulch is here.  Clean up your ‘overs’ and return all organics to the soil.  Mulch: the obstacles and the solutions.

Erin Cooke, Sustainability Director, San Francisco International Airport and Jennifer Acton, Environmental Operations Manager, San Francisco International Airport, “Achieving Zero: SFO’s Journey” – San Francisco International Airport’s (SFO or the Airport) has established the bold, Strategic Plan goal, of becoming the world’s first zero-waste Airport by 2021. In setting this target, our Airport asks the question of “how low can we go?” within its 14 million square foot campus materials system. To accomplish this bold goal, SFO drafted its first Airport Zero Waste Plan, which sets a pathway to respond to this question and achieve this goal. The Airport’s key implementation leads will walk attendees through SFO’s approach and gain feedback, from you, on what approaches will help our campus reach zero.

Sharon Daraphonhdeth, Interim Director of the Student Environmental Resource Center (SERC) at the University of California Berkeley, “UC Berkeley Students Make Zero Waste Possible” – UC Berkeley is committed to reaching zero waste by 2020. Sharon will be presenting on the major accomplishments, created and implemented by students on campus. She will touch on the importance and power of student leaders, and how they are shaping the conversation and paving the way towards zero waste.

Ken DaRosa, Chief Deputy Director, CalRecycle – Mr. DaRosa will share updates regarding SB1383 compost regulations.

Mikhail Davis, Director of Restorative Enterprise, Interface, “Making Closed Loop Carpet a Reality” – For nearly 25 years, Interface has been grappling with the challenge of making their new carpet tiles from old carpet, with many setbacks and breakthroughs along the way.  Mikhail will discuss the Interface journey to make carpet to carpet recycling a technical and economic reality and how and why they decided to break with the carpet industry in 2017 and support the passage of AB 1158, the nation’s first EPR law for carpet.

Jeff Denby, Co-Founder, The Renewal Workshop, “Enabling a Circular Economy for Apparel” – The reason we have waste in the apparel industry is the design of the industry itself. The Renewal Workshop leverages technology, systems thinking and marketplace drivers to start to evolve the industry towards a more regenerative model where resources are wisely used.

Tim Dewey-Mattia

Sara Fuentes, Sustainability Program Manager, Commercial Industrial Waste Applications, Inc. (CIWA, Inc.), “Putting the Zero Waste in Concierge Services” – Learn how CIWA uses emerging technology to help track trash and recycling services and save time and money. CIWA will share some best management practices and lessons learned through a few case studies from their large-scale tech clients in Palo Alto.

Hilary Gans, Manager, SBWMA – In 2016, the SBWMA had a large fire at the MRF. Hilary will tell the tale and share what he has learned from the experience.

Adam Gendell, Associate Director, Sustainable Packaging Coalition, “The State of Sustainable Packaging” – This presentation gives an overview of the most current understanding of packaging sustainability, including industry trends, regulatory happenings, and hot topics in sustainable packaging. Learn about the latest news and hear about the industry-facing work of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition.

Iain Gulland, Chief Executive Officer, Zero Waste Scotland – Ian Gulland will update us on the latest trends and policies in Zero Waste Scotland.

Zoe Heller, Assistant Director of Policy Development, CalRecycle – The export of recyclable material is a key component of California’s recycling infrastructure.  China’s import restriction is resulting in less recyclable materials leaving California, creating opportunities and challenges for how we manage our materials domestically.

Kevin Kumataka, Green Business Coordinator, San Francisco Green Business Program, “Creating Access to Environmental Recognition” – 2 years ago the San Francisco Green Business Program distinguished itself as the most stringent of Green Business Programs.  This created credibility but became a barrier to many businesses and business sectors in San Francisco.  To address this issue of access to working with the program and to maintain credibility, the SF Green Business Program has piloted a tiered certification model approach.  Come to this talk to learn about developments of not just the SF Green Business Program, but the development of the CA Green Business Program and expansion of the Green Business model to other states.

Alexandra Lalor, Greg Dudish, Alina Bekkerman, Dennis Uyat, “Lessons Learned from Zero Waste Youth Brazil” – From Brazil to the United States, people are coming together and collaborating to create a zero waste world. Representatives from Zero Waste Youth USA will share their experiences from attending the Brazil Zero Waste Youth conference, including challenges we face, similarities we share, and connections we’ve made as we continue to build an international zero waste movement.

Michael Lok, Planning Associate, Asian Health Services – Michael staffs the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative which was funded by AHS and has grown into a statewide coalition focused on making the nail salon industry safer, healthier and more just for the 129,000 nail salon workers statewide most of whom are immigrant women of color. Michael will give an overview of the Collaborative’s environmental justice work which stands on a foundation of community outreach, research and policy advocacy.

Jack Macy, Commercial Zero Waste Senior Coordinator, San Francisco Dept. of Environment, “San Francisco Upgrades MRF And Expands Materials Recycled” – San Francisco made major upgrades at Recology’s Recycle Central @ Pier 96 to increase the types of materials recovered, improve quality and reduce residual. These upgrades, along with efforts to reduce plastic in compostables and pursue the highest and best use of resources, resulted in San Francisco moving paper cups and cartons from composting into recycling, as well as moving aseptic cartons and plastic film from trash to recycling. Hear how these changes were made, and the latest status and results of the in-progress 2-year citywide rollout of outreach along with smaller trash and larger recycling bins, while addressing recent challenging market conditions.

Patrick Mathews, Salinas Valley Recycles, “Organics Management Planning in the Salinas Valley, the Perfect Storm” – The presentation will overview the expansion of SVR’s Organics Management Program and how we will utilize the $1.34 million grant awarded by CalRecycle under their Greenhouse Gas Reduction, Organics Grant Program for 2016-17.  The topics will include selected technology review, Ag waste recovery, collections, and food recovery and distribution in the Salinas Valley.  The discussion will also outline the unique organics “perfect storm” SVR is planning for in the near future: increased organics recovery, cannabis wastes, and growing challenges for the cattle feedstock (culls) markets.

Kelly McBee, Policy Analyst, Californians Against Waste, “Preserving California’s Bottle Bill” – California’s unique beverage container recycling law was enacted in 1987 and is one of the largest and most successful Bottle Bill programs in North America.  However, over the last few years, unsustainable losses of revenue for recyclers has led to the closing of hundreds of bottle buyback centers, denying California the full scope of the program’s greenhouse gas emission reduction benefits and others. Kelly will discuss opportunities for comprehensive program reform, legislative efforts to date, and next steps.

Terry McDonald, DR3 Mattress Recycling, and Saint Vincent de Paul Lane County, “Building Blocks from Broken Stuff” -Most retail thrift stores send worn and damaged materials to the landfill.  At St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County, we use the broken stuff as building blocks for new products. Scratched vinyl records, ripped leather sofas, shirts with blown-out elbows, table tops with no legs? No problem. Our upcycling team creates unique products that attract buyers looking for something that didn’t come off an assembly line. The revenue supports a unique range of services to those struggling financially.

John Moore, Legal Counsel, NCRA, “Winning Isn’t Everything” – Presentation will discuss three local litigation cases from the past year.

Kate O’Neill, Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at UC Berkeley, “The Global (and Local) Impacts of China’s Scrap Ban” – This presentation addresses the unfolding impacts of China’s crackdown on scrap imports, with an emphasis on scrap plastics. I trace out implications for California, the US and the rest of the world, and discuss the many different options currently on the table.

Kerry Parker, Recycling Specialist, City of Alameda, and Samantha Sommer, Waste Prevention Program Manager, Rethink Disposable, “Straws-on-Request, and ReThink Disposable: Unpackaging Alameda Initiative” – The City of Alameda, now implementing a new law that bans plastic straws and other single-use plastics, has found itself suddenly in the midst of ongoing arguments regarding the branding of that whipped coffee drink everyone loves; responding to tough questions like whether or not something deemed “compostable” or “recyclable” actually is, and finding the way through tricky policy-making where most disposable single-use plastic food ware is now banned in the small island city.  Find out about how Alameda’s partnership with Clean Water Action’s ReThink Disposable program to create a demonstration project to “unpackage” a Bay Area community has brought expertise, resources, and technical assistance to hundreds of island businesses, and supports the city’s ambitious source reduction policy to keep our coastlines and bays free from plastics and other debris.

Jerame Rentaria, Organics Marketing Specialist/Company Landscape Designer at Zanker Road Resource Management, Ltd., “DM Reduction System at Zanker Facility” – The DM Reduction system processes materials categorized as miscellaneous debris, as well as residuals from Zanker’s other operations, including bulky items such as furniture, which are collected from local garbage collection companies. The fines are conveyed to a General Kinematics Air Classifier. Here, materials are fluidized with a high-velocity air stream which removes heavy items such as glass, metals, wood, and stones to be removed from lighter items such as paper, plastic and insulation. The heavy items are marketed as ADC, and the lighter items are shipped to a landfill for disposal.

Nicole Tai, CEO, GreenLynx – Nicole will discuss the growth of GreenLynx, which started in 2013 as a deconstruction coordination group and has grown into a full service reclaimed materials company with a Woodworks, Retail Store, Deconstruction service, and Green Building division. GreenLynx opened its store in Santa Rosa in August 2017 and is currently expanding to include reclaimed furniture and finish products, a reclaimed lumber retail and receiving yard, and on-site pickups of reclaimed lumber. Nicole Tai will also briefly discuss the recent Deconstruction Workshop GreenLynx hosted along with the EPA, and the amazing group formed out of this gathering.

Monica Wilson, US and Canada Program Director, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), “Recycling is Not Enough: Findings from our Global Plastic Recycling Research Project” – Working with organizations in China, Southeast Asia, EU, and US, GAIA’s research project on plastic recycling found that as exports increase to Southeast Asia processing may increase by the informal recycling sector, which would have environmental and health impacts on workers and surrounding communities. We also found that international plastic recycling trade transparency is nearly nonexistent and that stronger coordinated action needs to be taken by governments and other actors to curb the overproduction and consumption of plastic.

2017 Recycling Update Speakers Announced!

REGISTER HERE!

Over 20 Presenters will inform and inspire the 2017 Recycling Update conference.  Not all Speaker synopses have been submitted to NCRA yet, but here are a handful to whet your Zero Waste & material recovery appetites!

John Wick, Marin Carbon Project – “Creating Healthy Working Landscapes in California and Beyond.” John will present his current work connecting the California Healthy Soils Initiative, local community Climate Action Plans, organic waste recycling, and Carbon Farm Planning (based on the USDA COMET-Planner) to create healthy working landscapes across the state and beyond.

Jackie Nunez, The Last Plastic Straw – “Speaking Truth to Plastic -The Last Plastic Straw Movement – A tipping point from Awareness to Action.”   Over 500,000,000 plastic straws are used each day in the United States. In just the last few decades, people have come to expect plastic straws in every drink, an example of extreme waste generated for minimal convenience. These “tools” are quickly dropped into waste bins with little further thought, instantly becoming a growing source of plastic pollution.  The continued use of this unnecessary disposable plastic additionally perpetuates our dependence on fossil fuels and exacerbates climate change, as nearly all plastic straws are made from petroleum. True fossil fuel divestment requires the eliminating our reliance on single-use plastics, like straws.

Heidi Sanborn, Executive Director of the California Product Stewardship Council – “How Stewardship Efforts Are Impacting Operations and Budgets”.   This will be a quick overview of the voluntary and mandatory producer responsibility efforts in California and how they are impacting local governments, haulers, retailers and consumers.  Learn about the big success stories, lessons learned, and what the current discussions are around producers sharing responsibility for pharmaceuticals, packaging, marine flares, and other products and what you can do to help support producers taking responsibility to reduce product waste.

Wendi Shafir, EPA Pacific Southwest Region – “How K-12 Schools can improve student nutrition, save money and avoid wasting food.”  EPA along with USDA and U of Arkansas has developed a K-12 Food Waste Audit Guide to show how to conduct plate waste audits to pinpoint reasons for wasted food and identify strategies to get kids to eat more and waste less.

Adam Lowy, Move For Hunger – “Donate Your Food When You Move.” When people move, they throw away a lot of stuff; unfortunately, some of that stuff is perfectly good, non-perishable food that could be given to a family in need rather than thrown away. For 7 years, Move For Hunger has been mobilizing moving companies across the US to pick up these non-perishable food items during the move and deliver them to local food banks. This year, they are launching a new program to rescue the unopened, non-perishables from people moving out of multifamily communities. Listen to Move For Hunger’s Founder discuss plans to roll out this new program across Northern California to reduce food waste and fight hunger.

Melissa Romero, Policy Associate for Californians Against Waste – “Legislative Update & What to Expect”.   Melissa will discuss significant legislative action that occurred in the past year and how these new laws will influence the future of waste reduction and recycling in California. Along with information on bills and other policies that are currently in progress.

Vanessa Pan, GO Box – “Filling in Emerging Needs Around Reuse.” GO Box will present on being an ongoing environmental ambassador in the field of reuse, providing a reusable take-out container service and a system for managing the returns. This presentation will speak on bridging the gap between those who are active in environmentalism and those who are not, along with new value adds GO Box brings to the table.

Susan Miller-Davis and Susan Blachman – “Measuring and Recovering Wasted Edible Food in Alameda County.”  While the Bay Area is a foodie mecca, nearly 15% of the people in Alameda County don’t know where their next meal is coming from. And wasted edible food is found in our green bins and landfills. Susan Blachman and Susan Miller Davis (two members of the NCRA Zero Wasted Food Team) determined that there is enough wasted edible food in Alameda County to significantly address local food insecurity as well as reduce GHG emissions, and water and energy consumption.

Emily Coven, Recyclist – “A Silicon Valley Executive Walks Into the Solid Waste Industry…”  How are we using technology in the solid waste industry, and how can we do better? Emily has been studying this question for the past two years, working with municipalities, haulers, and consultants to create cloud-based solutions to help communities move toward zero waste. She will share what she sees as opportunities for the industry as a whole to evolve through better, smarter use of data, technology, and digital communications. By the end of this 10 minutes, you’ll know what terms such as Organic Search (hint: it’s nothing to do with AB 1826), Responsive Design, Vanity URL, CRM, and API mean, and why you should care about them.

Tim Aagard, Tiny Tots Diaper Service – “The Three R’s and Diapers.”  Since 1939, Tiny Tots has been providing local families with a sustainable source for diapering their child. A cotton option has been provided since 1939.  Since 2009 a compost option has been available to customers. It is estimated that each baby uses 5,000 diapers until they are potty trained, a quantity which adds up in the landfill. Tim will discuss the benefits of cotton and compost both for the ecosystem and for the child.

Garth Schultz, Principal and Manager, R3 Consulting – “Rates, Rates, Rates – Recent Trends in Solid Waste Rate Setting.” Mr. Schultz will discuss new and innovative trends in solid waste procurements, rate structures, and high diversion/zero waste planning. Via his presentation, attendees will learn about ways in which current solid waste procurements are addressing continued progress towards high diversion, means of recovering revenues to pay for the costs of those services, considerations for moving towards cost-of-service rates, and the results of recent efforts to calculate target areas for future diversion.

Giri Veeramuthu, Director of Quality, American Licorice Company “Retailers and Manufacturers Striving for Sustainability Goals”.   
In a retail world the big box stores influence how manufacturing and processes get fine-tuned not only to the zero waste initiatives but how sustainable culture occurs by partnering with vendors, associates and the Corporate philosophy. Their actions have a potential to ensure better world, financially stable and a responsible citizen.  Their direction has led us to proactively believe in and investing our efforts towards cleaner energy, zero waste certification, responsible sourcing and carbon emission controls.  The practice is extended to personal life by promoting car-pooling, initiatives of reducing waste at house to water conservation.

Maria Javier“Planning for Trash: A Regional Look at Municipal Perceptions of Solid Waste Management in Urban Planning.”
With growing solid waste management regulations, municipalities are faced with the challenge of implementing comprehensive integrated waste management (IWM) strategies to effectively manage resources and comply with solid waste regulations. Rather than seeing collaboration as a hurdle, solid waste professionals can look to urban planning as a partner in helping the municipality achieve its IWM goals. For her Master’s thesis, Maria thoroughly examined several Bay Area cities for their current solid waste-planning practices through document analyses and municipal staff interviews. Maria will present the results of her research as a comprehensive list of strategies to effectively incorporate solid waste management into the permit approval process for commercial development projects.

Dan Kurzrock, Co-Founder, ReGrained – “Edible Upcycling: Circular Economy Applications for the Food System.” 40% of all edible food is wasted. This isn’t just wasted resources and squandered nutrition, it is also a massive business opportunity. Dan Kurzrock, co-founder of ReGrained, will be discussing a concept that he calls “edible upcycling,” which takes ideas from the circular economy and applies them to the food system.

Komal Ahmad, CEO and Founder, Copia – “Solving the World’s Dumbest Problem: Food Waste.”  We waste 3X as much food in America as there are mouths to feed. Hunger isn’t a scarcity problem; it’s a logistics problem. And for the first time in human history, we have the technology to effectively redistribute excess food to the people who need it most. Copia makes this process smarter and faster than ever before — enabling us to solve the dumbest, most intractable and unnecessary problems of our time.

Wade Laughter, Cannabis Activist – “The Importance of Compost in the Production of Commercial Medical Cannabis.” Wade Laughter will be presenting on the importance of compost in the production of commercial medical cannabis. Medical cannabis flourishes in soil that is rich and alive with compost. There is going to be a huge need for compost that is suitable for use in medical cannabis cultivation.  Find out how compost can become a gift for cannabis cultivators, patients and the environment.

Shana Levy McCracken – “Innovations in Fashion—Implications for Waste.”  Fashion is one of the most wasteful industries; however, many in the field are interested in sustainability and working to reduce their impact. Shana McCracken will share the latest in sustainable fashion innovations and get us thinking about what they mean for waste.

Amy Hammes, Recycling Specialist, City of Burbank – “The City of Burbank’s Master Recycler Program.”  The City of Burbank’s Master Recycler Program is a free citizen engagement and training program designed for residents who want to learn more about Zero Waste and how to engage the community on upstream design, consumption and recycling issues. Over the course of seven classes, students will have learned how to lead their own personal projects on such issues as packaging, reuse and repair, organics and composting, business social responsibility, hazardous materials and resource management.

Bob Hollis, The Mobius Network LLC – “GreenEducation.US Offers National Certification.”  GreenEducation.US provides a means for professionals to connect with subject matter experts through a variety of training and professional development opportunities.  GreenEducation.US was recently accredited by the National Recycling Coalitions’, National Standards Board to provide the Certified Sustainable Resource Management Professional training in California. This program provides 30-hours of web or classroom based training on  Zero Waste and Sustainable Resource Management.  GreenEducation.US also provides a platform for industry experts to share their knowledge through interactive webinars, online classes and recorded sessions.