CRRA 2022 Conference & Tradeshow

Chief Deputy Director

President

Our keynote speaker for Day 1 (Wednesday, September 7th) is Chad Hymas, who is an inspirational speaker and builds on lessons learned to help us become better leaders. Chad states a motivating presentation must be accompanied by solutions that change and inspire lives. Today more than ever, people are looking not simply for entertainment, but for direction and solid answers. Chad Hymas has spent the last three years developing solutions that transformed his life. His stories are moving, his courage unprecedented, and his insights profound. His accomplishments provide a powerful litmus test to the validity of these dynamic principles. For more information visit: www.chadhymas.com

Director

Things are different now. The presentation of OC Waste & Recycling’s transformation and expansion of an essential public service to help address the impacts of SB1383 and augment the lack of local organics recycling infrastructure. Orange County, as the 3^rd highest generator of waste and was once the largest user of PGM as ADC, is expanding its infrastructure from solely landfilling activities to resource recovery. A journey that started over 4 years to transform and expand to create local solutions for organics recycling and increase industry expertise. The presentation will share the beginnings, the challenges faced and met, the hurdles that were overcome, and future vision of the agency’s adventure to create a circular economy in organics.

Associate Civil Engineer

With the Senate Bill 1383 organic waste disposal reduction regulations taking effect this year, Los Angeles County is expanding its award-winning edible food recovery program, amending existing and developing new waste collection contracts, and adopting implementation and enforcement policies. Hundreds of new facilities are needed throughout the State of California to achieve the SB 1383 targets of reducing landfill disposal of organic waste and emissions of methane, a powerful climate pollutant 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide in regard to short-term atmospheric warming. Counties and cities are responsible for planning to ensure adequate infrastructure capacity to process their food waste, green waste, and other organic waste. Through InfrastructureLA and the Southern California Conversion Technology Project, Los Angeles County has been engaging local Cities, facility developers, waste haulers, and other stakeholders to prepare for SB 1383 compliance. This presentation will provide an overview of planning and implementation efforts that led the County to new insights and the development of new policies and programs. The presenter will also share lessons learned to help other jurisdictions implement similar strategies.

Director, Organics Operations

Republic Services is a leading environmental services provider in the Country.  In California we operate six compost facilities, three organics preprocessing operations and multiple other organics operations throughout the state.  I will highlight all of our organics infrastructure and focus on our newest operations that opened in 2021.  This includes the solar powered Otay compost facility and two food waste preprocessing operations. 

California Program Manager

Nichole Dorr will present an overview of PaintCare’s California program to date. She will cover the successes of the program over the last 10 years; including the setup of over 820 year-round paint drop-off sites consisting of paint retailers, municipal household hazardous waste (HHW) facilities, solid waste transfer stations, and other voluntary locations to create a network of convenient paint drop-off points in California. The program provided access to a year-round site within 15 miles for 99% of the state’s population, exceeding the target of 90%. Over the last ten years, the program has collected over 29.3 million gallons of paint. Nichole will also review the program's increased community outreach activities, expansion of reuse efforts, and the recent fee decrease for consumers at point-of-purchase.

Environmental Compliance Manager

Lisa Thompson will talk about the progress and challenges associated with building a robust waste management system in Riverside County. Lisa will provide an overview of Riverside County’s permanent Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Collection Facilities, temporary HHW Events, community outreach programs like e-waste collection, appliance collection, mattress recycling, and the success of Riverside’s 5 Drop & Shop Reuse stores. Finally, Lisa will touch on how Riverside County’s partnership with PaintCare has successfully diverted paint from landfills to recycle it and provide a close loop to county residents with their reuse stores.

CEO

Research Analyst

A recently completed study on successful strategies in addressing contamination examined more than two dozen options.  The project examined “usual suspect” local choices related to program design, education, processing improvements and other options to identify those with the biggest impact and lowest cost.  In addition to case study information, detailed modeling work examines the tradeoffs from including and excluding specific materials and specific “advanced” processing technologies (robots, optical scanners, etc.) on diversion, costs and profitability, and how the results are affected by market prices and disposal fees.  The results of this study provide best practices to help communities and haulers make successful choices in cleaning up the recycling stream.

Public Information Manager

In spring 2021, the City of San José’s Environmental Services Department conducted a successful pilot program to improve residents’ recycling behavior by providing recycling cart lids with trilingual (English, Spanish and Vietnamese) labels showing what is recyclable and what isn’t. The program sampled recycling material from nearly 5,000 single-family homes along five collection routes in north and east San José where the graphic labels had been distributed. The contamination rates along those routes dropped by an average of 20 percent.

 In the conference workshop, the presenters will talk about:

• Problem: Contaminated recyclable materials in recycling containers
• Reaching Spanish and Vietnamese speaking audiences
• Program Operations: Working with a hauler on how to deploy new cartlids w graphics
• Visual graphics conveying what to recycle and what not to
• San José’s major Recycle Right campaign
• Results of the pilot program
• Next Steps

Deputy Director

In spring 2021, the City of San José’s Environmental Services Department conducted a successful pilot program to improve residents’ recycling behavior by providing recycling cart lids with trilingual (English, Spanish and Vietnamese) labels showing what is recyclable and what isn’t. The program sampled recycling material from nearly 5,000 single-family homes along five collection routes in north and east San José where the graphic labels had been distributed. The contamination rates along those routes dropped by an average of 20 percent.

 In the conference workshop, the presenters will talk about:

• Problem: Contaminated recyclable materials in recycling containers
• Reaching Spanish and Vietnamese speaking audiences
• Program Operations: Working with a hauler on how to deploy new cartlids w graphics
• Visual graphics conveying what to recycle and what not to
• San José’s major Recycle Right campaign
• Results of the pilot program
• Next Steps

Recycling & Public Education Manager

Contamination continues to be a hurdle for all of our recycling and composting programs.  As a hauler, recycler and composter, Napa Recycling deals with this at multiple levels of collection and processing. SB 1383 includes multiple requirements for regular route reviews and facility sampling audits, and Tim will give a first glimpse at how jurisdictions and haulers can use these SB 1383 flip-the-lid reviews and facility audits to help understand, monitor and reduce contamination.

Zero Waste Supervisor

Castro Valley Sanitary District (CVSan) developed a curbside and event-based Textile Collection Program with its contractor, Alameda County Industries (ACI), upon the inception of their Franchise Agreement on May 1, 2019. The residential program consists of two Textile Collection Weeks, collection during Recycles Day events, and recovery from on-call curbside Bulky & Reuse Pick-Ups. Tonnages have far exceeded expectations of the program. Materials are processed and shipped to destinations domestically and in Central America for resale, reuse, and recycling. Attendees will learn how CVSan created its program for replication in their jurisdiction.

Division Manager

As the lead agency for the City’s environmental programs and initiatives, LA Sanitation (LASAN) protects public health and the environment through the administration and management of infrastructure programs collect, treat, recycle, and dispose the solid and liquid waste generated by the nation’s second largest city of more than four million residents. Los Angeles has an opportunity, as a major global fashion market center, to grow as a sustainable fashion hub and LA SAN commits to leadership in this area by funding pilot projects.

Project Manager

Goodwill of San Francisco, San Mateo, and Marin’s guiding principle is that everybody deserves a second chance—and everybody deserves access to training, job opportunities, and support to succeed in our economy. Goodwill collects post-consumer goods, including textiles and clothing, and sees opportunities to expand sorting and grading through new technologies, job creation, and strategic collaborations.

Special Projects Manager

The California Product Stewardship Council leads four textile recovery pilots in the state to characterize commercial textile waste, model different models of collection, and expand their textile handlers database. Textile waste is a complex problem that can’t be solved on the public’s dime, so industry funding is mandatory to relieve the unfair cost-burden on charities, waste managers, and secondhand clothing markets, which disproportionately impact vulnerable communities.

Founder, CEO

It's T-minus less than a month until the new SB 1383-inclusive Electronic Annual Report is due... is your jurisdiction fully compliant, with all your records in order? Of course not, and you're not alone! But the good news for the state -- and the planet -- is that many jurisdictions have made significant progress so far in 2022. Pulling from aggregated and anonymized Recyclist Program Tracker data comprising nearly half of the jurisdictions in the state, you'll get insights into levels of compliance with the organics collection requirement. You'll also see stats on how jurisdictions on the whole are progressing with issuing waivers, identifying commercial edible food generators and tracking food recovery, meeting recovered organic waste product procurement targets, and conducting route reviews or waste evaluations. Along with other statistics, the numbers will paint a picture of how far we've already come in this collective effort to reduce short-lived climate pollutants, as well as what the road ahead may look like.

Senior Environmental Scientist/EAR Lead

CalRecycle staff will be available to answer questions on the restructured Electronic Annual Report (EAR), functionality of the system, and how to fill the report out.

Director of Sustainability & Zero Waste Programs, TRUE cert.

As a hauler and processor of recyclables and organics, it is vital to your infrastructure and diversion goals to receive items that benefit your bottom line and not the landfill.  Theoretically, compostable foodware provides less confusion and cleaner streams when it comes to sorting. However, state and federal regulations limit what types of foodware can and cannot be accepted at a compost facility, such as bioplastics. Recyclable foodware have their own set of challenges, from product types to confusion around contamination. While the markets for plastics #1 and #5 seem promising, but are these the best options? Is it possible to find disposable foodware that benefits the compost and recycling systems, as well as the environment and community?  We will explore the active role waste haulers can play in communicating to customers what material is best for their streams, why foodware is a vital part of the diversion conversation, and various foodware challenges and solutions

Head of Sales & Partnerships

Communities all across California want solutions to waste and plastic pollution and increasingly recognize that the throw-away culture has to change if we are to solve these problems. But reuse solutions, especially in the take-out foodservice sector, are hard to imagine as there are so few examples. One company, Dispatch Goods, is growing a reuse service for take-out that works for businesses and customers. Here you will learn about the keys to their success, including how they have evolved over time to make their service fun and convenient. They are even providing takeback and reuse services for problematic waste products, like cooler packs. No trip is wasted in the Dispatch Goods model. Learn about this fantastic service and how to bring it to your community.

Coastal and Marine Scientist

Combating pollution associated with harmful single-use plastics requires a suite of varied solutions, from private to public sectors. Foodware reduction policies is a critical tool, and those policies often gain traction in smaller municipalities before moving on to state legislators, often thanks to grassroots efforts. The Reusable LA coalition, a group of over 30 like-minded organizations and businesses, have been advocating for comprehensive single-use foodware reduction policies in the nation’s largest county, Los Angeles, and have achieved great success in organizing across diverse stakeholders. This session well showcase success and ongoing campaigns of the Reusable LA coalition and model tools and tactics for forwarding foodware reduction policies on the ground.

Administrative Analyst I

The Town of Truckee began embarking on the process to develop a single-use foodware reduction ordinance in August 2019. After a robust community outreach process, including a two year pause due to COVID, the Town is now developing a draft ordinance for its first reading this Fall. Policies include a ban on Polystyrene, mandating reusable foodware for in-house dining, and a $0.25 fee on disposable takeout cups and food containers. The Town of Truckee also hosts a jurisdiction-run reusable takeout food container program, with local restaurant and customer participation. Truckee's policies and programs focus on a cultural shift from single-use to reusable foodware, and show that small cities can make a big impact in waste prevention. Truckee's ordinance process provides a template for engaging the public around single-use foodware policies and can offer jurisdictions across the state a framework for developing foodware reduction policies. 

COO

Organics sorted from MSW has higher contamination than organics from source separated collection programs.  Anaerobic digestion offers a cost-effective solution for handling MSW organics and can extract energy from the materials and produce a compost product.  Key technologies that can remove contamination from MSW organics are essential.  The quality concerns of MSW organics, the cleaning technologies available to prepare the organics for anaerobic digestion, new and existing digestion infrastructure, and the quality of the final compost product will be discussed.

President

This presentation will provide an overview of SB 1383 requirements related to HDOWPF. The overview will include identification of the types of organic waste collection systems for which HDOWPFs must be utilized and will explain SB 1383’s 50% and 75% organic waste recovery standards for HDOWPFs.  In addition, the presentation will include a summary of the quarterly SB 1383 material sampling and measurement requirements for the HDOWPFs, which must be conducted by the facility operator to determine the facility’s compliance with the organic waste recovery standards and incompatible materials limits.  HDOWPF recordkeeping and reporting requirements will be reviewed as well as consequences for a facility’s failure.

Assist Deputy Manager

SB1383 provides two compliance approaches to diverting organics from landfill, source separated organics collection or sorting organics from MWS by using a high diversion organics processing facility (HDOPF).  This presentation will provide a survey the many companies in southern California that have implemented HDOPF to meet 1383 compliance.  Specifically, data on the processing technologies, the economics of MWS processing for 1383 compliance, and the secondary processing approach of composting or anaerobic digestion for each facility will be discussed. 

Senior Operations & Engineering Manager

GSB1383 provides two compliance approaches to diverting organics from landfill, source separated organics collection or sorting organics from MWS by using a high diversion organics processing facility (HDOPF).  This presentation will provide a survey the many companies in northern California that have implemented HDOPF to meet 1383 compliance.  Specifically, data on the processing technologies, the economics of MWS processing for 1383 compliance, and the secondary processing approach of composting or anaerobic digestion for each facility will be discussed. 

State Urban Forester, Resource Protection & Improvement

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is a department of the California Natural Resources Agency. It is responsible for fire protection in various areas under state responsibility totaling 31 million acres, as well as the administration of the state's private and public forests. In addition, the department provides varied emergency services in 36 of the state's 58 counties via contracts with local governments. Join Cal Fire’s state urban forester as he discusses the organization’s urban forestry grant projects which have helped implement urban wood recycling policies throughout various municipalities. Learn about what impact recycling urban wood has on climate change as a critical tool to mitigating environmental impacts while also improving the health of local urban forests & the community.  Project examples will include mulch utilization for water conservation, wood biomass for energy and biochar generation, and creation of lumber and durable products from urban trees.  Local use, reuse, limiting transportation, carbon capture, serving disadvantaged/low-income communities, and environmental health are recurring goals for all projects.

Director of Natural Resource Sustainability

Through the powerhouse partnership between West Coast Arborists, inc., a family-owned tree maintenance & management provider, & Taylor Guitars, the world-renowned guitar manufacturer they are reimagining the traditional wood materials supply chain through the urban wood initiative. Around the world, municipalities struggle to maintain urban tree cover and cost effectively remove city trees at the end of their lives. Traditionally these trees are removed, chipped, mulched, or landfilled at taxpayer expense. To address these issues, WCA & Taylor Guitars launched an urban wood campaign to make high-quality guitars using instrument-grade wood species like Shamel ash, with more species actively planned. Learn about the urban wood campaign and our vision to create a new economic model that builds municipal infrastructure, grows the urban canopy, creates jobs & supports a more sustainable “farm-to-table” approach to making guitars and other products.

Manager, Urban Wood

25 years ago, West Coast Arborists, Inc., (WCA) started an urban wood recycling program in collaboration with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF). Since a number of trees living within our City streets and parks eventually decline and require removal it became imperative to identify ways to salvage what we could. All trees have a life cycle, so we are making every effort to save the trees we can from ending up in landfills. When trees need to be removed from the Urban Forest, we preserve their natural beauty and also limit carbon emissions by salvaging trees lost during storms, disease, or normal senescence and recycling this wood into usable raw lumber. Our urban wood offers a story unlike any other, as they’ve been salvaged from our streets… A true Street Tree Revival. In this presentation we will introduce you to recycling from the contractor perspective as an alternative to dumping, means of eliminating waste, & its success as a revenue generating stream utilizing the principles of a closed-loop system, which aim to keep it local. We will also discuss the longstanding partnership with developing the Urban Wood Network (UWN) and accomplishments in wood utilization. The UWN is a rapidly growing collective of members and their efforts to launch local networks, demonstration projects, and educational programs to get industry members connected and customers interested in urban wood.

Regulatory Affairs Director

To combat climate change, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is developing a heavy-duty (Class 2b – Class 8) zero-emission fleet regulation with the goal of achieving zero-emission fleets by 2045 everywhere feasible. This presentation will address how the Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) regulation will impact both private and public solid waste fleets, especially as we look to meet new organic waste recycling obligations under SB 1383.

Zero emission vehicles are defined as battery electric or fuel cell electric powered by hydrogen. As initially drafted, high-priority private solid waste fleets will need to demonstrate that 10% of their refuse vehicles are zero emission in 2027, 25% in 2030, 50% in 2033, 75% in 2036, and 100% by 2039. Meanwhile, new fleet truck purchases for public fleets will need to be 50% zero emission from 2024 to 2027 and 100% from 2027 onward, except for certain low populations counties exempted from the first phase. The initial draft also provides flexibility for the purchase of near-zero emission vehicles, which are hybrids, through 2035.

Attendees will learn what the current ACF regulations propose for public and private fleets, including anticipated phase-in schedules, vehicle considerations, applicable definitions, infrastructure development, and available funding, as well as how they can get involved in the regulations and voice concerns. Attendees will also hear how the waste and recycling industry is looking to find an alternative compliance pathway for solid waste vehicles fueled by renewable natural gas derived from organics, aligning with SB 1383 organic waste recycling expectations.

Professional Associate, Solid Waste Program Lead

As an industry, we have come a long way from the days of horse drawn carts and the rag man.  Over the past 25 years, the industry made a significant push from diesel to natural gas collection vehicles, resulting in cleaner emissions and better economics.  Today, electric waste collection trucks are bringing the promise of zero emissions to collection fleets across California and the country.

SB 1383 is also fundamentally changing how Californians manage organic waste, with opportunities for generating renewable natural gas from collected organics.  As we look to the future of our waste collection fleets, we need to navigate these opportunities and challenges to decide how we will fuel our trucks.  This presentation will discuss the benefits and challenges of electric and RNG trucks, and present aspects to consider when selecting your next fleet.

Sustainability Director

South San Francisco Scavenger Company’s collection fleet is fueled entirely by RNG. A significant portion of this fuel is made at their on-site anaerobic digestion facility. While not entirely emission-free, SSF Scavenger’s operation has a long list of significant environmental benefits.

Attendees will learn about SSF Scavenger’s closed-loop operation and how it’s helping jurisdictions to reach the goals of SB 1383. Attendees will hear why SSF Scavenger Company believes CARB should be open to other methods of compliance.

Professor, Ph.D.

Illegal dumping of durable waste (like auto parts, household appliances, mattresses, furniture, construction and home renovation waste, and electronics) is different from littering and requires distinct prevention and mitigation strategies.

To help policymakers and other stakeholders better understand the significant environmental, economic and societal harms that illegal dumping creates (both where the dumping occurs and in surrounding communities), this presentation identifies drivers of illegal dumping and explores public policy options to address the problem.

Director

In this session, we will explain how a data-driven, behavior-based model was used for developing effective outreach aimed at reducing abandoned waste. After identifying specific target behaviors, we conducted barrier-benefit research that identified the outreach materials, strategies, and tools needed for the abandoned waste programs in the City of Palmdale and County of San Diego. Reducing abandoned waste directly impacts water quality and may also reduce the costs of doing site cleanups. Therefore, this presentation was organized to provide valuable behavior-based insights to program planners.

The County of San Diego Watershed Protection Program embarked on a behavior-based trash pilot study focused on reducing abandoned waste in the unincorporated areas of San Diego County. The County chose to follow the community-based social marketing (CBSM) approach, a research-driven process grounded in the social and behavioral sciences. CBSM involves five steps: (1) strategically selecting behaviors, (2) identifying the barriers and benefits to the selected behaviors, (3) developing strategies that reduce the barriers to the behaviors to be promoted while simultaneously enhancing the benefits, and (4) piloting the strategies, and (5) broadly implementing the effective strategies.

Selection of specific waste items for a pilot were determined via conversations with code compliance, community advocates, and waste haulers. A literature review was conducted to determine proper disposal method options and common considerations for the proper disposal of common items. To build upon this initial research, a mail survey was conducted with 800 randomly selected households.

To address the identified barriers and benefits to proper disposal, a suite of materials was developed. A flyer and a door hanger were created and tailored for single- and multi-family living situations. Behavior change tools were infused throughout the materials including highlighting social norms, setting the County up as a helper, capturing attention, goal setting, and commitments. The materials were designed to be flexible so that they could be easily distributed during times with a high potential for waste abandonment. The multi-family materials were designed to integrate smoothly into the move-out process. The research process provided important insights into how to design and develop needed outreach targeting abandoned waste in communities across San Diego.

The City of Palmdale is the sixth most populous city in Los Angeles County and the second largest geographically, with upwards of 150,000 residents spread throughout an area covering more than 100 square miles. Low population densities coupled with large undeveloped open spaces that are adjacent to residential areas has created an environment primed for illegal dumping of bulk waste.

A web-based survey and literature review were conducted as the foundation for development of citywide outreach strategies. The campaign included: (1) a landing page on the City of Palmdale’s website highlighting proper disposal options; (2) a vehicle wrap for Palmdale’s lightning loader featuring the campaign’s tagline and a QR code/link to the landing page; and (3) twelve social media posts promoting the proper disposal of mattresses and other bulk waste items for use on the City of Palmdale’s social media channels.

Superintendent of Technical Services

The pandemic and the homeless crises have created challenges for local jurisdictions to keep our public spaces free of illegally dumped materials and litter.  Traditional illegal dumping programs are effective in collecting concentrated dumps of bulky items, but struggle to address defused litter and spaces occupied by the unhoused. This presentation will describe Sacramento County efforts to address illegal dumping and litter issues in the unincorporated County, highlighting our approach to education, enforcement, and material collection.

Waste Management Program Associate

See description above.

Administrator

The Federal Trade Commission released a report to Congress that concluded that manufacturers use a variety of methods that have made consumer products harder to fix and maintain, increasing burdens on consumers, and restricting competition for repairs. The Report found that “although manufacturers have offered numerous explanations for their repair restrictions, the majority are not supported by the record.”

On November 2021 Apple “announced Self-Service Repair, which will allow customers who are comfortable with completing their own repairs access to Apple genuine parts and tools.” Kyle Wiens, iFixit’s Founder and CEO, responded that “all of the reasons not to pass right to repair have sort of been negated by this announcement. Apple's saying consumers can make repairs safely if they have the right information." 

As part of a comprehensive Circular Economy law, France began requiring “reparability ratings” for designated products starting in 2021, and a “durability rating” starting in 2024. The manufacturers must display ratings calculated using five measures: ease of repairability, price of spare parts, availability of spare parts, availability of repair documentation and a final measure that varies depending on the type of device.

Establishing Right to Repair is foundational to asserting that waste prevention activities take precedence in policy and practice to recycling or disposal. The Statewide Commission adopted a recommendation that the Legislature enact Right to Repair and repair labeling. Previous Right to Repair legislation died in committee under industry lobbying efforts. A legislative update including State and regional legislation will be included in this presentation.

President

This year, a major focus of national discard management conferences has been on Reuse and Repair as part of the closed circle economy.  Markets for fiber, metal, and a few plastic resins have recovered and are sold on the global market instead of ending up in landfills. A significant amount of these discards that are ending up in landfills can be reused, repaired and/or recycled.  Programs and laws are now addressing this procedure.

This presentation will have a look at reuse and repair groups throughout the State and their activities that are occurring in Southern California.

As we work on technical and organic cycles, reuse and recovery are a key first action. Preventing and recovering wasted food, as well as furniture, textiles, and concrete programs apply to both residents and commercial generators, are all part of what is happening. Fix-it clinics, tool-lending libraries, and edible food recovery programs are gaining the public’s attention.

President

See description above.

Operations Manager

In 2019, Urban Ore’s gross revenue had been stuck at $2.6M for a decade. As costs continued to rise, things weren’t looking too good. Then the pandemic happened. In 2021, the company grossed $3.5M. How did this happen? Max will present on the challenges and opportunities that COVID has created for the reuse retail industry, including how being a for-profit has helped grow Urban Ore’s success. He will also touch upon the trailblazing salvage service contract that the company has renewed with the City of Berkeley, and explore how reuse recovery centers are a necessary element of a thriving community and zero waste efforts. 

Environmental Program Manager II - Branch Chief

SB 1383 has many components to it and to successfully reach our statewide goals, CalRecycle has many tools that it will use to help get entities to succeed.  Ashlee will present a broad overview all of the resources CalRecycle has to offer to assist entities in their route to become compliant and will also have a quick refresher of the law.  But she will also cover parts of the enforcement process.  Attendees will learn how CalRecycle can assist them, but also about the enforcement process and what that will look like in the upcoming future.

Materials Diversion Administrator (Recycling Manager)

Public Works Director

California cities are taking steps to reduce food waste and greenhouse gases in order to comply with SB 1383. Cities are ultimately responsible for enforcing compliance with the new regulation.  So, how’s it going?  How is your city or county dealing with the most significant change to our waste and recycling system since California started curbside recycling in the 1980s? Some may be more ahead of the game than others. The City of Pomona may not necessarily be ahead of the game, but is certainly making progress towards compliance with the help of CalRecycle.

Take Action: Climate, Resilience, and Reducing Our Footprint Presentation and Beach Clean Up  7am to 8:30am– Oceanside Pier – Across the street from Seabird

Meet in Seagaze A and we'll walkl as a group to the Pier.

Hosted by City of Oceanside Green Oceanside team; Oceanside Lifeguards; Visit Oceanside; Surfrider; and other local environmental groups.  Supplies and light refreshments would be provided by the Green Oceanside team, with a guided host/talk by Lifeguard Chief (litter, tourism, solutions, changing coastal environment); Visit Oceanside (Green Tourism); Surfrider (litter, policy, climate change and clean ups). 

Sustainability Manager

In her role at Edgar and Associates, Monica has worked with numerous counties on strategies to fund food recovery programs to achieve sustainability goals and SB1383 compliance. The audience will learn about different funding models we are seeing through the state, their advantages and challenges with each of these funding models, lessons learned and unexpected consequences. We will discuss navigating the tier system defined by SB1383; and how a global pandemic has affected SB1383 compliance planning and implementation for the public, private and nonprofit sectors. Food recovery from Tier 2 generators requires different logistics than food recovery from Tier 1 where increased effort and infrastructure is needed to develop compliant programs. Planning for Tier 2 food recovery should begin as soon as possible. Monica will share key findings and lessons learned from her experiences customizing strategies for a variety of stakeholders. She will also explain the urgency and importance of strategic planning and funding for Tier 2 food recovery programs.

Program Manager

Cassie will address some of the challenges, opportunities, and best practices StopWaste has developed through their extensive work engaging a variety of stakeholders from environmental health to food recovery organizations, in meeting the reporting requirements for SB1383 implementation. She will also explore planning for Tier 2 food waste generators and the lessons learned about reporting for Tier 1 generators. The audience will gain a greater understanding of the importance of engaging stakeholders to build trust and ensure accurate reporting, the nuances of SB 1383 reporting from different types of recovery organizations, and scenarios, the establishment of effective metrics, and the ability to create change and elevate standards through data.

Customer Success Manager

Lisa Coelho, Customer Success Manager at Recyclist, will present trends non-urban communities are facing with implementing food recovery programs for Tier 2 generators. The challenges these communities face is unique and leave them vulnerable to non-compliance. These include limited funding, inadequate structural support, restricted access to resources, logistical gaps, and fewer non-profit organizations available to recover food. Local government representatives are identifying capacity gaps but struggling to identify approaches for capacity expansion. Although some rural communities are exploring software solutions that connect donors directly to recipients, this model yields a different set of challenges for Tier 2 food recovery. Specifically, the logistics of sourcing volunteers to travel long distances to collect and redistribute small quantities of edible food from a Tier 2 generator requires a significant investment of resources for a small return. Through case studies and barrier and benefit analysis, the audience will take away innovative capacity expansion strategies and recommendations applicable to non-urban food recovery program development and implementation.

Founder & CEO

Individual schools do not have the authority and resources to fully comply with SB 1383 without the involvement of their school district leadership. Waste hauling contracts, labor issues, and volume purchasing power rests at the District level. Asking every school to advocate to their District for support is inefficient and often unsustainable once a school champion for SB 1383 leaves the campus.

In this session we will discuss tried-and-true best practices in developing a District-level Green Team that is optimized to provide school sites with the resources and support needed to successfully, and sustainably, institutionalize SB 1383. The speaker will discuss case studies from both Pleasanton Unified and Compton Unified School Districts, and will share templates that the audience can take back to their communities to replicate these success stories.

Audience members will learn who should serve on the District Green Team, and the function of each member. This session will also cover the relationship between the District Green Team and School Site Green Team, and how to clearly define the role of each. Attendees will receive templates for slides, meeting agendas, training materials, and printed materials that can be customized for any community.

Resource Recovery Technician II

Salinas Valley Recycles had a problem reaching and maintaining a presence in our 117 schools over 20 different districts.  This presentation will cover how the Wally Waste-Not Award program came to be and the hurdles we've overcome through the years for it to be a sustainable program.  COVID and 1383 implementation changed the game, but we have a vision for the future of Wally Waste-Not and it will be bright.  

Recycling Coordinator

Learning from over a decade of school outreach, SVR created a streamline school food waste implementation plan.  Our first big success included a school with over 800 students switching to reusable sporks, implementing food scrap diversion, and food recovery on campus.  Through the implementation we were able to learn and grown and build a program with clearly defined steps for a campus to follow to achieve success.  We created training videos for custodial staff and students. Campus administrators complete the initial pre-implementation plans and once completed our staff attend two days of implementation to ensure success at the schools.  Join us for a discussion on what has worked, highlights of school success and where we still need improvement. 

Executive Director

California jurisdictions have a unique opportunity to using their procurement dollars to save the world from the threats of global warming.
SB1383 targets a 75% reduction in organic matter in landfill by 2025 as well as requiring jurisdictions to procure compost to bolster the expanding market.
● According to CalRecycle and leading bio-geo-chemists, the sequestration from the diversion of organic matter from SB1383 could sequester over 3M tons of CO2e per year via carbon farming.
● 75% of ZFP’s grant projects involve compost application. We are uniquely suited to direct capital to carbon farming.
● Not all compost or projects are created equal so optimization is a massive climate and fiscal opportunity.
● ZFP is in discussion to become a Direct Service Provider with 6 counties to facilitate procurement/carbon farming.
ZFP businesses send 1% of sales. Many restaurants accomplish this at $0 cost by
adding a simple opt-out fee. A 1% contribution from the CA restaurant industry
would generate $970M per year (pre-COVID).
Since January 2020, ZFP has awarded over $550K to 31 carbon farming projects, expected to remove 18,000 tons of CO2e from the atmosphere. This is equivalent to not burning 2M gallons of gas!

At this session you will learn how to move mountains of compost and reduce the impacts of climate change.

Manager of Development, Community Partnerships, and the SF Carbon Fund

Shawn was co- author of the Carbon Sequestration Process Guide, funded by the Urban Sustainability Directors Network and sponsored by the cities of San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, Boulder, Fayetteville and Cleveland.

The Process Guide was developed to catalyze a fundamental shift in the way municipalities manage their “waste” – particularly valuable organic materials. The guide supports cities in creating and initiating processes to transition from a linear, top-down system of organics waste management to an integrated, regenerative system that enhances soil and water quality, food access, and community health and well-being. This guide helps cities transition from systems that direct organic materials to landfills, incinerators, or digesters, and creates systems that ensure their highest and best use, by re-visioning them as resources to sequester carbon, replenish soil, and strengthen communities.

The Process Guide has Six Sections that provide the basic data and processes necessary to redesigning organics processing systems:

1. Organic Materials, Types and Volumes
2. Processing Infrastructure, Locations and Capacity
3. Internal Team and Community Stakeholders
4. Related Policies, Plans, and Contracts
5. Assessing Application Potential
6. Articulating Community and Environmental Benefits

This presentation will introduce the guide and help to direct resources for redesigning municipal organic materials systems for climate & community resilience & equitable economic diversification.

Special Zero Waste Projects Coordinator

San Francisco has spent the past 25 years pursuing its Zero Waste strategy for the climate emergency. A key component has been city mandated organics collection to create compost for carbon sequestration. San Francisco is pursuing compost use beyond urban landscapes for potential SB 1383 application. Zero Waste is the key to net zero emissions by increasing source separation, especially organics & shrinking trash. An early estimate of potential GHG reduction from SF’s use of compost for soil carbon sequestration suggests significant impact: 50% drawdown by 2035 and 180% by 2050. In 2035, the cumulative total of carbon dioxide sequestered by by applying compost to rangeland will drawdown 50% of the City's emissions. By 2040, the sequestration will get San Francisco to carbon neutrality and by 2050 it will exceed San Francisco's emissions by 80% and actually be an engine for reversing climate change. All this can be done by just using the kitchen compost pail and separating organics from trash. Simple!

Director of Sustainability, Wellness, & ESG

As a member of the Bay Area Sustainable Construction Leaders group, both panelists have focused on understanding the impact of construction waste generated as a result of building demolition and construction in San Francisco. Working with SF Department of the Environment to help quantify excess materials that could be diverted from the landfill has lead the BASCL group to some best practices and optimizations for both demolition and construction. The main perspective Kena will be offering as a part of this discussion is focused on the tenant improvement and renovations/alterations’ demolition and construction projects.  She will also share tips and best practices for salvaging material before and during demolition, which is typically self-performed at BCCI. Kena will also share some successful examples of working upstream with design teams for design-build project in order to reach goals for material reuse, reclaimed, and salvaged material installation. In addition, she will share some of the current constraints on contractors for meeting waste diversion goals and start a discussion on how Government and industry can work to solve this.

Sustainability Director

As a member of the Bay Area Sustainable Construction Leaders group, both panelists have focused on understanding the impact of construction waste generated as a result of building demolition and construction in San Francisco. Working with SF Department of the Environment to help quantify excess materials that could be diverted from the landfill has led the BASCL group to some best practices and optimizations for both demolition and construction.

The main perspective Tolga will be offering as a part of this discussion is focused on the impact of surplus on carbon emissions. Between now and 2060 the world’s population is expected to be doubling the amount of building floor-space, equivalent to building an entire New York City every month for 40 years. Therefore, construction projects that do not have the resources, tools and expertise to reducing surplus and finding new uses for surplus assets, and that do not properly address this issue early in the process, will be significantly contributing to this ever-growing problem not only from the resource efficiency and waste perspective, but also from the carbon emissions perspective as well. Tolga will discuss the urgent need for addressing the embodied carbon emissions in construction, the findings from the San Francisco Surplus Building Products Reduction and Redistribution Study from a general contractor perspective and share insights with the participants about the strategies to address surplus and reduce embodied carbon in construction projects. 

Mayor of Oceanside

On Thursday, September 8, we will have Mayor Esther Sanchezcome welcome the CRRA to the City of Oceanside. Mayor Esther Sanchez was first elected to the Oceanside City Council on November 7, 2000, her initial run for local office. She was elected Councilmember in District 1 in November 2018, the City's first District Election.  She was elected Mayor in November 2020. Mayor Sanchez was born and raised in Oceanside, part of a four-generation Oceanside family.

Founder and Executive Director

Heidi Sanborn will be a part of our keynote, to discuss what is happening at the California Statewide Commission on Recycling Markets and Curbside Recycling. Ms. Sanborn is the Founder of the National Stewardship Action Council and has served as its Executive Director since 2015. She is also the founding Director of the California Product Stewardship Council where she has served for 12 years. These nonprofits are dedicated to reducing waste, increasing recycling and advocating for a circular economy. She was appointed by State Treasurer Fiona Ma to the Green Bond Market Development Committee in 2019 tasked with efficiently raising billions of dollars in new and affordable capital to build climate-friendly infrastructure. She also was appointed by CalEPA to serve on the Statewide Commission on Recycling Markets and Curbside Recycling in June of 2020 and was elected Chair.  The voluntary Commission submitted 34 policy recommendations to the California Legislature, with full consensus votes in its first 18 months, resulting in numerous bills passing in 2021 that were groundbreaking for the field.

Principal Engineer and President

Evan Edgar (Edgar & Associates) will moderate a panel on Green House Gas and Energy, what does California have in store for us? Evan is the master of pulling an engaging panel of speakers together, and integrating conversation and questions from the audience. This will include panelists, Frank Ferral (President & CEO of the Hayward Chamber), Julia Levin (Bio Energy Association of California), and Eugene Tseng (E. Tseng & Associates).

CEO

Director

Executive Director

CPSC honors California-based companies for their innovative environmental efforts during the organization’s Annual Arrow Awards. Since 2008, CPSC has given out these prestigious environmental awards annually, holding the ceremony at the CRRA conference. CPSC is pleased to share with you our 2022 Arrow Award recipients at this year’s conference.

To learn more about the CPSC Arrow Awards, please click here:  https://www.calpsc.org/about-us

Managing Partner

Camille will discuss how National School District started on their path toward sustainability. Atendees will hear the early efforts to motivate students, staff and administrators. She'll then introduce two Principals from the school district who have been instrumental in ensuring the initial stewardship efforts continue and who are committed to keep improving every year. 

Principal

Alfonso will recount his experience being one of the first champions within his school district to embrace more sustainable best practices. He'll explain how he was able to work with students and staff to make progress and discuss some of the challenges he overcame in making a few sweeping changes within the district. 

Principal

Bryan will explain the challenges and successes involved with being one of the first champions within his school district to promote sustainable best practices. He'll provide a road map based on his own experiences to other school staff and adminstrators on how to proceed to get the best results. 

Executive Director, Silicon Valley Food Recovery Manager, Santa Clara County Food Recovery Program

Robin Franz Martin presents an opportunity to learn a multitude of best practices, taking her knowledge of surplus edible food recovery experience as the Executive Director of the Food Recovery Initiative of Joint Venture Silicon Valley, and as the Manager of the Santa Clara County Food Recovery Program, handling all the food recovery portions of SB 1383 for all jurisdictions in Santa Clara County. This session will cover best practices of food safety and edible donation, coordination between jurisdictions working on SB 1383, materials to use to support leading methods for generators, nonprofits, and jurisdictions. Robin will provide the audience with resources and information relative to recovery, and touch on the preparation required for Tier 2 generation. Through her collaboration with food recovery organizations and services, she provides a thorough examination of methods for success with practical and actionable information for attendees.

Director

One commonly asked question relative to SB1383 that is still undefined includes what role will Environmental Health departments play throughout the state?  We will explore the varied roles local Environmental Health Departments can play from education, to inspection, and to compliance enforcement. Former Environmental Health Program Manager and current Food Bank Board Member, John Ralls will offer his unique and insightful perspectives surrounding the reasons for varied levels of participation statewide in each of these areas to provide needed insight and context to these complex relationships.  Mr. Ralls will also discuss the options available in jurisdictions where Environmental Health Department participation is limited.

Chief Executive Officer

Arguably the most critical element associated with the success of edible food recovery is funding. The ability to not only identify funding streams but ensure that the funding created is distributed in an equitable fashion that has the greatest impact on the community and meets the needs of those most vulnerable. Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County CEO, Claudia Keller, will discuss the importance of funding equity, the impact it can have on the community, and the potential strategies considered to accomplish this goal. Strategies discussed will include participatory grantmaking at the community level, collaborative coalitions, and an analysis of bottom-up vs. top-down funding models. The audience will have a deeper understanding of the various fund distribution approaches that can ensure greater inclusion and equity.

Senior Program Manager

Alameda County jurisdictions have been implementing commercial compost collection programs for many years, with subscription rates increasing over time. It came as a surprise in Spring 2022, when CalRecycle informed most Alameda County cities (and cities throughout the state) that they had an AB 1826 “program gap” and could face enforcement action because not all accounts were subscribed to organics service. Since that time, StopWaste has communicated with CalRecycle, local governments in Alameda County and beyond, and other partner organizations to increase coordination between state and local government on this issue and identify opportunities to leverage cities’ expertise and experience to advance productive implementation of AB 1826 and SB 1383. The presentation and discussion will share lessons learned and potential next steps.

Public Works Manager

The City of Livermore implemented organics diversion programs nearly 20 years ago, and also chose to participate in the more-stringent Alameda County Mandatory Recycling Ordinance to require organics diversion beginning in 2014, at the time AB 1826 was approved by the Governor.  As of 2021, the City of Livermore had an 84% compliance rate for businesses, and a 99% compliance rate for multi-family complexes per AB 1826 regulations.  Previously, CalRecycle staff indicated that 70% of businesses and multi-family complexes enrolled in organics services was satisfactory.  Unexpectedly, in May 2022, City staff were verbally informed by CalRecycle staff that compliance expectations had increased, and 100% compliance with AB 1826 was now required.  Although the City of Livermore disputes responsibility per AB 1826 for compelling businesses and multi-family complexes to enroll, at CalRecycle’s request, City staff created an action plan to encourage businesses to participate in organics collection services. This presentation will describe the City of Livermore’s temporary pivot away from SB 1383 implementation in order to ensure businesses comply with their responsibly under AB 1826 in an attempt to satisfy CalRecycle’s perceived programmatic deficiency in the City. 

Director, Project Implementation

To come.

Senior Recycling Specialist

This presentation is about Oakland's approach to administering CalGreen recycling requirements. Beginning with a brief overview of Oakland's construction and demolition recycling requirements, the presentation will then share our experience with creating working collaborations across departments with Oakland's Planning and Building Services staff and how we worked to design and implement automated software systems, which now communicate with each other and that help us manage the current construction and demolition recycling program. I will also share Oakland's plans to increase automation between two different software systems which will reduce manual data entry and help us to meet the CalGreen requirements for recycling. The strategy we'll demonstrate, will work well for any City with limited staff resources to manage the day-to-day work to ensure and document recycling is compliant at all residential and non-residential construction projects.

Environmental Program Manager

D is for Deconstruction: City of Palo Alto is pivoting from traditional Construction & Demolition to Construction & Deconstruction.

CALGreen building code requires that 65% of C&D debris must be diverted from most job sites in California, while Palo Alto’s local requirement is to reach 80% diversion. However, to achieve Palo Alto’s aggressive Zero Waste goal to reach 95% diversion by 2030 citywide, waste generated from C&D projects must be better managed. To address that, Palo Alto adopted the Deconstruction and Construction Materials Management Ordinance - the first deconstruction ordinance in the nation that targets both commercial and residential whole structure removal projects.

This presentation will share the development of the ordinance, provide an update on the ordinance implementation since July 2020, show case studies of completed deconstruction projects, and discuss feasibility and plans to expand the ordinance in the future.

CEO

To come.

Senior Management Analyst

Santa Clara County will provide a case study outlining processes and methodologies for the development of a non JPA Countywide Food Recovery Program through coordination and Countywide funding.  Successes include countywide contracting of services for program management, monitoring, and capacity analysis on behalf of all 15 cities.  Attendees will learn about methodologies for coordinating County cities in the development of a Countywide food recovery program and capacity analysis, as well as refining capacity estimates through online coordination, interviews, and direct input from generators and members of the regional Food Recovery Council of food recovery organizations.

Executive Director

See description above.

Environmental Scientist

CalRecycle will provide an overview of the edible food recovery capacity planning requirements, key dates for SB 1383 implementation, and a general statewide assessment of edible food recovery capacity plans submissions.

Senior Project Manager

Edible food recovery capacity planning is a new territory for jurisdictions across the State.  Hear about how EcoNomics’ conducted the first edible food recovery capacity planning on behalf of their client cities in Orange County.  The discussion will include how the planning was done, working with CalRecycle provided data and methodology for calculating generation tonnage, working with edible food recovery organizations to track and gather data.  In addition, there will be ideas offered on how to improve accuracy and data collection for the next round of planning.

Assistant Director of Sustainability

For the vast majority of organizations, the approval/adoption of a zero waste plan doesn't include additional funding. For this reason, plan implementers must rely on grants or annual budgetary funds to implement the costly infrastructure measures required to meet zero waste goals. This presentation will discuss two unique funding mechanisms organizations can use to help allocate resources for zero waste initiatives.

Zero Waste Manager

Efforts to change waste infrastructure are often hampered by buildings that were not designed with zero waste or multi-stream collection in mind. This can take the form of trash chutes, limited space in dumpster enclosures, and other challenges. Constructing a new building with zero waste in mind creates significant opportunities to smooth the transition to zero waste. This can extend beyond a new building, so that it's features enable other facilities on the same campus to make transitions as well. Lin will go over the basic fundamental strategies of bins and infrastructure when designing buildings for zero waste. This includes right-sizing, collection points for different materials, bin attributes, the flow of material within and out of a building, and more. 

Senior Zero Waste Coordinator

While many people see zero waste as an infrastructure initiative, the human component of zero waste efforts is the one which makes the most impact, and is often overlooked. Lindsey will share UT Austin's Zero Waste Workplace program, which introduces building occupants to waste management strategies through a top-down leadership approach. By gaining buy-in from managers and department heads, zero waste messaging can be kept consistent, and easily disseminated to a building's occupants. Lindsey will also discuss how waste audits play a role in the education and messaging process, as well as how to adjust when encountering resistance from building occupants.

Sustainability Operations Supervisor

U.S. Hospitals generate 5.9 million tons of waste per year and are an essential partner in achieving zero waste. Stanford Health Care (SHC) has built a comprehensive quality management program to minimize contamination in recycling and compost collection. SHC did so by aligning with haulers on materials and quality standards, establishing evidence-based bin and label guidelines, engaging and educating staff, and conducting audits for bin and sorting compliance. The results are a recycling and compost program built for quality. While the scope of the zero-waste program represents a relatively small percentage of total hospital waste, SHC is using the program as a model for waste reduction throughout the institution. Hospital waste management is complicated and takes time to adjust, but hospitals’ waste quality and compliance expertise make them a valuable partner in operationalizing zero waste regulations. 

Operations Manager

Urban Ore is another key component of the Berkeley serial MRF, providing a unique role in the recovery ecosystem. Urban Ore started at City's landfill in 1980, salvaging materials from self-haul customer delivering their discards to "the dump." It moved to the City's transfer station and then to its current 3-acre site and includes both a building materials exchange and a general store. Salvagers still rescue reusable items from the transfer station and transport the materials to the site.

In 2019, Urban Ore’s gross revenue had been stuck at $2.6M for a decade. As costs continued to rise, things weren’t looking too good. Then the pandemic happened. In 2022, the company grossed $3.5M. How did this happen? Max will present on the challenges and opportunities that COVID has created for the reuse retail industry, including how being a for-profit has helped in Urban Ore’s success. He will also touch upon the trailblazing salvage service contract that the company has renewed with the City of Berkeley.

Solid Waste Coordinator III

Co-Chair

Resource Conservation Specialist III

Gerald Schwartz from the County of San Mateo Office of Sustainability will open the session by introducing the complexities of working with schools in San Mateo County. He will walk participants through the 4C’s Framework (Campus, Curriculum, Community Engagement, and Institutional Culture) and theories of change that relate directly to school zero waste initiatives. Session participants will consider which “stage of change” their school communities are currently at and different ways governmental agencies and haulers can support zero waste changes at schools and districts. This support includes technical assistance, award, and funding programs such as the County of San Mateo Office of Sustainability 4R’s Grant Program. Participants will finish this portion of the session with knowledge and resources to bring a whole school approach to their zero waste initiatives.

Sustainability Manager

A key part of a whole school's approach to zero waste initiatives is knowing the roles and responsibilities of all school stakeholders. Teresa Montgomery, from South San Francisco Scavenger (a local waste hauler/processor), will discuss each stakeholder group and effective strategies for engaging them in a zero waste initiative. Later on in this presentation Teresa will share how community partners, like South San Francisco Scavenger, has approached supporting schools that are taking a whole school approach to zero waste initiatives. Teresa can share examples and tips for other community partner agencies on where to get started with schools, and how having a whole school mindset has helped her understand the complexities of school waste initiatives. 

Environmental Education Associate

When it comes to implementing waste diversion programs in schools there are three recommended project management phases: stakeholder buy-in with strategic planning, program and curriculum implementation, and sustained success (a.k.a. lots and lots of follow-up!). There are embedded tools within each stage that include waste assessments, Green Champion recognitions, supplemental education, and more. It is critical to pair student and staff education with new waste infrastructure which improves access and reach of informational resources. Laura Wessberg will walk through these best practices for developing new waste diversion programs and refreshing or re-booting existing initiatives. Additionally, case studies from schools in San Mateo County will be sprinkled in throughout the session via video recordings, images, and shared stories.

1334 Rocky Point Drive, Oceanside, CA

Belching Beaver is part of the San Diego Brewcycling Collaborative. They are welcoming our attendees on Thursday evening for brewery tours and a bit of fun. In addition to learning about the great work the Brewcycle Collaborative is doing to improve waste reduction efforts at local breweries and distilleries, attendants will also enjoy a fun night of bingo and Delish Dogs will be serving their great food (no host).

The San Diego Brewcycling Collaborative is a volunteer-based organization that is offering breweries and distilleries in San Diego County an opportunity to positively impact the environment by providing them with a better system to sort and recycle the waste they generate. They’ve created a new collaborative recycling program that properly and responsibly recycles malt bags, grain bags, paktechs, shrink wrap, aluminum and cardboard.

They wish to create awareness about the plastic crisis, as well as the broken recycling system, by educating our citizens and uniting the industry and the county. Their goal is to achieve this awareness while diverting unnecessary waste from landfills and promoting the necessity for Extended Producer Responsibility. Learn more about what they're doing at sdbrewcycling.org.

*This is not an official CRRA-sponsored event. Attendees are on their own; CRRA is not providing any services related to the event.

Recycling Specialist III

Helping residents recycle right at multi-family properties can be challenging especially during a pandemic.  The City of San Diego’s Environmental Services Department partnered with The Recycling Partnership on a multi-family recycling outreach pilot project to improve recycling material quality. City staff tested in-person door-to-door outreach with a bilingual team who distributed multilingual outreach materials and recycle tote bags to residents. The outreach focused in neighborhoods with linguistically diverse residents, properties with high recycling contamination, and communities of concerns as identified by the City’s Climate Equity Index. We believe language barriers may play a factor in some multifamily residents not recycling correctly. Property managers who participated in the study were also supported with recycling technical assistance. The City collected and analyzed data to measure their outreach impact before and after the door-to-door outreach was conducted through waste characterization studies and property bin visual audits. Resident surveys in English and Spanish were also conducted. Learn more about best practices and lessons learned for designing multilingual outreach materials, and how to effectively and safely provide education to multifamily residents.

Residential Zero Waste Specialist

San Francisco’s Department of the Environment continuously strives to expand, maintain, and ensure equity on its zero waste programs. Implementing zero waste programs in the multifamily sector can be challenging and often low-income and immigrant communities are burdened by the implementation of zero waste programs. San Francisco is home to over 400 affordable housing multi-family dwellings that are closely identified by the Mayor’s Office of Housing. The portfolio includes low-income senior and family housing, single-room occupancy hotels, and housing for the formerly unhoused.  

The Residential Zero Waste team in partnership with the Department’s Environmental Justice team have developed special protocols for providing technical assistance and outreach to these sites that put equity and race front and center when aiding property managers, non-profit housing developers, and residents. This presentation will focus on San Francisco’s Department of the Environment’s push to become a more equitable and inclusive government institution that serves all community members.

Senior Community Program Manager

Multifamily recycling education is complex for so many reasons. One challenge is that multifamily dwellers tend to be more diverse – racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically. Do your education materials work for everyone? How do you start to communicate with this diverse audience? The Recycling Partnership recently executed multiple multifamily initiatives with diversity, equity, and inclusion components built into the community projects. In Tacoma, Washington outreach materials were developed in multiple different languages and focus groups were conducted in English, Spanish, Russian, and Vietnamese to test the materials. The result was a toolkit available online to property managers and residents with transcreated posters and informational handouts. In Portland, Oregon local community organizations were engaged to reach immigrants and refugees, low-income families, and people who are not proficient in speaking or reading in English. The organizations and their community members created their own outreach to fit the needs of the communities they represent. Attendees will learn tactics these communities and others have used to improve equity in multifamily recycling education and lessons they can take with them to incorporate into their own education and outreach efforts. 

Senior Associate

Data is important for understanding baseline information and tracking trends, but it also directly informs education and outreach messaging. This session will focus on food scrap participation and will draw upon Gigantic Idea Studio’s survey and cart spot check results for the Cities of Livermore and Milpitas. We will look at eight years of cart spot check data from Livermore, compare a resident survey from 2014 to one conducted in 2022, and see how collected data has informed outreach content over the years.  A recent drop in organics cart participation prompted the Livermore Recycles team to take a close look at outreach efforts to see how to reinvigorate residents around recycling right. In Milpitas, changes in service and a new hauler led to dissatisfaction around rate increases, and confusion about the new food scrap recycling program. The Milpitas team used a survey to understand the community’s concerns and cart audits to check actual behavior and collect food scrap participation data. Using this information, a messaging plan was created to address barriers and benefits and increase a sense of value of the new and improved services.

Session participants will gain insight into how data can inform and improve campaigns at strategic and tactical levels and get some nuts-and-bolts tips about creating and interpreting resident surveys, including their uses and drawbacks.

Project Manager

Residential food scraps collection programs often deliver kitchen pails to residents along with the do's and don'ts of program participation. How do agencies go about deciding what information to put on the pail? How much information (space) is needed on the pail to help residents make accurate decisions about what goes inside?

In 2021, in collaboration with the Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority, we conducted a web-based survey to test the number of icons (2, 3, or 4) needed on the pail to represent each of four food categories - fruits, vegetables, meats, and grains. We tested how to convey "no" items - icons only, icons & text, or text only, and do cheese and egg icons represent the variety of dairy items. 

The web survey was sent out by two jurisdictions in the Salinas Valley Region. There were 194 completed surveys. The survey was administered in English and Spanish.

Respondents were randomly assigned to receive different surveys that displayed two, three, or four icons for each food category. Respondents were shown one set of icons followed by a list of food items and asked to choose the items they think belong in the category represented by the icons. The number of correct items were summed and compared across the two-, three-, and four-icon groups. The results demonstrated that using two icons was sufficient to represent each of the food categories, "no" items were best addressed using text, and supplemental materials were needed to assist with seeds, pits, bones, and spoiled foods.

Environmental Programs Specialist

The City of Sunnyvale rolled out its first food scraps collection program in 2017 using a split cart-design for both garbage and food scraps. After running for three years, the City wanted to conduct outreach to address community feedback. In order to craft effective messaging, more information was needed. Sunnyvale, with the help of Gigantic Idea Studio, conducted an online survey and cart inspections to gather data on attitudes, barriers, benefits and observed vs. self-reported participation rates.

After collecting this data, Sunnyvale and Gigantic Idea Studio crafted a campaign using videos, social media promotions, print ads and city newsletter articles. They also conducted a cart tagging pilot program. Cart audits were conducted before and after cart tagging to compare changes in measured participation rates in the three pilot groups. Each group received a different tag: A) “Social Norming”, B) “Barriers”, and C) Control (no tags).

Attendees will learn how to conduct research cost-effectively, and how to use that research to craft messaging using social marking practices such as social norming and addressing barriers and benefits. They will also learn how one Bay Area community responded to a novel food scraps program—one that uses a split garbage cart instead of the traditional yard trimmings/organics carts.

Organics Program Manager

In most of Northern California, the demand for finished compost and mulch often exceeds supply. Although the state's SB 1383 organic waste products procurement requirements were well-intentioned, they are challenging for jurisdictions in Sonoma County to satisfy without disrupting existing markets. Zero Waste Sonoma has developed a compost rebate program that will preserve and leverage existing market relationships, minimize costs to local jurisdictions, and support local efforts to encourage carbon sequestration. 

Central and NorCal Business Development Manager

With SB1383 procurement requirements around the corner, it is helpful to know what options are available for compost procurement and procurement reporting. The California Compost website provides both of these solutions to jurisdictions statewide. Since each County and City has unique needs and requirements, attendees to this presentation will explore case studies showing how the California Compost website, as well as Agromin’s procurement brokering services, have supported diverse jurisdictional needs and representing multiple paths to SB1383 compliance. 

Resource Conservation Specialist II - Waste Reduction

The County of San Mateo Office of Sustainability is piloting different direct service provider/compost broker arrangements in collaboration with jurisdictions within the County, the South Bay Waste Management Authority, the San Mateo Resource Conservation District (RCD), and Zero Foodprint in order to meet SB 1383’s recovered organic waste procurement requirements. The pilots focus on farm and rangeland compost application, local compost application planning, and assessment of compost quality and infrastructure needs to scale compost use in San Mateo County. The goal of these pilots is to develop programs within the County that any jurisdiction can participate in to meet their SB 1383 procurement requirements that also increases carbon sequestions, improves our county’s climate resiliency, and supports our local food system.

Acting Director

In 2021, U.S. EPA announced the first National Recycling Strategy with a focus on environmental justice and detailed actions to:

• Improve Markets
• Increase Collection and Improve Materials Management Infrastructure
• Reduce Contamination
• Enhance Policies and Programs, and
• Standardize Measurement and Increase Data Collections
   
  This session will provide information about the federal government’s largest investment ever through new EPA grant programs:
• Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling Grants to States, Tribes and Territories ($55 million/year through FY22-26)
• Consumer Recycling Education and Outreach Grants ($15 million/year FY 22-26) funding opportunities for states, Tribes, nonprofit organizations, and public-private partnerships
• Pollution Prevention Grants to States, Tribes, and Territories ($20 million/year FY22-26)
• Battery Recycling Best Practices and Labeling Guidelines ($35 million/not grants)

Information on the federal and EPA focus on funding underserved communities to advance environmental justice will be covered.

The presentation will share key links to information on grant solicitations and National Recycling and Circular Economy Strategy implementation.

Environmental Officer

Tired of the same boring purchases with Beverage Container Recycling City Payment Program and Used Oil Payment Program funds? Looking to purchase more than just recycling containers or used oil filters? In 2021 and 2022, the City of Oceanside utilized payment program funds to purchase water refills stations for parks, community facilities, and beach and harbor locations throughout the Oceanside community. But wait-there’s more! This Payment Programs don’t just support zero waste, but other City initiatives as well. Staff partnered with numerous City departments such as Parks, Maintenance, the Oceanside Harbor, Neighborhood Services, and the Water Conservation program to select site-specific infrastructure and meet the needs of the community.  Tune in to learn how the team’s vision came to be, and how you can utilize YOUR city’s payment program funds better, and how funding mechanisms from CalRecycle can be restructured to meet the modern and ever changing needs of the communities the funds benefit.

Branch Chief, Financial Resources Management Branch

Please complete...

Section Manager

CalRecycle is paving the way for the next innovation boom in California by investing in a truly circular economy. With recent allocations totaling $270 million dollars, CalRecycle is investing in local government efforts and California businesses that are reducing climate and trash pollution through recycling organic waste into compost and biofuel, reducing food waste by donating unspoiled food from grocers and restaurants to hungry Californians, and recycling glass, plastic, and other materials into new products. These grants and loans create new, permanent, green collar jobs for Californians and benefit communities that are disproportionately harmed by pollution. Learn about CalRecycle’s grants and loans and help us build a circular economy that benefits all Californians.

Resource Conservation Manager

City of Oakland’s Housing Authority (OHA) provides subsidized housing to nearly 16,500 families. OHA serves a diverse community in neighborhoods throughout the city. OHA owns and manages over 200 scattered sites, and 6 large campuses of multifamily dwellings (MFDs) and 6 administrative buildings. The MFDs range from 4 to over 300 units. These properties are covered by local and state resource recovery mandates. How is OHA contributing to equitable access to recycling and composting in affordable housing?

As a participant in the Department of Housing & Urban Development’s (HUD) Moving to Work (MTW) Demonstration Program, OHA works with community partners and stakeholders to develop and implement innovative solutions to the persistent issues of access to quality affordable housing, and lack of opportunity in America’s very low income neighborhoods. OHA acts as one of “America’s Housing Policy Labs,” demonstrating and evaluating new solutions that can be replicated across the country; a goal of the recycling initiative. The presentation is a story of OHA’s recycling education initiative, and how it has adapted to the pandemic. OHA strives to provide equitable access to recycling and compost by providing on-going education and tools. The audience will learn and takeaway the following:

• OHA role in recycling education
• Modeling recycling behavior starting with OHA staff
• How to meet residents where they are
• Representation matters in program development and implementation
• In-person interaction vs virtual outreach
• Effective messaging resulting in maximum participation
• Why environmental education is important to marginalized communities

Principal / Consultant

Commercial technical assistance plays a key role in any successful municipal waste prevention program. This presentation will spotlight how a team of trained consultants is having success working with diverse commercial enterprises in the City of Alameda.
The speaker will discuss some of the challenges technical assistance (TA) programs face, how to craft solutions, and review the various tools that TA specialists can use as part of a successful TA campaign. Come learn some new ideas or share your own success stories with others.

Associate

Cantonese and Mandarin are among the most common non-English spoken languages in the Bay Area. Cascadia Consulting Group provides extensive zero waste engagement services to Chinese business owners across the Bay Area, particularly those who primarily serve this important demographic. Our work has included an in-person workshop in partnership with the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, a webinar for Chinese business owners in Alameda County about SB 1383, in-store outreach in San Francisco to promote reduction of single-use food ware and checkout bags… and more! Our multilingual team provides written and verbal translation and transcreation services, in-person and virtually, to overcome unique barriers to participation. Through our projects, we’ve learned a lot and even incorporated our lessons learned into our company’s internal culture. In the last year, our experiences helped create and shape Cascadia’s Community Based Organization Relationships Subcommittee, as well as our Translation, Transcreation and Interpretation Protocol. Come hear our stories from the field and lessons learned through our service to the Chinese community in the Bay Area.

Executive Director

Solana Center for Environmental Innovation has been consulting to business, event-organizers, and schools about waste prevention and diversion for a decade. The result is thousands of pounds of edible foods donated from school cafeterias; hundreds of businesses receiving outreach and training; and events achieving as much as 98% diversion. Solana Center’s Environmental Solutions team has addressed a variety of issues, including logistics, motivation, infrastructure, rescue partnerships, and donation dumping by food businesses. Jessica will share lessons from capacity planning as well as from the field based on the years of work by the team. She will also discuss trends in behaviors and solutions.

Founder, CEO

Boots-on-the-ground outreach is hard work. From visual inspections to full blown waste audits, there is so much information to collect and so many people to educate. Unsurprisingly, fieldwork tools and cloud-based software have become an integral part of waste characterization and contamination monitoring. For managing SB 1383’s Route Review requirements, jurisdictions and their outreach collaborators need a solution for seamless data collection and management. Luckily, Recyclist has been developing tools for collaborative outreach since 2014.

Since the initial planning of SB 1383, Recyclist has researched and developed tools for not only the entire Implementation Record, but also for Route Reviews specifically. Working with organizations who were already conducting lid-flipping audits like The Recycling Partnership, Recyclist was able to refine the tool in preparation for SB 1383. Recyclist Program Tracker customers may now efficiently gather their Route Review data in the field and use it for more than just fulfilling state requirements. With accurate information, photos and results collected in real-time, organizations can use their reports to improve program participation and reduce contamination levels. Tune into this session to learn about how Recyclist customers have utilized the Recyclist Program Tracker’s Route Review tool, and how you can put their best practices into action in your program. Let’s tangibly move the needle towards higher participation and lower contamination in our recycling and organics programs. 

Environmental Engineering Coordinator

This paper presents insights on the success of the City of Sunnyvale’s food scarps collection and processing programs. In 2017, City introduced a food scraps collection program to single-family households with a goal to divert organics that Sunnyvale residents were disposing of in the garbage. Since January 2022, all commercial customers and multi-family residential customers are also enrolled in it. Additionally, the City of Sunnyvale provides a separate collection of food scraps to businesses.

The city’s franchise waste hauler (Specialty) collects organics from residential and commercial businesses. 

Collected food scraps loads are brought to the Sunnyvale Material Recovery and Transfer Station (SMaRT Station®) for pre-processing where it's converted into an organic slurry. The resultant slurry is transported to the Sustainable Organic Solutions (SOS) animal feed production facility in Santa Clara. 

The City is exploring anaerobic digestion of the organic slurry at the City's Plant in near future. 

The goal of this paper presentation is to share the evolution of the program, provide insights to implement and run a successful food scraps collection program, and, in particular, explore the implementation challenges a jurisdiction can face given the regulatory changes. The paper presentation will also share insights gained in the process of implementing, convincing the community, technical, political, and economic parameters as part of the evaluation process.

The audience will learn: 

• Insights gained through the development and implementation of the program 
• How the key factors of technology, environmental benefit, economics, and policy may influence the selection of the preferred strategy. 

Special Zero Waste Projects Coordinator

When the Market Street recycling center closed in 2013, it caused a cascade effect. Market conditions and issues with supermarket parking lot sites led to the closure of over 800 redemption centers throughout California. This led to the creation of numerous "recycling deserts," including in San Francisco which had once hosted over 30 sites for beverage container recycling.   

The perception of recycling as a dirty business that attracted rowdy people and other nuisances led many supermarkets to evict their recycling centers and, instead, pay (or not pay) a $100 per day fine (as required by CalRecycle). 

For the past five years, the City has been crafting a solution. After meeting with small mom & pop beverage dealers and supermarket chains and reviewing alternative programs in Maine and Oregon, the Bottle Bank concept emerged as a way to reduce impacts on the stores and increase convenience for residents.

The program launched in January and by September, we will be able to tell you how it's working and what it's going to take to fix the Bottle Bill for San Francisco. 

Principal

The BottleBank brand was developed for San Francisco as a project of the San Francisco CRV Convenience Alliance. The BottleBank program includes a website (https://sfbottlebank.org) and mobile app where customers can track their deposits and get their nickel back. The BottleBank branding and logos are displayed on the pilot trucks and worker clothing. Branding will be important to the success of the program as it creates buzz, recognition and customer loyalty. The national beverage companies (Coke, Pepsi, Bud) know the importance of branding and can become partners in the program, eventually sponsoring parking lot locations and supporting schools and scouts in recycling drives and fundraising. Download the app from the app store, collect your cans and bottles and come and redeem them in San Francisco. Then let your legislators know that you want a BottleBank equivalent in your community.

Executive Vice President

With over 50 years of experience operating a bottle deposit and return program, Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative is one of the most experienced and successful Extended Producer Responsibility organizations in the world.  OBRC is now partnering with the City of San Francisco, Cal Recycle, Our Planet Recycling, and the San Francisco Conservation Corps to bring technology and innovation to the BottleBank pilot.  This session will give an overview of the BottleDrop program in Oregon, and how it relates to BottleBank in San Francisco, highlighting the program's operational efficiency and consumer accessibility.  It will give an inside look at not only the operations, technology, and programs underpinning the program, but also the legislation and policy behind it.

Environmental Officer

The City and its waste hauler, Waste Management, designed its commercial organics program starting in September 2019 in response to AB 1826 and in preparation for SB 1383. With in-person outreach commencing in January 2020, with services slated for delivery in March 2020, Staff could never have foreseen the economic and logistical impact of COVID-19. In March 2020, Staff had to immediately halt deliveries and refocus programming to account for unprecedented business shutdowns and subsequent economic challenges. While working to relaunch food scraps service deliveries in August 2020, Staff worked to completely reorient outreach materials and messaging that emphasized cost savings through rightsizing and downsizing, as well virtual resources and training support in collaboration with the hauler, third party consultants, and the City’s design firm. To demonstrate flexibility and customer service, Staff also redesigned all scripts, emails, letters, and FAQs documents to accommodate the challenging and unpredictability felt by businesses throughout 2020. In order to provide a simple, easy, and useful service launch, City Staff redesigned the logistics of physically delivering signs, printed guides, and interior receptacles to each business following delivery of their food scraps recycling bin or cart.  Due to the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the City was able to develop and successfully implement a hybrid rollout of commercial food scraps services with materials distributed physically and digitally, hosting webinars, and by offering both in person and virtual training opportunities.

Senior Environmental Specialist

Since December 2020, the City and Waste Management have been focused on providing more tailored outreach and attention to the remaining businesses that are still unsubscribed to food scraps recycling services. The remaining businesses who have yet to receive food scraps recycling services represent the most challenging generators to add food scraps recycling services, as they are low-volume generators primarily subscribing to the lowest volume service available (three cubic yard trash service with once a week pick-up), have space constraints, and/or economic challenges. To support the program’s implementation and improve the materials collected from the food scraps bin, the City and WM went through multiple phases of development of a contamination notification program. The resulting program includes a designed “Oops Tag”, accompanied by an automatic email, and a more detailed email letting businesses know of common contaminants found within their bins. This program was further developed to prepare for an SB 1383 monitoring program, and was launched in late 2021 in time for 2022 requirements and ahead of contamination charges from Waste Management in 2022. Participants will gain insight into how to develop educational resources in response to common issues of a rapidly developing program and changing conditions on the ground.

Project Manager

Although the City has made great efforts in bringing food scraps services to businesses, CalRecycle still considers the City out of compliance with AB 1826 as of January 2022. While the City has demonstrated good faith effort on AB 1826, Staff are having to adapt and accelerate the timeline of rollout for the remaining businesses and all Multi-Family complexes to comply with SB 1383. City staff worked with its consultants at HF&H to provide a comprehensive and accelerated timeline for bringing the remaining businesses and all the multi-family complexes automatic food scraps service delivery in the first few months of 2022, within the context of increased COVID resurgences and labor shortages. Consultant staff had to logistically manage the rollout timeline to ensure the City’s compliance with CalRecycle and successful delivery of services by the hauler. In this new phase of compliance, the role of consultants to support limited staffing and serve as a regulatory advocate has been essential in meeting the new demands of SB 1383. 

Co-Founder, CEO