CRRA2019

Executive Director

Mark is the organization's lead advocate and oversees the operation of both Californians Against Waste and Californians Against Waste Foundation. Mark joined the organization in 1987 and was appointed the Executive Director in 1994. Mark is recognized as one of the environmental community's leading experts on waste prevention and recycling policies. Over the past 20 years, Mark has helped draft many of California's solid waste and recycling laws. Mark has served on numerous local, state and national environmental advisory boards and commissions.

Mark is going to speak on the legislative side of the recycling crisis and will explain the process of what it takes to pass bills. He will also provide his insight on how we can work with the governor's office, the state assembly and the senate. 

Director of Government Affairs for State of California

Alex Oseguera is Waste Management’s Director of Government Affairs for the State of California.. Alex brings over twenty-seven (27) years of progressive solid waste and recycling experience with Waste Management including national and international assignments. He joined the company in 1991, serving in several capacities that include the management of day-to-day operations for 17 hauling business units, 10 transfer stations, 3 landfills and 5 material recovery facilities.  Alex’s experience includes the management of 60 municipal contracts in Northern California and Nevada and he currently leads WM’s efforts pertaining to legislative and regulatory affairs in the State of California.

Alex Oseguera has strong insights into what is affecting the recycling and solid waste industry from a hands-on and in the field viewpoint. He will share his perspective of what Waste Management has faced during the crisis in recycling markets.

President

Mr. Pellegrini has over 40 years of experience in the solid waste and recycling industry. He began working at the family business, Peninsula Sanitary Service, in 1972. Louie is now part of the management and ownership teams of several companies, including: Alameda County Industries, Garden City Sanitation, Livermore Sanitation, Milpitas Sanitation, Mission Trail Waste Systems, and legacy company Peninsula Sanitary Service. These companies provide franchised collection services in seven jurisdictions. In some cases, they also provide transfer and material recovery operations. Louie has leveraged his system design expertise to recover materials from the disposed waste stream, and his active status as a member of the California Refuse and Recycling Council (CRRC) to help shape beneficial legislation and effective regulations.

Louie Pellegrini will discuss his innovative approaches to waste mitigation and how he has worked with state legislators to help create legislation beneficial to the industry and consumers. 

Director

Scott Smithline was appointed director at the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery in July 2015. He formerly served the department as assistant director for policy development since 2011. Smithline was a consultant at the Smithline Group from 2008 to 2011, director of legal and regulatory affairs at Californians Against Waste from 2003 to 2008 and an attorney at Lawyers for Clean Water in 2001. He was a fellow at the Golden Gate University School of Law’s Environmental Law and Justice Clinic from 2000 to 2001. Smithline earned a Juris Doctor degree from the Golden Gate University School of Law.

Scott will be giving a brief overview of the challenges California faces in solid waste and recycling, what the department is working on in response, and how stakeholders can work together with the state to combat these challenges.

General Manager

Jeff Donlevy is the General Manager of Ming’s Recycling Corporation, a family operated business since 1989.  Ming Luong founded the company in Sacramento, CA. He recognized the importance of recycling and participated in the environmental movement in California by establishing a buyback center. Today, Ming's Recycling is a state certified recycler, state certified processor, and brokers of material throughout North America. From its humble beginning, Ming's Recycling has become an industry giant in recycling.

Jeff began his career with Western Waste, working summer jobs that  eventually led to a full time position where he implemented pilot curbside programs in the inland empire cities including Chino, Norco, Corona, and Upland. Jeff was also responsible for designing and managing several recycling centers and processing facilities.  Jeff is currently the GM at the Ming’s facility in Hayward in the East Bay. He is very concerned with the fate of California’s CRV program with the large number of centers that have closed due to lower material values and local regulations, adding to the problem of too many CRV containers ending up in curbside bins, resulting in decreased capture of CRV material and quality issues for MRF’s.

Jeff will be speaking on the issues he is facing as a collector and broker and will provide his insight on what he thinks are the solutions.

President/ CEO

Tri-CED Community Recycling was founded with the help of Richard Valle in 1980 as a mean to provide employment to youth and the formerly incarcerated.  Richard Valle has seen Tri-CED grow to become California’s largest non-profit recycling operation.  Mr. Valle served on the Union City Council for 13 years and was elected to the Alameda County Board of Supervisor in 2012. He hopes to start a dialogue between state legislators, the governor’s office and Cal Recycle to create a statewide stakeholders group looking at the current crisis of recycling in the state of California.