CRRA2019

Sustainability Manager

Jessica Aldridge is the Sustainability Manager for Athens Services, where she is tasked with creating outreach and diversion programs for some of the most challenging waste scenarios - most notably Apartment Food Scrap Recycling, a Recycling Ambassador Program, Food Donation Strategy Plan, Zero Waste Business Education Program, and a Zero Waste Schools Manual. As a lead proposal writer/editor, Jessica helped secure the largest waste-franchise agreement in U.S. history. She is also a host on EcoJustice Radio and long-time environmental steward and community organizer. In May 2016, Jessica was named a national winner of the inaugural Waste360, 40 Under 40 Award.

Jessica Aldridge & Madisen Gittlin are sharing one speaker slot.

In 2017, the City of Los Angeles embarked on recycLA, the largest commercial franchise agreement in the nation’s history. Athens Services was rewarded the most zones (three of the eleven) with a total customer account of over 21,000; multi-family complexes represent over 60% or roughly 12,600 accounts. Athens Services needed an effective multi-family residential strategy to eliminate recycling contamination, while increasing resident participation and laying the groundwork for future food waste diversion integration (per SB 1383). By empowering Recycling Ambassadors at their multi-family complexes, they were able to provide a program that was scalable and replicable throughout the life of the 10-year contract. Although Athens is actively engaged with each of their clients, Recycling Ambassadors supplement hauler outreach by acting as onsite eyes, ears, and inspiration to ensure consistent messaging, residential engagement, and long-term success. In this presentation, we will review: how the recruitment strategy for the first training workshop affected program success; how we fostered a hauler/property management/residential relationship to ensure program acceptance, feedback, and refinement; planned strategy for testing education and outreach tools as well as for measuring participation and engagement through Ambassador-led data collection and reporting methods.

Director, Coalition for Resource Recovery

Madisen Gittlin works with national environmental nonprofit, Global Green where she is Director of the Coalition for Resource Recovery. Madisen’s work focuses on testing and expanding scalable models for enhanced food waste diversion and recycling, including Global Green’s Eco-Ambassador resident engagement program for multi-family residential outreach and waste data tracking. Madisen has a B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara where she focused on waste management and the role of diet in global climate change.

Jessica Aldridge & Madisen Gittlin are sharing one speaker slot.

Since 2016, national environmental nonprofit Global Green has been refining and expanding an Eco-Ambassador resident engagement program for organic waste diversion in multi-family dwellings. Across eleven cities and counting, the program has recruited over 100 waste ambassadors throughout the state and has helped to divert an estimated 18,000 lbs of food waste, annually. By adapting Global Green’s organics-focused Eco-Ambassador program to multi-family recycling, this hauler/nonprofit collaboration with Athens Services set out to strategically target Los Angeles, a City with high multi-family recycling contamination and challenging turnover rates.

In this presentation, Global Green will guide attendees through the steps for successful implementation of an enhanced resident outreach program within the lens of the Recycling Ambassador Program in the City of Los Angeles. The opportunities presented by the City’s revolutionary franchise hauling agreement will be addressed as they relate to the program’s design and development, recruitment, training curriculum, and engagement strategies. Detailed program results will be shared from the program’s launch in the City of Los Angeles, including program creation and adaptation of materials, participation and engagement, lessons learned, and next steps.