CRRA2019

Martie has 7 years in the waste management industry working for a hauler and 17 1/2 years with the City of Chula Vista’s Environmental Services Division. She has Associate degrees in Environmental Safety and Environmental Management. She managed Chula Vista’s Multi-Family conversion to single stream in 2006-2007.

She is so dedicated in spreading the message of resource management and recycling that she has lent her dramatic talents to multiple productions of the NCRA Players. She will be doing so again this year at the NCRA production Tuesday night.

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.

Residential Zero Waste Associate

Freddy works on the Residential Zero Waste team at the San Francisco Department of the Environment. He helps implement the city’s zero waste initiatives, which include ensuring that residents have access and participate to the city's “Fantastic Three” bin program. Since his start at the department, he has worked with over 500 multifamily accounts, successfully increasing recycling and composting participation in the residential sector.

San Francisco’s Department of the Environment continuously strives to expand and maintain its zero waste programs– from office to apartment buildings- to reduce material going to landfill and meet its recovery goals. However, implementing zero waste programs in the multifamily sector can be challenging. San Francisco is home to over 9,000 multi-family dwellings, these range from 6-unit apartments, to 400-unit high rises, and single room occupancy hotels. The residential sector in San Francisco is among the lowest performing, but there are proven ways to increase participation among multi-family residents. This presentation will cover tools that can be used by any jurisdiction, especially densely populated cities, to maximize recovery and reduce contamination. 

Zero Waste Property Plans, consists of site-specific recommendations tailored to multifamily properties. Action items include; the right sizing of refuse service (increasing recycling and composting collection), adding zero waste language to rental leases, installing compostable plastic bag dispensers, providing tools for recycling and compost collection, posting signage, scheduling tenant outreach, and closing trash chutes. Multifamily properties in San Francisco that have implemented Zero Waste Property Plans have significantly seen not only an increase in participation but also a reduction of contamination in the recycling and composting programs.