CRRA2020

Founder

Emily Coven is the founder of Recyclist, a software company dedicated to creating simple, elegant technology solutions to complex environmental challenges. After 15 years in the technology sector, Emily happened upon the waste industry and has never looked back. She is continually awed by the determination and dedication of the recycling coordinators and program managers that Recyclist works with, at cities, counties and haulers covering nearly 20% of the California population. Emily lives in Truckee, where she spends her free time skiing, biking and paddling with her family in the environment that the Recyclist team is devoted to protecting.

How Real-Time Data Tracking and Reporting Supports Successful Rollouts

A successful rollout of a new program — most often organics in today’s California — requires input and collaboration from many players, including managers and staff at cities, haulers and frequently outside consultants. With hundreds or even thousands of customers requiring new services and accompanying education within a short period of time, it’s easy for rollouts to become a complicated mess. In this session, you’ll learn how Recyclist customized their Program Tracker software to facilitate and streamline the process of coordinating the recent food scraps rollout in the City of Oceanside. Leveraging the power of cloud-based software, Recyclist synced cross-team efforts, minimized the back-and-forth confusion of email, and provided everyone involved with direct transparency into the collaborative process. You’ll also see how through the Program Tracker’s real-time reporting capabilities, the City was able to track day-to-day progress toward its ultimate goal, and was additionally able to get a head start on data tracking and reporting for new regulations such as SB 1383 and AB 827.

Environmental Officer

Colleen Foster’s established record of experience within the public and private sector for over the past 14 years is highlighted by multiple achievements as it relates to Zero Waste initiatives, environmental compliance, program development, legislative compliance and contract management. Ms. Foster is the President of the California Resources and Recovery Association and a Southern California board member of the California Product Stewardship Council. Ms. Foster holds a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree in International Relations with a focus on Sustainable Development from the University of California at Davis and a Master’s in Environmental Law and Policy from Vermont School of Law.

Oceanside's Organic Goals

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic recession, the completion of this mandatory commercial food scraps recycling rollout was postponed and redesigned in a different context than originally described below.

With a 5-0 vote, the City of Oceanside amended their franchise waste hauler agreement in 2019 to include a full commercial food scrap recycling program. The amendment included collection, transportation and processing for organics waste generated by the City’s approximately 2,000 commercial customers. To support participation in the program, commercial customers received technical assistance, training and “right-sizing” of service levels.  In addition, the City updated the municipal code to ensure compliance with AB1826 and SB1383. The mandatory roll-out of commercial organics service, including at least two site visits per generator, was set to occur over 6 months of implementation. Oceanside will be speaking to the goals, outreach efforts, stakeholder support, community involvement, and challenges that allowed a roll-out of this size to begin and partially occur with full City Council and public support.

Northern California Director

Tracie Bills has over 23 years of materials management experience, including working for a hauler, county government, and nonprofit; she also has over 13 years with materials management consulting firms. She has provided commercial sector materials flow assessments, organics processing research and analysis, waste characterization studies, and recycling, organics and waste management technical assistance to government agencies, schools, multi-family dwellings and businesses. Ms. Bills has an environmental science degree from San Jose State, is the President of the SWANA Gold Rush Chapter, and a member of the National Recycling Coalition, California Resource Recovery Association and the Northern California Recycling Association.

Outreach Efforts That Provide For a Successful City-Wide Project Rollout

SCS was hired to assist with the rollout of the City of Oceanside’s commercial food scraps program. As part of this project, SCS worked closely with Waste Management and the City to develop an outreach program to meet the needs of the rollout and capture data that could be used to understand the success of the outreach efforts. Within four months, the team (City, WM and SCS) designed an outreach program that incorporated five outreach staff, four city personnel and three team managers. Important components of this rollout included the design of outreach materials, protocols for activities and elevated customer concerns, training, and an effective database. This presentation will discuss how the project all came together, including best practices and lessons learned.

Outreach Program Manager

Lauren Hennessy oversees outreach and communications for Stanford's Sustainability and Business Services office, showcasing the work that the university undertakes to minimize its environmental impact with innovations in infrastructure, and working to foster sustainable behaviors on campus through conservation campaigns and programs.  She developed and launched a new online engagement platform to track and measure individual environmental conservation, with more than $100,000 in calculated savings, doubling program participation in the first year.

Making Behavior Change Meaningful, Accessible, and Appealing

Stanford University's My Cardinal Green platform has offered a single point of access for which a diverse campus community can engage with sustainability.  The speaker will discuss the implementation and impact of this on-line incentive program, discuss the strengths and opportunities with Traditional Engagement Programs versus User-Designed Programs and share how Stanford University's has increased participation in its overall sustainability programs and notably, their Zero Waste programs, through this platform.