CRRA2020

Senior Recycling Specialist

Wanda Redic is a Senior Recycling Specialist in the Oakland Public Works Department. In 1994, Wanda began her career in solid waste & recycling in the City of Berkeley developing & implementing an ISO 14000 Env. Management System and commercial and residential food scraps collection service.  In 2007 Wanda became a Recycling Specialist in Oakland. She has over 24 years of service in government recycling and organics programs. Wanda currently manages outreach programs, assists with managing franchise agreements, develops and implements programs for compliance with regional and state mandatory recycling & organics laws.

Source Reduction in Grocery Chains - The Pacific Coast Collaborative

The goal is to reduce surplus food at grocery stores 50% by the year 2030 beginning with large retail brands.  Attendees will learn about an exciting collaboration of government and non-governmental organizations working together to reduce surplus food that is wasted at the grocery store level with impacts up the food supply chain. Attendees will learn about the goals of the work, participating agencies, participating store chains including brands such as Kroger, Albertsons and more.  Voluntary agreements to participate ensure the commitment of both governing bodies and store chains. Reducing surplus food coupled with food rescue reduces GHG emissions, prevents organics from being landfilled and reduces the load on composting facilities in a SB 1383 world.  Successful source reduction may have positive impacts in large store chains throughout California, the Pacific Coast and beyond.  I’ll share our measuring strategy and challenges of large collaborative efforts. I’ll also share the challenges of recruiting big chain retailers and developing outreach tools for a culturally and linguistically diverse population like Oakland. As we near the end of our first year of feet-on-the-ground, I’ll share our hopes and expectations for 2021 and beyond. The Pacific Coast Collaborative is a group of states and provinces including California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia; large cities including Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver. Partner NGOs include World Wildlife Fund, ReFED, WRAP UK and Cascadia Law Group.

Project Manager

Cory Oskardmay is a waste reduction and sustainability consultant based out of Los Angeles, California with a focus on recycling and organics program implementation. Since joining Go2Zero in June 2017, Cory has provided zero waste education, outreach, and technical assistance for hundreds of businesses and multi-family complexes throughout Los Angeles.

Vallarta Supermarkets Recycling, Organics, and Food Donation Program

California’s new recycling, organics, and food donation policies have posed a considerable dilemma for high-volume waste generators like Vallarta Supermarkets, who needed to come into compliance or face fines and other penalties. The implementation of waste diversion programs was a daunting task for Vallarta due to a variety of foreseen issues. These included liability and sanitation concerns, employee training, adapting to differing city hauling programs, and significant increases in service costs. Go2Zero Strategies addressed these issues, implementing a program that smoothly and effectively brought all 34 Vallarta locations into compliance by diverting approximately 1,000 tons of material per month while reducing monthly hauling expenses by more than $25,000. Attendees of this session will learn how the team successfully implemented these programs, tracked program progress, and achieved substantial cost savings.

Senior Associate

Nancy Roberts has over 25 years of experience in marketing and public relations, communications and project management for mission-driven organizations. In her nearly 10 years with Gigantic, she focuses on strategic communications planning, metrics and integrating social media into traditional marketing campaigns for clients including StopWaste, Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE), Zero Waste Marin and the City of Livermore, among others. Nancy holds an M.B.A. in Sustainable Enterprise from Dominican University of California, and M.A. and B.A. degrees from George Washington University. She is a GRI Certified Sustainability Reporter.

Food Waste & Climate Change: Are These Connected for Californians?

What do Californians really know about the connection between climate change and food waste? Public understanding of, and interest in, climate change have increased dramatically in just the past few years. How can waste agencies responsibly help the public make the connection between the global climate emergency and the food in their kitchens and restaurants? This session will present the results of a survey of Californians, tailored specifically for the CRRA Conference, to examine understanding and attitudes around the connection of climate change and food waste. This presentation of California-focused data along with current campaign examples both local and global will show attendees how changes in public attitudes might fine-tune messaging in their next food waste campaign.