CRRA2020

Principal

Laura McKaughan is a consultant with over 12 years experience in planning and implementing recycling and zero waste projects. She has extensive experience working on projects throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and her work includes providing outreach and education, conducting surveys, performing waste audits, and providing technical assistance to property managers in the commercial and multifamily sectors to assist with local and statewide compliance.

Laura founded Envirolutions in 2014. Envirolutions specializes in designing and implementing zero waste, recycling and sustainability projects, assisting restaurants, hotels, multi-tenant commercial complexes and multifamily dwellings in implementing effective waste diversion programs. 

Designing a Zero Waste Playbook for Large-scale Tech

Envirolutions was engaged in the fall of 2019 by one of the largest tech companies in San Francisco to design and implement Zero Waste at 3 of their largest buildings. The program included innovative approaches to disseminate information via internal screens and social media posts as well as conducting surveys, floor-level and loading dock waste audits, and evaluating waste signage among other deliverables. Many aspects of the project were put on hold due to the shelter-in-place orders but the team reconvened and the project moved forward in new and innovative ways. Hear about how the client will be using a 'playbook,' to ensure that recycling and Zero Waste stay front of mind for all their employees, both in San Francisco and beyond.

Manager, Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility

Best Management Practices for Zero Waste from Property Management's Perspective

Kilroy Realty values sustainability as a foundational principal for their operations across their portfolio. Hear from their Manager of Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility about how Kilroy has incorporated Zero Waste guidelines into their operations throughout California and especially in larger commercial complexes. Learn about successes and challenges, best management practices, key components for effective waste diversion programs, as well as hear from their perspective what leads to the best possible collaboration between government, private industry and waste haulers. 

Recycling and Waste Reduction Manager

Daniel Chau always had an interest in the environment. From hiking in the mountains, camping, and taking field trips to learn how eco-systems work, this was installed in him when he was younger. He graduated from UC Davis with his B.S. in Environmental Horticulture.

In 2011, Daniel joined UCSF in the Recycling & Waste Reduction Program. He helped create the Sorting Program to target high contamination at UCSF and various other programs that help increase the diversion rate. Along with increasing recycling & composting, the focus has always been on reducing waste or finding new avenues for reusing items.

Mastering Zero Waste at UCSF

UCSF has been steadily marching towards zero waste and is currently only 12% points away from achieving their zero waste goal. To accomplish this, they have implemented numerous programs from digitizing data collection to hyper-target communication, to instituting sorting operations to eliminate contamination in their waste streams.

The creation of the UCSF Sorting Program helped increase diversion rates and gain further insights on contamination issues by conducting waste characteristics campus-wide. Furthermore campus operations have been utilizing the Zabble platform to streamline operations, reducing staff costs and utilizing the data to investigate the root causes of the waste issues. Attendees will learn about how UCSF has utilized this technology and data to actualize significant reductions in contamination, increases in diversion, lower hauling fees and fines.

Founder and CEO