CRRA 2023 Conference and Trade Show

Director of Advocacy

Nick is CAW's Director of Advocacy and has been with the organization since 2007.

In that time, Nick has led CAW’s team of advocates in campaigns to pass groundbreaking laws that have positioned California as a global leader in reducing and recovering waste. By building strong coalitions, he has helped enact policies to reduce the impacts of climate change, recover organic wastes, reduce plastic pollution, and develop sustainable markets for recyclable materials. Nick also engages in policy development and research, representing CAW on a variety of boards, commissions, taskforces, and coalitions.

Truth in Environmental Advertising in California

California has been on the forefront of holding manufacturers accountable for their environmental claims for the past 30 years. With an economy bigger than all but four nations, as goes California, goes the rest of the country.

Nick will discuss recently enacted legislation in California that sets the bar for recyclability and compostability claims. From chasing arrows to claims of degradability, the California legislature has repeatedly made it clear that "it's not recyclable if it doesn't get recycled, and it's not compostable if it doesn't get composted."

And it's not just brands that need to take heed. Recent legislation has also reclassified incineration and mixed plastics exports as disposal for purposes of local government diversion accounting.

Managing Director

Susan Thoman has served as a national leader and innovator in the alternative materials management, fuel, materials and by-products recovery and composting space for over thirty years. Susan began her career as an oil spill equipment and clean up expert, eventually moving into fuel recovery and hazardous waste/chemical recycling program development for the high tech industry, then into composting where she joined the senior leadership team at Cedar Grove Composting in Seattle in 2004. In 2017, Susan formed CMA with five major composting companies in response to growing demands and inquiries from across the U.S. for field testing information developed by Cedar Grove, with CMA eventually becoming a solid waste systems based certifier of compostables for receiving facilities. 

Field Testing: Pile Science, Findings, and the Journey to Develop "Composter Approved" Standards

Since it formed in 2017, the Compost Manufacturing Alliance (CMA) has field tested 5000+ compostable products in 70+ independent tests and special studies to create a “manufacturer to manufacturer” scientific + operational model to support designing compostables for the future. By connecting product development scientists with seasoned composting experts, general findings and aspects of CMA’s specialized and collaborative work will be presented which will address the importance of understanding both product design and composting science, present various product categories and their disintegration performance, and lay out current areas of study yet to explore in addressing compostables within a partnership framework between the supply chain and modern solid waste systems.

Owner

Matt has worked in the composting industry since 1986, serving as a consultant, educator, researcher, and advocate for new and expanded organics recycling and composting programs in California and beyond. Mr. Cotton has completed hundreds of significant organics projects, including permitting and assisting in the development of some of the major composting facilities in California. He has become a trusted resource for some of the largest composters in California, as well as executing projects for CalRecycle. His day to day work includes helping composters plan, site, permit, and troubleshoot large-scale composting facilities.

Just Another Single Use Plastic: A Primer on Compostable Plastics

I've been learning about compostable plastics since the late 1990s. I've done field testing of compostable plastics, talked about and studied them and tried to influence their use for several decades. This talk will focus on looking at compostable plastics (broadly defined) from a different perspective - as simply a replacement for traditonal plastics and how form follows function. This will be an informative, educational and insightful presentation (I hope). At the very least you will learn something about these curious and fascinating, and yet also frustrating, materials and what their inevitable growth may mean for composters.

Legislation & Advocacy Manager

Alex joined BPI in 2022 as the organization’s legislation and advocacy manager, having previously directed U.S. PIRG’s (Public Interest Research Group) zero waste program. He remains passionate about waste reduction, public policy, and working with others to incrementally solve messy environmental problems. Alex has lived in Denver, Colorado since 2017, where he enjoys abandoning recipes in the kitchen, making music with others, and avoiding bears in the wilderness.

Reducing Contamination and Improving Diversion with Better Product Labeling

Clearer product labeling policies can reduce compost contamination and improve diversion. That's why BPI, together with USCC and their respective members, deliberated and agreed on a set of labeling principles. These principles consider everything from testing requirements to on-product text and coloring and were designed to distinguish certified compostable products while also discouraging misleading marketing tactics.

Executive Director