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Policies and Programs to Increase Municipal Recycling, May 15, 2008

Join Lisa Skumatz, Skumatz Economic Research Associates, Inc., Sarah Kite of the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Association, and Gary Liss, Zero Waste Consultant to learn more about:

Presentations

Speaker Bios

Sarah Kite, Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corp.
Sarah Kite is the Recycling Manager for Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation. Sarah has been working in the Environmental field for the past 10 years, first as a Grassroots Organizer for the Sierra Club where she worked on water and land use issues. After leaving the Sierra Club, Sarah worked for the Town of Smithfield, RI as their Recycling Coordinator, where she managed not only the recycling program but also managed the solid waste hauling contract. Last May, she joined RIRRC, assuming responsibility for Recycling Operations (the MRF) and Program Development for the corporation, which supports RI city and town recycling and diversion efforts through grants and technical assistance.

Gary Liss, Zero Waste Consultant Exit EPA
Gary Liss is a leading advocate of Zero Waste and has helped more communities develop Zero Waste plans than anyone else in the United States.

Mr. Liss is a special Zero Waste advisor to the GrassRoots Recycling Network (GRRN) Exit EPA and Earth Resource Foundation Exit EPA and a leader of ZERI Exit EPA in the U.S. Gary Liss is now President of Gary Liss & Associates, Exit EPA a Zero Waste consulting firm outside of Sacramento, CA. Mr. Liss has over 34 years of experience in the solid waste and recycling field. He was a founder and past President of the National Recycling Coalition Exit EPA and was Solid Waste Manager for the City of San Jose, CA. In San Jose, Mr. Liss developed their recycling programs into national models, which are currently diverting 62% of the overall waste stream.

For GRRN, Mr. Liss has documented Zero Waste Businesses, Exit EPA developed Zero Waste Business Principles Exit EPA and helped organize Zero In on Zero Waste Business ConferencesExit EPA and The End of Garbage. Exit EPA He helped write Zero Waste Plans for: Del Norte County, CA; Nelson, British Columbia; Palo Alto, CA (PDF) (49 pp, 949K, About PDF) ; and Oakland, CA (PDF) (37 pp, 1.8MB, About PDF) . He is now working on drafting Zero Waste Plans for the cities of Los Angeles, Exit EPA San Jose and Austin, TX Exit EPA and helping to implement a Zero Waste Plan in Central Vermont. Exit EPA

Mr. Liss is on the Planning Group for the Zero Waste International Alliance Exit EPA and on the Sierra Club National Zero Waste Committee. He is also one of the founders of the California Sustainable Business Council Exit EPA and the Zero Waste for Global Cooling Coalition. In 2005, the Zero Emissions Research & Initiatives Exit EPA certified Mr. Liss as a ZERI Systems Designer and he now is Web Administrator for ZERI and has organized ZERI Yahoo Groups in the U.S. Also in 2005, Mr. Liss was recognized for his leadership by being selected as the CRRA Exit EPA Recycler of the Year.

Dr. Lisa Skumatz, Skumatz Economic Research Associates, Inc.
Lisa Skumatz is a “hands-on” economist with the research and consulting firm Skumatz Economic Research Associates, Inc. Exit EPA.  For more than 15 years, Lisa has helped communities across the US analyze practical economic and policy issues in solid waste. Her work concentrates on integrated planning, program evaluation, benchmarking, cost-effectiveness and rates for the variety of solid waste programs.  She has published extensively, and is best known for her pioneering work in incentive-based rates (Pay as you Throw and “Garbage by the Pound”) and for her detailed analyses of single stream recycling, source reduction, education programs, and commercial diversion options.

Lisa has a strong “numbers” orientation – focusing on “what do real-world, operating programs tell us”.  She maintains a database of recycling in more than 1,300 communities across North America, and has analyzed programmatic features that increase diversion and cost-effectiveness in different situations.

She has received numerous awards, including SWANA’s Distinguished Service Lifetime Achievement Award (2007), “Recycler of the Year – Lifetime Achievement” (2001) from the National Recycling Coalition, and a similar award from the Colorado Association for Recycling (CAFR, 2007).  She served as a board member of NRC for 10 years and a member of SWANA and numerous other state and regional recycling associations.  She was recently re-elected to the CAFR Board. 

SERA, established in 1990, has offices in Boulder and Seattle.

Lisa attended the University of Wisconsin for her undergraduate work and her Ph.D. in Economics is from The Johns Hopkins University.

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