ContaminationFest 2018
From Consumer to Bin to Truck to MRF

In the wake of China's National Sword, join us for a swim down the commingled recycle stream as we follow the flow of materials from consumer, to bin, to truck and MRF. Contamination is a reality, but how bad is it, really? How are we going to get it cleaned up? We’ll take some time to see first-hand, how automated collection works, what comes out of the truck and what sorted bales look like. We’ll also see what 0.5% contamination looks like. Let’s have a dialogue with industry experts and leaders to learn what we can do to clean up our act.

DETAILS:
Thursday, March 29, 2018
Programming 9:00 AM-3:45 PM, Coffee and Networking start at 8:30 AM

LOCATION: 
LeMay Pierce County Refuse
4111 192nd St E, Tacoma, WA 98446  
MAP 
Parking is available but carpooling is encouraged!

REGISTRATION: This event is sold out and registration is closed. 
Members $75
Non-Members $95
Students $35
4 CEUs will be available for attendees participating in the full event day. The report form can be found HERE and will be available at the event. 

See who's attending ContaminationFest 2018 HERE!

CANCELLATION POLICY: 
Up to 21 days prior: All but $20 administrative fee
7 days to 20 days prior: 50% of fees refunded
Within 7 days: No refunds.

EVENT AGENDA

8:30 AM – Check In and Networking
9:00 – Welcome and Opening Remarks
9:10 – Evolution of Curb Sort to Commingled – Candy Castellanos, Radiant Consulting & Ron Jones, City of Olympia WasteREsources
9:45 – Break
10:00 – On-Site Tour and Demos Including: Truck Demos, Contamination at the MRF, & Contamination Bale Break Demo - Ric Thompson, LeMay Pierce County Refuse & Dave Claugus, Pioneer Recycling Services
11:30 – Lunch 
12:30 – Education Tactics to Reduce Contamination - Kim Harless, Clark County & Sheryl Rhinehart, Pierce County Planning and Public Works
1:30 – Enforcement Tactics to Reduce Contamination - Abby Hart, Republic Services & Ron Jones and Scott Seward, City of Olympia WasteReSources
2:00 – Tactics at the MRF to Reduce Contamination - Dave Claugus, Pioneer Recycling Services
2:20 – Break 
2:30 – Commingled Messaging Workgroup Group Discussion
3:00 – Wrap Up Discussion
3:30 – Closing Remarks 
3:45 – Adjourn

MEET YOUR PRESENTERS

Candy Castellanos, Radiant Consulting Candy is the founding principal of Radiant Consulting, LLC, a firm dedicated to building capacity for positive change within communities, teams, and organizations. She has 15 years experience designing award-winning behavior change programs, and five years experience developing partnerships for effective multicultural and multilingual engagement. As a community leader and passionate environmental educator, Candy has also been involved in local non-profit and professional organizations, including Zero Waste Washington, Washington Green Schools, the Pacific Northwest Social Marketing Association, and the Solid Waste Association of North America. Candy's passion for waste diversion started at an early age - in 8th grade she organized the first recycling program at her middle school in California.

Dave Claugus, Pioneer Recycling Services Dave has worked in many aspects of the recycling industry including residential buyback, wastepaper collection & processing, document destruction, electronic waste collection and processing, composting, and comingled single-stream processing over the past 33 years. Prior to assuming his current position, Dave owned and managed E-Waste Recovery Systems, an e-waste collections and processing business and worked with Weyerhaeuser Recycling as their Western Regional Manager with responsibility for ten facilities. Additionally, Dave has prior experience as a business owner after successfully starting and selling two different recycling businesses. Dave has a B.A. in Economics from UC Santa Barbara and a M.B.A. from UCLA’s Anderson School of Business.

Justin Gast, The Recycling Partnership Justin Gast is a Research and Strategy Specialist with The Recycling Partnership, a national recycling nonprofit focused on transforming recycling in towns all across America. Before joining The Partnership, Justin managed the Washington County (OR) Solid Waste & Recycling Program’s commercial recycling program, providing materials management assistance to the county’s commercial, industrial and institutional sectors. Before joining Washington County, Justin was the managing editor for Resource Recycling, Inc. Additionally, Justin is a SWANA member, as well as an active member, and former board member, of the Association of Oregon Recyclers. He resides in Portland, Oregon with his wife, Terra and their goldendoodle, Alice.

Kim Harless, Clark County Public Health Kim Harless is an Environmental Operations Specialist for Clark County, WA , primarily working on operations and planning aspects of the solid waste system and coordinating with the outreach team for marketing and education. Kim has managed Clark County’s Paint Take Back program for the last year and a half. Kim started her career in solid waste when hired as an intern at Clark County in 2011, and was then later hired permanently. Kim graduated from Washington State University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Environmental Science with a minor in Biology, and assisted with university conservation research. Free time is mainly spent with her son, and volunteering as the Board President of Slow Food Southwest Washington.

Abby Hart, Republic Services Abby is Contract Administrator for Republic Services.  In her role, she works with municipal partners to develop outreach programs, ensures contract compliance, and actively participates in regional recycling and organics contamination reduction workgroups.  Abby has been actively involved in the WSRA since 2013 and currently serves as one of the tri-chairs for the conference planning committee.  Abby is a graduate from the University of Washington with a BS in Biology and a minor in Climate Science.  Outside of work, she also volunteers as an adviser for the YMCA Youth and Government program, mentoring high school students interested in debate and the legislative process. She is passionate about the environment, recycling, and sustainability and is happy to be a part of such a progressive association.

Ron Jones, City of Olympia WasteReSources Ron is a Senior Program Specialist with the City of Olympia’s Waste ReSources Utility where he’s worked since 1998. He manages the City’s residential and multi-family recycling education and outreach programs, and works on utility planning and site plan review. Ron has been actively involved with initiatives to improve recycling, both internally and externally. He led the City’s change to automated collection and single-stream (2003), adding food scraps to curbside yard waste (2008), and designing an award-winning grass-cycling campaign (2014). He was also part of SW Washington’s Commingled Recycling Improvement Project Team (2009-2012) and the Washington Multi-family Recycling Study Group (2012-2013). Ron has a BA with an emphasis is sustainable business and organizational leadership from The Evergreen State College. He balances his passion for waste and recycling with time spent cycling, kayaking, running, hiking and improving his photography.

Sheryl Rhinehart, Pierce County Planning and Public Works Sheryl designs and coordinates outreach and communications about waste reduction and recycling and environmental education for Pierce County Planning and Public Works. She also has a graphic design background and worked on the WSRA's former quarterly newsletter for many years.

Scott Seward, City of Olympia WasteReSources

Ric Thompson, LeMay Pierce County Refuse

THANK YOU SPONSORS & HOSTS:

Sponsorship Opportunities are available for this event! If Interested, please contact Anne Piacentino at [email protected] or 206-244-0311