Keynote Speakers
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David Lee
David Lee is a PhD candidate in Urban Studies and Planning at MIT and project lead at the SENSEable City Laboratory. His research is focused on human behavioral response to real-time information feedback systems, and how digital technology can spur innovation around informal urban services. He has contributed to several projects with the lab, including Trash Track, Forage Tracking, BBVA Urban Radiology, MIT Enernet, and LiveSingapore. He also co-instructs the annual spring course, Digital City Design Workshop.
David holds bachelor’s degrees in physics and urban studies from MIT (2006), and a master’s in city planning (2007). He has interned with the International Economic Development Council, and the Los Angeles Department of City Planning. As a Fulbright Scholar, he conducted research and instructed courses in urban design in Seoul, Korea. While at MIT, he also contributed to master plans for the Seoul Digital Media City and Jamsil Olympic redevelopment site.
He is also interested in urban exploration, open data platforms, participatory budgeting, sports analytics, and hackathons. http://alum.mit.edu/www/david733
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Susan Antler
Susan Antler serves as the Executive Director of The Compost Council of Canada, a non-profit, member-driven organization dedicated to the advancement of composting and compost usage across Canada. The Council has been in existence since 1990 and is well-recognized as the information network and catalyst for the composting industry in the country.
Susan works with a 20 person National Board of Directors who represent the various composting interests of the country. Together with the total membership, The Council has spearheaded a number of important initiatives designed to support the sustainable development of composting.
Speakers
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Ahmed Oyegunle
Ahmed is currently pursuing a Master of Natural Resources Management (MNRM) degree at the University of Manitoba and a student member of the Solid Waste Management Association of North America (SWANA). He is currently working with two remote fly-in communities- Garden Hill and Wasagamack First Nations- in Northern Manitoba to develop a plan to reduce waste and prevent pollution from unsafe waste disposal practices. He holds a Bachelor of Environmental Management and Toxicology (BEMT) degree from the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria. His research interests are primarily in the areas of solid waste management, environmental health and safety, and wastewater treatment.
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Ashley Keep
Ashley is a graduate from Brandon University with Bachelor of Science Degree in Geography, Geology and Applied Disaster and Emergency Studies. She is also a Canadian Certified Environmental Professional (EP) in Policy and Legislation and Waste Management. She has over 7 years experience working as an Environment Officer in the Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Branch of Manitoba Conservation and has since moved to her current position in 2012 as the Solid Waste Management Coordinator for Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship. Ashley is responsible for the Solid Waste Program delivery, assisting in the amending to the Waste Disposal Grounds Regulation, working on landfill gas systems, landfill and commercial composting, and assisting in any new solid waste projects for Manitoba. Ashley currently works in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
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Avery Gottfried
Mr. Gottfried is a Solid Waste Planning Engineer with Tetra Tech based from the Vancouver office in British Columbia. He has over seven years of experience in the environmental industry with expertise in waste diversion strategy, evaluation and implementation, waste characterization studies and feedstock analysis, waste collection program review and optimization, composting technology review and implementation, sustainability planning, landfill monitoring and closure, and stakeholder consultation.
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Becky Raddatz
Becky Raddatz has been a planner with the City of Winnipeg for over five years. She has worked on municipal development plans, integrated waste management plans, and environmental regulatory requirements. She was part of the interdisciplinary team which developed Brady’s first ever Emergency Response Guidelines and developed and facilitated multiple table top exercises. She spends her time applying an environmental planning approach to supporting the long-term sustainability of Winnipeg’s waste management system.
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Brittany Phillips
Brittany Phillips has been a landfill foreman at the City of Winnipeg’s Brady Road Resource Management Facility since 2012 after 2 years as an operator. She was part of the interdisciplinary team which developed Brady’s first ever Emergency Response Guidelines and has participated in and developed multiple table top exercises. As landfill foreman, she has also utilized the guidelines as incident commander in live on-site emergencies.
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Carlson Yepes
Carlson recently joined the Infrastructure & Program Management (IPM) Division of the City of Calgary Waste & Recycling Services (WRS) Business Unit last January 2015 as a Waste Diversion Specialist managing the Blue Cart Program. He has been with WRS for 3 years working in the Disposal & Processing Services (DPS) Division conducting waste screening, permitting and approvals. He has also spent some time as an operator of the Leachate Treatment Pilot Plant in one of the City of Calgary s Waste Management Facilities. Before joining The City, Carlson worked for Tervita Corporation (formerly HAZCO Environmental Services) in the Waste Management and Regulatory groups providing support for the operations of their Hazardous and Non-hazardous Waste and Recyclable Transfer Stations in Alberta. In my spare time aside from family, he is busy with indoor aquaponics, square foot gardening and vermicomposting.
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Carmen Anseeuw
Carmen Anseeuw is an Environmental Planner with over seven years of experience in waste management and environmental assessment, permitting and compliance. Her professional experience includes planning and implementation of a municipal automated waste collection program, former waste disposal ground closures, waste auditing, an environmental liability review and post-closure groundwater monitoring. She has also coordinated or participated in more than a dozen federal and provincial environmental impact assessments, developed environmental protection plans and best practice guidance materials for construction projects and determined environmental regulatory compliance requirements for various activities.
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Carol Slaughter
Carol Slaughter has worked with the Region of Durham in the Works Department in the waste division since 2009. Prior to starting with the Region, Carol spent many years working in community development and engagement in various Canadian communities. Initially hired in the Promotion and Education side of the waste division, she brought a different perspective to the team, engaging and educating residents. In the fall of 2009 this included the successful promotional blitz on the green bin organics program that focused on removing high contamination levels within a five month window, bringing the level from 70% to less than 5%. She was until 2013, the point person for the Region’s waste website working with the team to create online games and tools, all created in-house by the waste division, the IT department and the students at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. This included Sort’Em Up!, and the Salvage Frenzy games, the KnowBeforeYouThrow tool and the online waste calendar. She has worked on various diversion projects and has been the lead on the Reuse program since 2011. Today she is working on the Operations side of waste, where her focus is in the multi-residential and new development area.
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Chris Ronson
Chris Ronson is a Solutions Manager for Re-TRAC Connect, a leading waste diversion software system with over 18,000 users across North America. Re-TRAC Connect is trusted by waste management professionals to efficiently collect, manage, and analyze recycling and solid waste data.
Ronson is a strategic leader with a proven ability to develop creative solutions to data management challenges. He has been instrumental in the collaborative design of statewide, county, and municipal data management programs.
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Daryl McCartney
Dr. Daryl McCartney is a Professor of Environmental Engineering at the University of Alberta. He is also the Executive Director & Director of Research at the Edmonton Waste Management Centre of Excellence, a not-for-profit agency supporting research, development, and education in all aspects of waste management. Dr. McCartney has developed a successful research and teaching career in wastewater treatment and solid waste management. His current research program is focused on organic waste utilization, e.g. source separation of ICI organics; integrating anaerobic digestion processes into existing composting facilities; optimization of full-scale composting facilities; and plant and human pathogen inactivation during composting.
During his career, he has authored or co-authored over 170 journal manuscripts, conference papers, and technical report publications. Dr. McCartney currently sits on: the editorial board of the Journal of Compost Science & Utilization; the Recycling Council of Alberta’s ICI Waste Reduction Committee; and the University of Alberta’s Waste Diversion Working Group.
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Dave Hallman
Dave Hallman, P.Eng., is President of EB Products, a Canadian owned and operated company based in Woodstock, Ontario. Dave has over 25 years of experience in the manufacturing and engineering of specialty products for the military, forestry and waste sectors. Dave is the developer of EarthBin TM, an in-ground waste & recycling storage and collection system that innovates a modern European design with best-in-class features, efficiencies and savings. With almost 200 units installed nationally over the past years, this new product design is changing the landscape for developers, property managers and municipalities.
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Dave Schaaf
David Schaaf is the Waste & Recycling Services Manager for the City of Lethbridge. He has held this position since 2003. He has been with the City of Lethbridge since 1991, working in a variety of areas including Fleet Management, Facility management, and Information technology.
He graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a degree in Agricultural Engineering. His work experience involved working as a design engineer within the agriculture manufacturing sector, prior to employment with the City of Lethbridge.
His current responsibilities are for the delivery of the waste prevention programs, recycling programs, commercial and residential waste collection, as well as management of the Waste & Recycling Centre (formerly known as the Lethbridge Regional Landfill).
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Don Davies
Don has more than 45 years’ experience related to bulk materials processing and solid waste management. He provides project management and senior advisor services to clients related to providing solutions for solid waste management planning and facilities, including resiliency. His domestic and international experiences allow him to offer services to clients for all phases of project development and implementation. His solid waste management expertise includes integrated waste management planning, municipal and oilfield waste landfills, landfill biocell, landfill setback variance for commercial and residential development including DP applications, regulatory approval applications, brownfields development, demolition planning and waste management, tailings ponds capping, composting facilities, bio-solids management and transfer stations. Don has contributed to AESRD committees related to C&D and Organic waste diversion from landfill.
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Jane Stewart
Jane Stewart is a Programs Coordinator with the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME), a minister-led intergovernmental forum for collective action on environmental issues of national and international concern. She provides project management and process support for CCME projects ranging from water management, environmental assessment and municipal wastewater, and currently supports CCME’s Waste Management Task Group and Cumulative Effects Working Group.
Prior to joining CCME in 2008, Jane worked with the Sustainable Forest Management Network as a publications and outreach coordinator in Edmonton, Alberta; and with the Forest Stewardship Council in Mexico, Germany and Southeast Asia, developing certification approaches for small-scale forest managers and manufacturers.
Jane has a B.Sc in forest resource management from the University of British Columbia and an M.Sc in international rural planning and development from the University of Guelph.
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Jennifer White
Ms. White is an environmental engineer with over ten years of experience in the environmental consulting industry. Her project work has extended throughout Canada, providing her with direct hands-on experience in various regulatory environments. Her expertise includes waste surveys and audits, solid waste management and projections, tender and RFP documents and specifications, implementation and management of quality control and quality management plans, issues management and tracking, project controls, scheduling, and client/contractor/regulator liaison. Ms. White has acted in the role of environmental management consultant, owner s engineer, design engineer, construction oversight, and regulatory liaison. Most recently, Ms. White has been involved on the business case analysis for regional organics composting, and has assessed stewardship requirements for a commercial business in BC. She is actively involved in marketing and development of the 2015 iteration of the National Solid Waste Benchmarking Initiative.
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Jesse Edsall
Jesse Edsall is a Bylaw Compliance Officer for the Region of Durham, in the Waste Management Division. He has a Law and Security/Police Foundations Diploma from Niagara College and his background includes nearly 10 years in various law enforcement roles. In his current role, he is responsible for the education and enforcement of Durham’s Waste Bylaw and waste programs. Durham Region is located east of the City of Toronto within the Greater Toronto Area and has a rapidly growing population. The Region currently has
a 54% diversion rate with a goal of reaching 70%. The education and enforcement of the waste bylaw has been identified as one of the many ways to help achieve this diversion goal. -
Jim Ferguson
Jim has worked with Manitoba municipalities and businesses since 1990 to improve waste diversion practices through the development of extended producer responsibility programs, policies and regulations. He currently manages the Waste Reduction and Recycling Support (WRARS) Landfill Levy program introduced in 2009. Jim represents Manitoba on the CCME Waste Management Task Group and has over 25 years experience in environmental policy and program development in the fields of renewable energy, waste management, recycling and pollution prevention.
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Jolene Rutter
Jolene Rutter has been with Green Manitoba for two years as an Environmental Program Analyst in which she specializes in organic waste management issues and manages the Manitoba Composts program. Her interest in waste reduction began at the University of Manitoba where she completed a Bachelor degree in Environmental Science and is currently working on a thesis project for a Masters degree in Soil Science
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Juliane Ruck
Juliane Ruck, P. Eng., is a Waste and Recycling Engineer with the City of Lethbridge, Alberta. Juliane is coordinating and managing the design and implementation of new waste and recycling programs and the design and construction of waste and recycling infrastructure. She is also responsible for the performance tracking of the City of Lethbridge waste and recycling programs, including the development of performance protocols, tracking tools and participation in benchmarking exercises. Juliane holds an Environmental Engineering degree from the University of Rostock (Germany) in 2005 and has 10 years of experience in the field of waste management. She has been with the City since 2009 and worked previously as a consultant.
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Lindsay Mierau
Mrs. Mierau is the Environmental Coordinator located in the Planning, Property and Development Department within the City of Winnipeg. She has worked in the environmental field for more than a decade, working in post-secondary, provincial and municipal government settings. She has expertise in waste reduction, sustainability education, public participation, and urban environmental issues.
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Lisa Quinn
Lisa Quinn is an Environmental Program Analyst with Green Manitoba responsible for coordinating provincial efforts related to construction, renovation and demolition (CR&D) waste. She is currently assisting in the development of a province-wide approach for both reducing and diverting CR&D waste from landfills, which involves consulting with stakeholders and surveying best practices in different jurisdictions. Lisa is a graduate of the Natural Resources Institute’s PhD program. Her master’s thesis work introduced her to the world of waste management. Her thesis focused on packaging stewardship, which entailed studying successful policies and programs from across the globe.
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Michael Beswick
Michael Beswick is a Project Manager and Engineered Application Specialist with extensive experience in Wastewater and Waste Management projects. Michael has a degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Guelph, Ontario. In his role with Lystek he has coordinated or managed a number of successful project deployments. This includes the design, construction, and operation of its regional Southgate Organics Material Recovery Centre, located in Dundalk Ontario, as well as others. Michael s most recent project was managing the design, construction, and commissioning of North Battleford’s Lystek Biosolids Processing System.
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Nathan Ziegler
Nathan Ziegler, P.Eng – Sustainable Electricity Engineer for Saskatoon Light & Power.
Mr. Ziegler has been working as an electrical engineer for 10 years, focusing his career on sustainable energy projects. His current role is to promote and explore new ideas for power generation utilizing renewable and/or low impact energy sources. Mr. Ziegler was the project manager for the construction of the Saskatoon Landfill Gas Collection and Power Generation System, and continues to oversee the Operation and Maintenance of the site. Previously he was a consulting engineer specializing in industrial automation, and worked on projects like the award winning Vancouver Olympic Whistler Athletes’ Village District Energy System.
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Paul van der Werf
Paul was educated at the University of Guelph where he received an undergraduate degree in Environmental Biology and completed a Master’s of Science in the department of Land Resource Science. He is currently undertaking a PhD at Western University’s in the Department of Geography. He is the owner of 2cg, a London, Ontario based environmental consultancy that focuses on waste management and sustainability planning. He is a contributing editor for Solid Waste and Recycling Magazine and writes on a wide range of waste management topics.
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Paulina Leung
Paulina Leung is the Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Business Development of Emterra Group, a family-owned waste diversion and recyclables resource management leader in Canada. Wearing multiple hats as both an employee and family business member of Emterra Group, Paulina is responsible for initiatives that grow and develop all companies within Emterra Group, including the bidding and implementation of new contracts and undertaking special projects, especially those related to business process improvements, customer service delivery, operational efficiency, and green/alternative fuels and technology. From a broader level, she also oversees corporate services including communications, human resources, and information technology.
Paulina has an Honours Business Administration (HBA) from the Richard Ivey School of Business of the University of Western Ontario and loves going to work every day. -
Randy Park
Randy Park is in his 34th year at the City of Winnipeg and has close to 25 years of experience in the solid waste industry. He is currently the Supervisor of Waste Diversion for the City of Winnipeg’s Solid Waste Services Division and has been involved with most of the City’s waste diversion initiatives since their inception.
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Rod Muir
As a former marketing executive in the foodservice and grocery industries, (great exposure to packaging and organics) and the individual responsible for Kentucky Fried Chicken home delivery service, (garbage collection tough ha! – try 30 minutes or it’s free) Rod Muir brings a unique perspective to the solutions to the challenge of diverting Municipal solid waste.
As Waste Diversion and Sustainability Chair for the Sierra Club of Canada Foundation, Rod is putting his evil powers to good by providing recommendations to various levels of government, business and individuals about, improving, their waste diversion efforts.
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Scott Gamble
Scott Gamble has over twenty years of technical and facility operations/management experience in the solid waste management industry. His role at CH2M is to provide engineering and technical expertise on organic waste feasibility and design projects, facility commissioning and troubleshooting, and facility procurement. He is also the lead trainer for the Compost Council of Canada, and travels across Canada delivering 1, 2 and 3-day Compost Operator Training Courses.
In addition to his technical and engineering knowledge, Scott has extensive operating experience at composting and other waste facilities. Almost half of his career has been spent working at or managing landfill and composting facilities in and around Edmonton and Calgary.
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Scott Stubbings
Scott began his career as a municipal employee in 2000. Scott became a full time waste collector in 2005. He was a collector until 2010 at which time he became a waste technician. As a technician Scott’s main responsibilities involve troubleshooting collection issues with residents. This usually involves determining why waste is not being collected and communicating to the customer what they are needed to change. Scott’s other main responsibility is by-law infraction education which can ultimately lead to enforcement. Scott began the commercial education program in April of 2014.
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Shirley Thompson
Shirley Thompson is an associate professor at the Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba. Her research has looked at zero waste, extended producer responsibility and landfill gas methane modelling and estimation. She conducted a national survey on waste management to estimate the national greenhouse gas emissions from landfills.
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Stacey Schaub-Szabo
Stacey Schaub-Szabo, Principal of S-Cubed Environmental, has a Masters of Science from the University of Alberta. She has consulted to private
businesses, to municipalities, and to all levels of government. She has presented her waste reduction and environmental findings to various stakeholders in both industry and in government. She is an ambassador for the Alberta Emerald Awards which recognizes the outstanding work that individuals, teams, students and companies achieved to improve their environment. Currently, Stacey is working with various clients on
waste composition studies, stakeholder engagement events, and educational materials related to waste and recycling. Stacey is passionate about improving the environment by identifying problems and proposing solutions, and is even willing to physically sort through garbage to find out what people are throwing out! -
Sylvie Hébert
Sylvie Hébert has been the Composting Coordinator at Green Action Centre, a non-profit organization promoting greener living, since 2006. She is a Master Composter and has facilitated 10 Master Composter Courses in Manitoba. Without hesitation, Sylvie chose to pursue an environmental career, earning a degree in Environmental Science at the University of Manitoba.
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Sven T. Homback
Sven practises regulatory law, civil litigation, insurance litigation, environmental law and municipal law. By virtue of his engineering background, he frequently becomes engaged in cases involving construction disputes, product liability, technical issues and regulatory matters. He has developed particular expertise in the areas of environmental law and energy regulation. He frequently provides advice to Manitoba municipalities in aspects of municipal administration and bylaw enforcement matters.
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Tara Wilcox
Ms. Wilcox is a Waste Management Specialist with thirteen years of global experience in Australia, the Middle East (including Jordan, Iraq, the UAE, Qatar, Oman, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia), Azerbaijan and Canada. She has experience in the design and operation of commercial composting facilities for the management of raw waste, stormwater, composting windrows (for temperature, moisture, carbon-to-nitrogen ratios, aeration) and the use of light microscopy for the microbiological analysis of compost during its maturation. She has undertaken various trials involving the use of biological inoculums to stimulate microbiological diversity and the rapid degradation of waste in order to improve soil health. Ms. Wilcox has prepared and delivered sanitary landfill design training involving landfill design, operation, closure and post-closure care. She has been involved in a number of donor-funded waste projects in the Middle East, including the preparation of a Waste Management Master Plan in Anbar, Iraq and preparing feasibility studies for the management of waste tires as well as siting a new sanitary landfill in Jordan. Ms. Wilcox has significant experience in the preparation of Integrated Solid Waste Management Plans for a variety of developments, including hospitals, retail malls, residential and mixed-use developments. She is the Project Manager for the National Solid Waste Benchmarking Initiative (NSWBI) which examines solid waste management system approaches and the effectiveness of service delivery opportunities across Canada, in order to improve solid waste management through benchmarking.
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Tony Sperling
Tony Sperling is the lead engineer at Sperling Hansen Associates, a consultancy that specializes in landfill design and solid waste management. Since starting SHA in 1995, he worked with his team of talented young professionals on more than 1,000 projects including Landfill Closures, Solid Waste Management Plans, and Landfill Design and Operating Plans. Tony is a very proud father, a passionate skier and dedicates the balance of his time as a volunteer with North Shore Rescue.
In 2014, Tony very passionately organized and worked with the Landfill Criteria Working Group, focusing on tweaking the new guidance so that it can be proudly embraced and adopted by all landfill operators in B.C.
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Wilbert Yang
Wilbert Yang has 25 years of experience in the environmental and waste management field. Having worked for Metro Vancouver, BC Ministry of Environment and now as an environmental consultant, he has a strong understanding of waste management systems, waste composition, waste diversion program development, asset management and solid waste system benchmarking. He established the National Solid Waste Benchmarking Initiative in 2010 which assesses and compares some of the most progressive solid waste programs across Canada. Wilbert has worked on solid waste management projects across Canada, from as far north as the Arctic circle to as far south as Los Angeles.