June 2014

CRRA Elections Conclude

Elections for CRRA Board of Directors and Technical Council Executive Committee positions closed June 6.  There were candidates in each of the three Board Districts and thirty–two Executive Committee candidate nominations spread over eight Technical Councils. The Board of Directors will approve the certified results on June 19 and candidates will be notified thereafter. New Board members will be invited to the August 2 Board meeting in San Jose.

Government Relations – Legislative Updates

Governor's Budget Proposal for Cap and Trade Investment Plan –  On June 5 & 6 I contacted the offices of State Senators Leno, Hancock, Lara, Neilson and State Assemblymembers Bloom. Gorrel, Skinner and Weber, who are the members of the Senate-Assembly Budget Conference Committee, to express our support for re-inclusion of Cal Recycle’s $30 million waste diversion proposal into the Cap and Trade Expenditure Plan (non-transportation) budget deliberations. The Cal Recycle plan would provide needed investment for waste reduction, recycling and recycled content manufacturing infrastructure development. 

On June 2 CRRA joined a large coalition of organizations advocating a “Blended Approach” to investing the proceeds of the Cap and Trade Auction. This approach would include the Cal Recycle proposal. 

For reasons unexplained, the Cal Recycle proposal was rejected by the Senate Budget Committee prior consideration by the Conference Committee. 

On, April 4 I attended the Senate Budget Committee hearing on the Governor's Budget Proposal for Cap & Trade Investment Plan.  

State agencies with Cap and Trade allocation programs testified before the Committee regarding their proposed budget allocations. Cal Recycle Deputy Director Ken DaRosa testified briefly as well. Cal Recycle proposed investing $30 million annually for two years with 1) $20 million to be applied annually for grants and loans for in-state development of infrastructure to process organic material and recyclable commodities into new-value added products, and 2) the remaining $10 million annually to be used to establish a GHG revolving loan fund to provide financial assistance through low-interest loans for recycling market development zones.    

CRRA, through our Policy Committee, submitted a letter of support on March 21. I spoke briefly on April 4 in support of the $30 million allocation of the Cap and Trade Investment Plan to Cal Recycle. I stated that the benefits that would result from new or expanded clean composting and anaerobic digestion facilities would divert more material from landfills and thereby reducing methane emissions.    

AB 1594 Passes Assembly - On May 29 the California Assembly passed Assemblymember Das Williams’ alternative daily cover bill, AB 1594 by a vote of 52 -14. The bill now goes to the Senate Environmental Quality Committee for a hearing, likely in June.

AB 1594 specifies that green material (i.e., yard trimmings and untreated wood waste) used as alternative daily cover in landfills does not constitute diversion and shall instead be considered disposal beginning in 2020. Letters to the Committee and testimony was overwhelmingly favorable regarding passage of the legislation. CRRA, through the Policy Committee, submitted a letter of support for this bill on April 14. I voiced CRRA support of the legislation during Assembly committee hearings.

AB 1826 Passes Assembly – on May 15 the California Assembly passed Assemblymember and Committee Chair Wesley Chesbro’s organics bill AB 1826 by a voted of 53 -22. The bill, like AB 1594, now goes to the Senate Environmental Quality Committee for a hearing, likely in June.

AB 1826 would require commercial recycling of organic waste starting in 2016 for businesses generating eight cubic yards or more of organic waste. The legislation also requires that each local jurisdiction develop an organic waste recycling program. Letters to the Committee and testimony was overwhelmingly favorable regarding passage of the legislation. CRRA, through the Policy Committee, submitted a letter of support for this bill on April 14. I voiced CRRA support of the legislation during Assembly committee hearings.

Ad Hoc Certification Committee to Meet in Mid - June    

We have initiated conversations with SWANA to explore the feasibility of developing a certification partnership that could include 1) consolidation of curriculum materials, 2) joint marketing, and 3) contract out administration. Our early discussions are designed to compare our curriculum materials with the SWANA Managing Recycling System Course workbook. 

We will discuss how best to facilitate review this on our mid-June conference call.

The Committee has discussed the core curriculum for 2015 including 1) the best mix of courses, 2) inclusion of more sustainable materials life cycle and climate change content, 3) our need to focus on mid-career professionals, 4) requirements contained in the national standards, and 5) opportunities to leverage course work with SWANA.

In May the Ad Hoc Certification Committee discussed a curriculum proposal presented by several Committee members that would comply with the accreditation standards of the National Recycling Coalition National Standards Board. Topics and questions included:

a) Should classes be taught sequentially over several days (the SWANA model) or would offering individual classes around the state meet more of the student market? Trying both methods as well as offering all classes on-line was also mentioned.     

b) Will reducing the elective classes from four hours to three hours impact content? The general view appeared to be that would not be the case. 

c) How can we best to integrate GHG, climate change and materials life cycle content into the certification program - through each class or in a single class, for example? Possible passage of AB 1826 in California to remove organics from landfills will create a big demand for information on how best to implement such programs. One suggestion was to remove the Overview class from the curriculum proposal and insert another GHG, climate change, materials life cycle class. 

d) Should we develop a core curriculum that meets needs specific to California and secondarily work to apply it to national standards? One comment was that our integration of more GHG, climate change and materials life cycle content could lead to changes in the national standard.

Website Consolidation and Redesign Project in Final Stages

We are well underway with our long awaited website consolidation and redesign project. Board member Monica Devincenzi and I have been working with the firm of M3iworks. We have selected a layout to make our site more visually attractive and easier for members to access information, renew membership and sign up for events such as the annual conference. At the same time the design stays within design guidelines adopted in recent years by the Board.

In addition to refreshed design work, we are better integrating our systems using Drupal , the open source content management system, and retaining Wild Apricot, our member management software. This project will create a full one-stop-shop for our members, combine two sites - crra.com and crra.us- and make significant improvements in website security.

The Devcom Committee will likely preview and critique the site in June. We expect to launch the re-designed site in early July.

Annual Conference Update

As of June 6 almost 300 individuals have registered for the Annual Conference in San Jose and about two/thirds of the exhibit space has been reserved. We expect registrations to be very strong in June and July and the exhibit space to sell out.

Three nationally notable speakers have contracted to speak - 1) Dr. Allen Hershkowitz, Senior Scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council who has developed institutional greening programs for the Academy Awards, the GRAMMY Awards, and professional sports  including baseball, basketball and hockey, 2) Sadhu Johnston, Assistant City Manager of Vancouver, British Columbia and former Chief Environmental Officer for the City of Chicago, and 3) Dr. Russell Hancock, President and CEO of Joint Venture Silicon Valley and internationally known advocate of regional joint ventures.

CRRA Welcomes New and Returning Sponsors

As of June 6, twenty-nine organizations have paid or have been invoiced for CRRA sponsorship for 2014 - 2015. An additional six organizations are either currently deciding on their sponsorship levels or

awaiting budget approval prior to signing a sponsorship agreement. Our largest sponsor is the City of San Jose at $30,000 followed by the Technical Advisory Committee of the Santa Clara County Recycling and Waste Reduction Commission at $10,000. We have changed our policy to assure that all sponsors receive a full calendar year of recognition on our website and in our other materials.

We continue to pursue more sponsorship each week and all leads are welcome!