GENERAL COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course will provide students with an understanding of how to plan and implement commercial food and organics programs. We will cover, among other topics:

• regulatory, environmental and economic drivers;
• inclusion and exclusion of material types;
• degrees of source separation and reasons for each;
• program planning steps;
• considerations in contracting for services or working with existing haulers;
• developing cost and incentive structures;
• case studies of programs;
• case studies of commercial food and organics generators;
• programmatic and generator-level hurdles and steps to overcome them;
• customer outreach strategies;
• customer training approaches;
• incorporating source reduction and reuse;
• environmentally preferable purchasing;
• program and participant evaluation metrics and methods;
• types of processing facilities;
• end products and uses;
• supportive state and local policies.

PREREQUISITES:
None.

CLASS TEST

There will be a 30 minute test will cover the materials presented in the course.

CLASS PROJECT

The class project will consist of conducting a mock business assessment and solicitation, including an evaluation of on-site logistics and issues, an estimate of the recoverable organics and recyclables, and the development and presentation of a cost and service proposal using various assumptions about service pricing. Depending on the location of the class, we may be able to arrange a quick walk-through of a nearby food scraps generator as the model for the class project. The class project will be subject to modification after the initial training session is held, based on participant feedback.

INSTRUCTOR

Steven Sherman and John Hanscom

Steven Sherman

Senior Manager, Cascadia Consulting Group, Inc.

As a Resource Economist and Waste Reduction and Recycling Specialist, Steven Sherman has 20 years of solid waste management consulting experience, including 14 years of operating a firm (Applied Compost Consulting, Inc.) that concentrated in recycling program planning and technical assistance. As one example of his pioneering leadership in organics management, Steven's work over a continuous 15-year period as strategy consultant and then as program implementation contractor to the City of San Francisco's Department of the Environment has helped the City to become one of the greenest cities in the U.S., thanks in part to its diversion of over 60,000 tons per year of food scraps. Steven develops comprehensive planning documents; surveys; project feasibility studies; policy evaluations; economic incentive, market, and economic development analyses; program designs; and implementation actions, such as hands-on technical assistance.

Steven recently opened Cascadia Consulting Group's California office. Founded in 1993, Cascadia Consulting Group has expertise in the areas of waste and recycling, climate and sustainability, and water and natural resources. A sample of Steven's list of past or current clients includes: the City of San Francisco, the City of Los Angeles, Marin County, the City of Berkeley, Metro (three-county regional government, Oregon), the City of Portland, South Bayside Waste Management Authority, the Indonesian Ministry of Population and the Environment, several private haulers and processors, Alameda County Waste Management Authority, and the U.S.E.P.A.

Steven's organizational service includes: Product Policy Institute, Board Treasurer, Secretary; California Organics Recycling Council, Co-Founder and past Policy Director; San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners, past Board Vice President; Sierra Club National Zero Waste Committee, past member; Cooperative Center Federal Credit Union, past Board Vice President, Treasurer.

Steven holds an M.S. in Resource Economics from Cornell University, a certificate in Advanced Indonesian language from Cornell/IKIP Malang, and a B.A. in History and Environmental Studies from Yale College.

John Hanscom

Commercial Recycling and Organics Specialist

Mr. Hanscom is an environmental planner with 14 years of experience in recycling and solid waste system operations, program management, and community outreach. His experience as a consultant and public sector recycling staff person includes administering recycling and composting education programs, implementing C&D debris ordinances, conducting waste characterizations and audits, and marketing recyclables. Mr. Hanscom is currently providing recycling technical assistance in twelve Bay Area cities. He is bilingual in English and Spanish, and skilled in working with diverse communities.

Education

B.S., Biological Sciences, California State University, Chico