Ms. Collins is the President of the Container Recycling Institute (CRI) and has worked exclusively on recycling and sustainability issues for more than 25 years. Ms. Collins leads research projects for the Container Recycling Institute and works with environmental organizations, activists and state and federal governments throughout the United States and around the world to educate the public on the benefits of packaging recycling.
Founded in 1991, CRI’s mission is to make North America a global model for the collection and quality recycling of packaging materials. CRI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that plays a vital national role in assessing the economic, social and environmental impacts of container manufacturing, collection and disposal, and ensures that this information is shared with policymakers, regulators and the general public. CRI produces authoritative research, studies impacts of packaging reuse and recycling systems, and creates national networks for mutual progress.
Ms. Collins is a current and former board member of the National Recycling Coalition (2010 to 2015, 2018 – present) and past board member and current advisor to the California Resource Recovery Association.
Ms. Collins has testified before the legislatures of California, Nevada, Iowa, Vermont, Maine, Minnesota, Maryland, Tennessee, Massachusetts, and the territories of the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
Ms. Collins has appeared on the Diane Rehm show, National Public Radio, PRI’s The World, BBC radio, KNX radio, Maryland Public Radio, KQED, KJZZ, KCRW and KPCC radio stations, and AlJazeera’s Tech Know (TV) and KCET’s Emmy-nominated SoCal Connected (TV), and has been quoted in news stories in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Fortune, The Economist, Bloomberg News, Slate, Mother Jones, FiveThirtyEight, Scientific American, Fast Company, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Boston Globe, Orange County Register, Resource Recycling, Waste 360, Plastics News, Recycling Today and Beverage World, among others.
Education
She holds degrees in Manufacturing Engineering from Boston University and Business Administration (MBA) from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).