After participating as a child in the start of her town’s first recycling program, she fell in love with waste reduction and diversion and never looked back. She is Co-Founder and Partner of Think Zero LLC. Before launching Think Zero, Sarah ran the Solid Waste and Zero Waste Programs for the NYC Mayor’s Office of … Read more
Samuel Edlund was a Minnesota technical assistance program intern assigned to OlymPak, a paper packaging company in Mora MN, over the summer. The primary goal of the internship was to increase the material efficiency of the packaging production line. Samuel is currently in his senior year at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, pursuing a … Read more
Gillian Griffin is the Sustainable Supply Chain (SSC) Program Manager and a Senior P2 Engineer at the NYS Pollution Prevention Institute at RIT, where she provides technical assistance to businesses. Areas of expertise include zero waste to landfill assessment and planning, organizational GHG accounting, materiality assessment, performance metrics benchmarking, manufacturing process assessments, third-party sustainability certification, … Read more
Ushma has had a lifelong interest in sustainability with a particular focus on waste reduction. Before the term “zero waste” was coined, she was raising awareness about waste with family, friends and colleagues. Given her corporate background, Ushma is particularly skilled in working with large corporates on developing and framing their sustainability goals within the … Read more
Jeremy Drake is a Zero Waste consultant with over 11 years of experience in community Zero Waste planning, project management, program design and implementation, collection system procurement, stakeholder engagement, technical assistance, and education. He holds a MA in Urban Sustainability from Antioch University Los Angeles and is a Zero Waste USA-certified Zero Waste Associate. After … Read more
Sining Liu worked with the Minnesota Technical Assistance Program (MnTAP) in Summer 2025, where she partnered with Minnesota Direct Care and Treatment (DCT) to tackle complex waste challenges. She designed and led waste audits across three large campuses, uncovering opportunities to reduce excess food and improve surplus asset flows, while aligning with Minnesota’s 75% diversion … Read more
MaryEllen Etienne is committed to resilience—personally and professionally. She has helped numerous businesses, municipalities and nonprofits embrace sustainability and is a dedicated advocate for circularity. MaryEllen is a director at USGBC where she works on transforming the built environment through programs such as LEED, SITES and TRUE. Prior, she led numerous reuse and recycling initiatives … Read more
As the Sustainability Education Manager, Kimberly is responsible for promoting sustainable living and systems through KTMB’s Green Business Program, KTMB’s Recycling Guide, and Community Outreach and Education. Prior to that, she obtained her degree in Environmental Policy from UNR in 2012, spent four years teaching overseas, and served as KTMB’s Education Coordinator AmeriCorps Vista. Organization:Keep … Read more
Dr. Samantha Romanick is a molecular biologist with an interest in studying the effects of microplastic exposure to human health. Since 2014, Samantha has made a commitment to do her part to help curb plastic pollution by omitting plastic waste from her home, educating her community on the issue, starting up a small retail business … Read more
Tom Wright, an exemplary leader and innovator in sustainable business practices, has dedicated over two decades to the design and implementation of recycling and commercial-scale composting infrastructures across the United States. His pioneering vision materialized with the founding of SustainableBizness.com in 1997, a platform that stands at the forefront of environmental sustainability within the corporate … Read more