Upcoming events
Northern Connection
Circular Arizona and the Town of Pinetop-Lakeside present this year’s Northern Connection! Enjoy lunch at the beautiful Woodland Lake Park, hear from our keynote speaker, and join us for a tour of Pinetop-Lakeside’s Collection Center (958 S. Woodland Road, Lakeside, AZ 85929).
This event is free for Circular Arizona members and $25 for nonmember guests.
Keynote speaker
Register today
Virtual Connection with The Recycling Partnership
Circular Arizona and The Recycling Partnership present this Arizona-exclusive virtual connection and the Recycling Solutions Hub and Recycle Check! Learn how these innovative tools can help Arizona communities, waste providers, residents, and beyond.
This virtual event is free for Circular Arizona members and nonmember guests.
2024 Annual Meeting
Join us for Circular Arizona’s 2024 Annual Meeting! Formerly the Arizona Recycling Coalition, members meet once a year to review the year’s accomplishments and progress, announce grants, scholarships, and award winners, and elect incoming board members.
The annual meeting includes lunch and a keynote presentaiton.
Keynote speakers
Join us for an exciting keynote presentation with Tyler Eglen from Arizona State University’s (ASU) Rob and Melani Walton Solutions Service (RMWSSS) and Beth Forsberg from Goodwill of Central and Northern Arizona (GCNA) as they discuss the world’s first circular plastics microfactory for repurposing waste plastics!
RMWSSS has been prototyping circular solutions for local plastic on ASU’s campus and has since partnered with GCNA to scale this project for the greater Arizona community. This circular plastics microfactory promises to revolutionize the plastics industry and contribute significantly to equitable economic development in the Valley through circular manufacturing practices. The project is funded by the City of Phoenix, led by ASU, and in partnership with GCNA and Hustle PHX.
Registration is free for members and $25 for nonmember guests. Select your membership and register below.
WEBINAR: Incorporating Motivational Messaging for Recycling Education and Outreach
FROM THE RECYCLING PARTNERSHIP
Attendees will get a dive into our research on the power of the right messaging, targeted to the right audience, in driving positive recycling behaviors, and how you can incorporate the learnings into your program’s education and outreach. You’ll learn:
Real-life recycling experiences of single-family households in the U.S., including barriers, what drives participation, and how segments differ
Channels where households expect to receive recycling information, and what they want from those communications
Impact of messaging on real-world recycling outcomes (and you might be amazed at how the same recycling information presented with different motivational messaging had such significant variation in outcomes!)
Hosted by Louise Bruce, Managing Director of The Recycling Partnership's Center for Sustainable Behavior & Impact, with panelists:
Elizabeth Schussler, Senior Director of Social Change, Behavior, and Impact, The Recycling Partnership
Michelle Metzler, Director of Community Programs, The Recycling Partnership
Joseph Sherlock, Principal Behavioral Scientist, Center for Advanced Hindsight at Duke University
Lisa Ruggero, Assistant Director of Programs, Syracuse University Center for Sustainability Community Solutions
Lindsay Eberhart, Outreach Program Coordinator, Syracuse University Center for Sustainability Community Solutions
Let's ignite the power of motivational messaging in driving positive recycling behaviors!
Livestream: How Bottle Bills are Accelerating Reuse in the US
Register today and join us next Wednesday, Sept. 20th at 10 a.m. for Upstream’s next installment of Indisposable Live.
What is the importance of reuse in Deposit Return Systems (DRS, e.g. Bottle Bills), and how can DRS policies incorporate the latest thinking on reuse solutions, funding, and incentives?
We’ll learn more and examine the distinct ways that California, Maine, and Oregon have begun to incorporate reuse/refill into their bottle bills. Special guest panelists include Susan Collins, President of the Container Recycling Institute; Sarah Nichols, Sustainable Maine Director at the Natural Resources Council of Maine; and Peter Spendelow, Natural Resource Specialist at Oregon Dept of Environmental Quality.
WEBINAR Achieving Zero Food Waste: State Policy Toolkit and EPA's Climate Pollution Reduction Grants
Join us for this one hour webinar to learn about the EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants, a new resource - Achieving Zero Food Waste: A State Policy Toolkit, and how you can include food waste reduction in climate action plans.
The EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants funded by the Inflation Reduction Act provide support for states and metro-areas to reduce climate pollution, of which methane from wasted food is a major contributor.
The State Policy Toolkit (https://zerofoodwastecoalition.org/state-toolkit/) contains a range of tried and tested policy opportunities that states can use to prevent food waste and keep food waste out of landfills and incinerators.
By including food waste in your climate action plan utilizing some of the suggestions in the toolkit you can potentially leverage grant funding.
The webinar is hosted by EPA, West Coast Climate and Materials Management Forum, and Zero Food Waste Coalition.
Historic Preservation and the Deconstruction Movement
The Valley of the Sun Deconstruction/Reuse Work Group (VOSWG) is pleased to invite you to our upcoming meeting: Historic Preservation and the Deconstruction Movement! Register at https://tinyurl.com/VOSWG-RETHOS.
Hear from Rethos, a Minnesota-based historic preservation non-profit working nationally. Learn about the intersection of deconstruction, adaptive reuse, and built environment preservation through real estate, policy, and education programming.
Executive Director Dr. Heidi Swank will examine the evolution of Rethos as a 40-year-old preservation non-profit that has adapted to champion sustainability in the field.
Education Manager Emily Noyes will discuss the future of Rethos' strategic programming in deconstruction certification and material reuse.
Presenters:
Heidi Swank - Heidi moved to Minnesota in 2021 to take the reins at Rethos. She came from Las Vegas, where she had started Nevada's first statewide historic preservation nonprofit and served in the Nevada Assembly for four terms. She holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from Northwestern University.
Emily Noyes - Emily joined Rethos in 2023 after working in college access programming and administration. She holds a M.S. in Education from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in History from Macalester College.
VOSWG welcomes participants regardless of geographic location and meets regularly to learn about Deconstruction/Reuse progress, plans & goals as models for local consideration & implementation. Participants may include municipalities, non-profits, or for-profit businesses.
URL: https://tinyurl.com/VOSWG-LinkedIn-Group
Group meetings are hosted by Stardust, providing deconstruction services and quality reclaimed materials for reuse for over 25 years.
Resource Recycling Conference
Economic uncertainty. The ongoing focus on plastics. A shifting policy landscape. As a recycling professional, those are just some of the factors creating complexity around your decision-making.
The 2023 Resource Recycling Conference is designed to give you the expert insight and industry connections you need to navigate today's municipal recycling ecosystem – and be inspired to thrive in the years ahead. Register today!
Foodservice Packaging Institute Free Webinar
Join a free webinar featuring research findings from several Foodservice Packaging Institute-supported studies including recovery of PET thermoforms, PP cups, paper cups, as well as the impact of food residue on take-out packaging recycling.
Tribes Training Tribes: National Tribal Waste Management Peer Matching Program
To strengthen tribal capacity building and develop sustainable waste management programs, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) facilitates the National Tribal Waste Management Peer Matching Program. This webinar is an opportunity to learn more about the program from EPA and hear directly from tribes who have recently participated in the program.
AzRC Tucson Member Meeting
Register now for our membership meeting and lunch seminar on reducing food waste and increasing food security with Barbara Eiswerth, Executive Director of the Iskashitaa Refugee Network.
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Iskashitaa Refugee Network was established 19 years ago to support refugees in acclimating to a new community. Iskashitaa is an intergenerational network of volunteers and UN refugees who locate, harvest, and re-distribute local produce which would otherwise go to waste.
The program empowers newly arrived refugees by connecting them with meaningful resources and great opportunities to interact with other members of the Southern Arizona community.
FREE WEBINAR: Community Partnerships Increasing Foodservice Packaging Recovery
Learn about FPI’s Community Partnership program that has enabled over 5.4 million more households to recycle their cups and containers at this free webinar!
Advanced Building Material Reuse — The Power of Data
The Valley of the Sun Deconstruction/Reuse Work Group (VOSWG) is pleased to invite you to join our upcoming meeting:
ADVANCING BUILDING MATERIAL REUSE – THE POWER OF DATA
Monday, April 10, 2023, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. MST
Register for free: https://tinyurl.com/VOSWG-SAN-ANTONIO-DATA
In 2020, the San Antonio Office of Historic Preservation commissioned a study to analyze the potential impact of a proposed deconstruction ordinance by measuring the economic and environmental cost of demolition. Using 10 years of demolition data, the study calculated the volume and value of materials that could have been diverted from landfills and the retail impact of increased material supply.
This session will review policies, tools, and recommendations from the study that contributed to San Antonio’s 2022 adoption of a deconstruction ordinance and will discuss the types of localized data that can help further your community’s reuse goals.
Panelists:
Stephanie Phillips, Deconstruction & Circular Economy Program Manager at City of San Antonio Office of Historic Preservation
Katlyn Cotton, Director of Marketing and Design at PlaceEconomics
Alyssa Frystak, Director of Research and Data Analytics, at PlaceEconomics
Stephanie Phillips, AICP, is an urban planner and policymaker working at the intersection of heritage conservation and the circular economy. PlaceEconomics is a private sector firm with over thirty years of experience in the thorough and robust analysis of the economic impacts of historic preservation.