“This program directly supports the county’s Roadmap to a Sustainable Waste Management Future by helping businesses to implement recycling programs,” says Leonard. “And not only recycling but waste reduction, as well, all of which, of course, contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, resource management and sustainable materials management.”
Read the article about L.A. County’s Plan for Sustainable Waste Management
SCS Engineers is pleased to announce that Karen Luken has partnered with us as a Sustainable Materials Management Specialist. She will provide environmental consulting services to the firm’s Sustainable Materials Management clients and will be based in SCS’s Cincinnati, Ohio office.
Luken brings 25 years of professional experience helping communities, governments, and business leaders achieve their waste management goals. She specializes in the planning, design, and implementation of integrated waste management systems. Most recently, working as the Global Waste Director for the Clinton Foundation Climate Initiative, Luken provided the environmental, socio-political, and financial expertise to design national waste management strategies and establish public-private partnerships for waste systems typically requiring a $30 million capital expenditure.
Luken works with businesses and communities within the waste life cycle, including suppliers, producers, consumers, collectors, and facility operators. Her success springs from her ability to prove, and then leverage, the technical feasibility and economic viability of decreasing dependency on landfills by maximizing the use of waste as a resource to produce green products and generate renewable energy.
Luken’s accomplishments include:
“Karen is an internationally recognized expert in strategic waste management, implementing local, national, and international programs successfully,” said Michelle Leonard, an SCS Vice President and the current President of SWANA. “Her ability to deliver benefits to retailers, consumers, producers, and governments will provide value for our clients and encourage environmental solutions that will have a lasting impact.”
SCS Engineers’ Tracie Onstad Bills and Leslie Lukacs were both selected to receive the California Resource Recovery Association’s (CRRA) prestigious Service Award this year. According to CRRA Executive Director, John H. Dane, the award recognizes “exceptional individual service to the organization and a contribution of time or resources beyond expectations.” That sounds like an SCSer alright.
Tracie Bills is SCS’s Sustainable Materials Management Director and is based in our Pleasanton, CA, location. She has been on the CRRA board for 10 years and has served in several leadership positions within the organization, including as its President for three years. Her expertise revolves around commercial recycling technical assistance, environmental purchasing, large venue and event zero waste programs, research and sustainability planning, garbage hauler franchise compliance and review, construction and demolition program / ordinance analysis and writing, climate inventory compilation, research and feasibility studies to help clients with comprehensive waste prevention and zero waste programs.
Leslie Lukacs serves as a Sustainable Materials Management Specialist in our Santa Rosa, CA, office. She has been on the CRRA board for 12 years and also served in a variety of leadership positions. She also founded CRRA’s Green Initiatives for Venues and Events technical council and was an instructor for CRRA’s Resource Management Certification Program for 5 years. Leslie specializes in the design and implementation of sustainable materials management and zero waste programs and is a pioneer in the greening of venues and events throughout the nation. Her extensive expertise in the logistics of zero waste, recycling, and composting programs, such as outreach management, business assistance, master planning, waste audits and characterization studies, extended producer responsibility ordinance preparation and implementation, compliance, grant writing, and administration are all key to successful long-term programs.
Both women were selected by the CRRA Board of Directors to be the 2016 recipients of the Service Award. The awards will be presented at the organization’s Annual Conference Awards Ceremony on August 9 in Sacramento.
CRRA is California’s statewide recycling association. It is the oldest and one of the largest non-profit recycling organizations in the U.S. CRRA is dedicated to achieving environmental sustainability in and beyond the state through Zero Waste strategies including product stewardship, waste prevention, reuse, recycling and composting. The organization provides its members with resources to advance local, regional and statewide waste reduction efforts which result in critical environmental and climate protection outcomes. Members represent all aspects of California’s reduce-reuse-recycle-compost economy and work for cities, counties, municipal districts, and businesses as well as hauling companies, material processors, non-profit organizations, state agencies, and allied professionals.
