Zero Waste Alliance

About the Zero Waste Alliance

The Zero Waste Alliance (ZWA) has been formed to promote the use of Zero Waste strategies.  Together with our Resource Network, we support the needs of businesses and organizations in the areas of Zero Waste strategy, education, and technical services.  ZWA uses the tools of industrial ecology, especially Life-Cycle Assessments, Design for the Environment, Green Chemistry, Full Cost Accounting, Product Stewardship, Waste Exchanges and Environmental Management Systems to assist businesses/organizations in their efforts to move from the greatly inefficient, costly, and environmentally destructive “take-make-waste” practices to becoming more efficient, competitive, profitable, and environmentally responsible using cyclical “Zero Waste” strategies.

The Zero Waste Alliance is a bridge between a business/organization’s needs and the capabilities available through universities, national labs, state, federal and local government resources and private consulting firms.  ZWA promotes and supports the concept of Zero Waste through education and supporting services.  Its approach is to prevent waste through the redesign of processes and products so they do not waste material, energy, or human resources by efficiently creating more profitable, competitive, and environmentally responsible products that have future applications at their life’s end.  

Zero Waste Alliance Organization

The Zero Waste Alliance is a program of the International Sustainable Development Foundation. It is made up of business, university, government and individual members dedicated to helping organizations obtain the competitive and environmental advantages available from Zero Waste strategies.  Figure 1 shows the relationships of the members.

Figure 1.  Zero Waste Alliance Resources Network

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Services of the Zero Waste Alliance

The Zero Waste Alliance, with the assistance of its members, provides a wide variety of services to organizations wishing to improve their efficiency and profitability through Zero Waste Strategies. 

Management support includes strategy development, planning and assistance and guidance in implementing Zero Waste programs. 

Training and education is provided on the background, tools, methods and concepts of Zero Waste and industrial ecology.

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ZWA Core Capabilities

The core capabilities of the ZWA include management and strategy development, green chemistry, and energy efficiency. In addition, the alliance is able to assist in the solution of problems for organizations through its extensive resource network of universities, government labs, businesses and individuals.

ZWA Core Capabilities

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Resources of the Zero Waste Alliance

The ZWA draws on both its internal capabilities and those of its Alliance members to bring resources to bear in the areas of core capability.

ZWA Resources

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Benefits of the Zero Waste Alliance

The ZWA provides services and resources that benefit businesses, schools, communities, and the environment, resulting in a healthy environment, healthy communities, and economically healthy organizations.  Some specific benefits are:

• A base of companies reaping the benefits of the Zero Waste strategy¾improved competitiveness, environmental performance, stability and morale.
• The identification of opportunities for improvement such as new environmentally friendly products and more benign processes.
• Identification of promising new technologies through researching solutions for the businesses being assisted.
• Valuable case studies of strategy benefits based on the Zero Waste concept.
• The development of models to assist other businesses and organizations in taking action to advance sustainable practices.
• Benefits to faculty and students in universities from a ready source of relevant, real life business problems upon which to apply the principles and practices of industrial ecology. Students obtain the invaluable experience of working on relevant, real life technical and interdisciplinary problems while still in the university environment before entering the business world. Universities benefit from inter-organizational and interdisciplinary cooperation
• Benefits to our future generations from a healthier environment.

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ZWA Staff

The ZWA Staff is comprised of a group of individuals with a diverse cross section of credentials who are responsible for management and delivery of the ZWA services. The ZWA Network is comprised of an extensive group of Zero Waste Alliance contacts that provide a broad scope of key resources. 

Dorothy Atwood, Environmental Management Systems Project Manager
Dorothy Atwood is a Zero Waste Alliance Environmental Management System Associate who has taken clients as diverse as forest products companies, steel foundries, fiber optics facilities, food processors, U.S. Defense Air and multinational consumer products companies from gap analysis to ISO 14000 conformant Environmental Management Systems.

Dorothy conducts Environmental Management Systems training for a wide range of industries, including wood products, metals manufacturing, transportation, electronics, and food products. Training covers all elements of the ISO 14001 environmental management system standard and includes hands-on implementation exercises and case studies.

Dorothy received both her bachelor's degree in geology and MS in Applied Hydrogeology from Stanford University.  

Pamela Brody-Heine, Product Stewardship Manager
Pamela Brody-Heine has over 20 years of experience in the environmental field. Pamela serves a broad range of clients including industry, government and non-profit organizations on topics such as product stewardship, chemical assessments and toxics reduction, waste reduction, pollution prevention, environmentally preferable purchasing and sustainability. Pamela is also an experienced facilitator specializing in multi-stakeholder dialogues.

Pamela has particular expertise in the in the electronics industry sector tracking state, federal and international existing laws, pending legislation and trends impacting electronics waste; assessing human health and environmental impacts from substances and materials; and evaluating electronics recycling infrastructure.
Pamela is an EPEAT Qualified Verifier for the Green Electronics Council (GEC) and often works on projects in collaboration with GEC.

Pamela received her Bachelor’s Degree in Geology from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado and is a Registered Professional Engineer (Civil and Environmental).

Larry Chalfan, Executive Director
Larry is the former President and CEO of Oki Semiconductor Manufacturing, the first business in Oregon to be certified to ISO 14001. Following certification, the company began to integrate Natural Step principles for a sustainable future into the decision making process of the management system.  After a 30 year career in the semiconductor industry Larry founded the ZWA in 1999 and is currently its Executive Director.  The ZWA was founded to be a resource center to assist organizations that wish to improve competitiveness by becoming more ecologically sustainable.

Larry was awarded the Oregon Governor's Sustainable Leadership Award and was appointed to the Oregon State University Engineering Hall of Fame in 1998.  Larry is on the board of The Resource Innovation Group and the advisory board of the Oregon Natural Step Network.

Larry received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering from Oregon State University.

Rosemary DiCandilo, Project Manager
Rosemary DiCandilo is a Project Manager with over 15 years of combined experience in the areas environmental investigations, hazardous waste management and cleanup, project management and sustainable building practices. She has served in technical and project management roles for the public, private and non-profit sectors with such organizations as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, IT Corporation and the Northwest Earth Institute. Rosemary’s recent work includes a research project on actual energy performance for LEED version 2 commercial buildings, assisting with the Sustainable Building Advisor Program, implementing an ISO 14001 Environmental Management System and serving as the Administrative Director for a sustainable education center.

Rosemary currently manages the ZWA/Portland Development Commission Sustainable Business Assistance Program and the Sustainable Building Advisor Program for ZWA. Her passion is co-creating healthy, sustainable buildings and businesses. Her projects include education, green tenant improvements and technical resource management projects.

Rosemary is LEED AP certified, a Certified Sustainable Building Advisor and a member of the U.S. and Cascadia Green Building Councils. Her training also includes the Natural Step, a Certificate of Professional Development in Project Management from Portland State University and a Bachelor of Science Degree with Honors in Environmental Resource Management from the Pennsylvania State University.

Darcy Hitchcock, Senior Associate
Darcy Hitchcock is a senior associate of the Zero Waste Alliance with over 25 years experience in organizational development and training. She specializes in the implementation of sustainable business practices. She co-designed and facilitates the Implementing Sustainability Professional Certificate Program at Portland State University. Darcy has published several popular business books and is currently working on a book entitled The Business Guide to Sustainability: Management and Implementation for Businesses and Organizations, which will be published in 2006 by Earthscan. She has also published 15 how-to booklets called the Sustainability Series™. She acts as an advisor to the Oregon Sustainability Board and formerly was the president of the local chapter of Business for Social Responsibility. Believing that she should "walk the talk," her firm, AXIS Performance Advisors, publishes an annual sustainability report (available at http://www.pacifier.com/~axis). AXIS was honored by the Oregon Natural Step Network having achieved their highest level of sustainability performance; their case study is available at http://www.ortns.org/.

Dave Kimball, Green Chemistry Research Associate
David Kimball is a Zero Waste Alliance Green Chemistry Research Associate.  He assists with the Chemical Assessment and Ranking System (CARS) program.  He researches the impacts of chemical products in the environment and assists with other chemistry related projects.  Dave has worked as a Laboratory Chemist and also as a Quality Control Chemist in manufacturing operations. 

Dave received his (edu) Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Minnesota, Duluth and has been pursuing his Master’s in Environmental Science and Engineering at the Oregon Graduate Institute  

Brett Luttrell, Sustainable Schools Associate
Brett is currently a senior at Portland State University studying Community Development and Sustainable Urban Development. He is also co-chair of PSU’s Community Development Student Group and is currently working with students at the University of Washington to create an annual regional sustainability symposium.

After graduating, Brett hopes to enter PSU’s MURP (Masters in Urban & Regional Planning) program and learn to design cities that are more ecologically, economically, and socially sustainable.

Brett moved to Portland in 2005 from Anchorage, Alaska where he spent 11 years working for Bombardier Aerospace and L3 Communications in the aviation material management field.

PK Melethil, Technical Services Manager
PK Melethil is a Zero Waste Alliance Technical Services Associate.  PK is an applied physical and analytical chemist with over 20 years of experience in the field.  Prior to offering his services as a consultant, he worked to develop innovative solutions in Food Research, in chemical industry as a Process Quality Engineer, as a Senior Research Scientist and Project Manager characterizing hazardous and radioactive materials at a DOE National Laboratory, and as an environmental monitoring analyst for RCRA and CERCLA hazardous organic and inorganic pollutants. 

Mr. Melethil received  his M.S. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Idaho, an M.S. in Environmental Science from Washington State University and a B.S. in Chemistry (Polymers and Coatings) from North Dakota State University.

Jeff Omelchuck, Environmental Management Systems Project Manager
Jeff Omelchuck is a Zero Waste Alliance Environmental Management System Associate who has led numerous public and industrial clients through EMS implementation and ISO 14001 certification. Some of his clients include the City of Eugene  Public Works, Wastewater Division; Freightliner Corporation; Oregon State Department of Environmental Quality; Hynix Semiconductor America.

Jeff is a Registrar Accreditation Board (RAB) certified ISO 14001 Lead Auditor and ISO 9001 Auditor and performs EMS and QMS audits on a contract basis for 2 leading registrars. He is also a Senior Instructor for RAB accredited ISO 14001 and 9001 Lead Auditor training with AQS Management Systems, an RAB accredited training provider.

Jeff received his MS in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University and his BS in IE from Montana State University.

Wayne Rifer, Product Stewardship Manager
Wayne Rifer is a Zero Waste Alliance Product Stewardship Associate who has extensive experience working with public agency waste reduction and product stewardship. Mr. Rifer has been an environmental professional for 25 years, working in government, industry and consulting. His work has addressed integrated solid waste management planning, environmental management systems, product stewardship and industrial ecology.  He was instrumental in the development of the Oregon State Department of Environmental Quality Green Permits program and provides consultation to public agencies from Washington, D.C. to Hawaii. Wayne works on an ad hoc basis, chiefly with public agencies such as the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality Green Permit Program to find innovative intersections between regulation and sustainability.

Wayne provides key subject matter expertise on product stewardship and waste management issues. He previously facilitated public agency and private participation through the Western Electronic Product Stewardship Initiative (WEPSI), a subset of the National Electronic Product Stewardship Initiative, of which he is a member. He is the Project Manager for the Zero Waste Alliance’s Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) project, a multi-stakeholder dialogue to design a product stewardship program for electronics equipment.  He is also a member of the NEPSI (National Electronic Product Stewardship Initiative (NEPSI) national negotiating team organized by EPA that is working with the electronics industry and other interests to develop a product stewardship agreement.

As a Senior Fellow at Portland State University, Mr. Rifer developed an education and research program in Industrial Ecology as a joint offering of Environmental Sciences and the School of Business Administration.  He received an AT&T Industrial Ecology Fellowship to develop one course on the Principles of Industrial Ecology and a second course on Metrics and Measures for Sustainable Business.  These courses are being integrated into a new sustainability tract at Portland State.  

Teri Stoeber, Administrative Associate
Teri has a background in childhood lead poisoning prevention education.  While under contract to the California Department of Health Services, Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Branch, she developed a variety of prevention resources for the general public and provided training to local health department professionals.  She also contributed to a training curriculum for child care providers developed by the Childcare Health Program: Child Care Lead Poisoning Prevention. 

In addition, she has experience in communications with other health related topics, including writing and editing newsletters, trade magazine articles, and an AIDS educational video.  Finally, she assisted in staffing the AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases Task Force at the California Medical Association.

She is back in the workforce after several years off to raise her two young daughters.  As an active participant in their education, she feels passionate about schools and children.   Teri also provides bookkeeping services to ZWA.

Teri has a BS in Human Development from the University of California, Davis.

Lori Porter Stole, Sustainable Schools Manager
Lori has been involved with sustainability, recycling, waste prevention and product stewardship issues for the past 9 years, and has most recently focused on sustainability in schools. She has designed a sustainability program for Oregon’s 3rd largest school district and is working on the implementation of that program while also being involved with the state’s sustainable schools initiative.

Lori has a chemical engineering degree from the University of Washington and worked for more than a decade in the semiconductor and plastic industries, as an engineer and project manager.  She has also been involved with electronics waste and regularly writes public education pieces about recycling, waste prevention and waste management issues.

Marsha Willard, Senior Associate
Marsha is a Zero Waste Alliance senior associate specializing in multi-stakeholder facilitation. She helped the Unified Green Cleaning Alliance project members come to consensus around standards for sustainable cleaning products and is currently working with the Packaging Coalition. She co-designed and facilitates the Implementing Sustainability Professional Certificate Program at Portland State University and has authored several of the entries in the 15-set Sustainability Series™. She is also co-author of the chapter "Engaging Stakeholders" in the book Sustainability Science and Engineering: Defining Principles. Her facilitation skills have earned the respect of her clients in resolving long-standing disputes. Marsha is also a coach and presenter for the Oregon Natural Step Network and co-manages the Sustainable Frontiers program for Sustainable Northwest, providing customized sustainability-related study tours for people from around the world. As senior examiner for the Oregon Performance Excellence Award, Marsha has also developed expertise in quality audits and performance measurement.

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ZWA Network Members

Universities include Oregon State University College of Engineering providing sustainable engineering research and assistance, the University of Oregon’s Chemistry Department supplying expertise in green chemistry and possible green chemistry internships, and Portland State University providing expertise in Environmental Science and business strategy.

Government resources include the U.S. Department of Energy, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, the Green Chemistry Institute, the Oregon Energy Office, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

Business resources include large firms such as CH2M Hill, Century West Engineering, and many smaller organizations such as Rifer Environmental and Green Building Services, Inc.

Non-profit organizations include EcoTrust, The Oregon Natural Step Network,  Sustainable Northwest, the Pollution Prevention Resource Center, Bridges to Sustainability and many more.

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