Cindy Liles

Speaker | HDR

Cindy Liles has eight years of experience working with the waste industry. She started off her career implementing organics separation and compost workshops at her University, and has since worked on over 175 waste projects, almost all in California. This includes work on the design, permitting, development, and/or environmental compliance of over a dozen organic waste processing facilities and several feasibility studies for both the public and private sectors. She has also helped secure over $5 million for compost infrastructure and research. She holds a B.S. Environmental Sciences from the University of California, Riverside and a M.S. Environmental Engineering from California State University, Fullerton.

Session Code: D1

Track: California

Session Name: Regulatory Trends and Experience

Session Time: Wednesday, Jan 25, 8:15 to 9:45 AM

Presentation Title: Regulatory Trends with Organic Waste

Presentation Description: California typically leads the way across the U.S. with environmental regulation, often the first to adopt more stringent regulations than what is established by the Federal government. So it is no surprise it was the first state to ban organic waste from landfill with the goal to reduce greenhouse gases from disposal, but the state went several steps further by adding other requirements related to edible food recovery, food waste recycling, education and outreach, and procurement. Other states, however, are following suit mandating organics recycling, promoting recycling infrastructure, and implementing education programs. For example, in 2015 Washington state prohibited food waste from garbage, but only recently did the state pass similar legislation to California’s SB 1383 to ban organics from landfill disposal. This presentation will give an overview to regulatory trends with organic waste, specifically with regards to food waste. It will also touch on hot button items from SB 1383 that are critical for California composters to thoroughly understand.