A group of volunteers made up of both members and industry allies has begun work on diversity, equity and inclusion issues in the compost industry with its first meeting in December.
The group discussed a Statement of Purpose, which is being finalized by a subgroup this month, and has begun drilling down into observations and ideas from the Diversity Town Hall in October to form action items for carrying out its work. The group will be seeking to leverage work done by other groups and USCC members already.
Members of the DEI Working Group are:
Eileen Banyra, Community Compost Company; Amy Bartucci, Seven Generations Ahead; Nevin Brittain, Spaceday; Leilani Ching, WeCycle; Meredith Danberg-Ficarelli, Common Ground Compost; Kristine Ellsworth, NYDEC; Sergio Garcia, Evergreen Compost; Shelby Hoglund; Matt Karmel, Riker & Danzig; Janet Thoman, Compost Manufacturing Alliance; David Velez; Renee Wallace, Food Plus Detroit; Muriel Williman, Durham County; Samantha Winkle, Waste Connections; Doug Womack; Jill Wu, Goodr.
For those interested in the topic, you can look forward to a session on diversity, equity and inclusion at COMPOST2022 on Tuesday, January 25 after lunch; this panel will include a variety of viewpoints and talk through the items from the overview, with real world examples and business insight.
Panelists include:
Community Composter – Jesi Cruz, Common Ground Compost
Large-Scale Composter – Samantha Winkle, Waste Connections
Brand Strategist – Ash Glover-Ganapathiraju (independent, formerly Nespresso)