What is WRED?
Inspired by America Recycles Day, WSRA hosts Washington Recycles Every Day (WRED) events throughout the year, bringing professionals from all over Washington State together for discussion of recycling issues and behind the scenes tours of working facilities and technology demonstrations. Most of our events are currently virtual but we look forward to resuming some in-person events in the upcoming year.
Upcoming Events 2023
WSRA January WRED: Morning Mingle
January 5, 2023 | 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Join the WSRA for an informal morning mingle created for members to network online with peers from public and private sectors across WA State. The goal of this WRED event is to expand our member’s social networks for the coming year!
Past Events: 2022-2023
2022 WSRA Policy Forum
December 19, 2022 | 9:00 am – 11:40 am | Online via Zoom
WSRA’s 2022 Policy Forum on Monday, December 19th from 9:00 AM-11:40 AM via Zoom! This virtual event is free forWSRA members, and offers an opportunity to hear directly from state legislators about upcoming legislation related to recycling, organics management, and waste reduction.
Legislators will present on the bills that they are planning to sponsor for the upcoming legislative session. This includes: Rep. Amy Walen (48th District), Rep. Mia Gregerson (33rd District), Sen. Christine Rolfes (23rd District) and Rep. Liz Berry (36th District), Sen. Derek Stanford (1st District) and more. Then, Ecology staff will present on implementation of recent legislation including organics management, postconsumer Recycled Content, and plastic bag ban and food serviceware opt in.
November WRED Event: Tips for Being an Effective Communicator in Olympia
November 17, 2022 | 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm | Online via Zoom
With the 2023 Legislative Session fast approaching, join WSRA’s Policy Committee to hear from experienced professionals about how to be an effective communicator in Olympia! You will learn more about the legislative process, key dates, important terms, and how to frame your talking points to get your message across to legislators.
Speakers Include:
Becky Bogard is the managing member of Bogard & Johnson LLC. Her clients include businesses and advocacy groups. Becky was Legislative Counsel in Governor Booth Gardner’s transition team and practiced law with the Preston Thorgrimson firm. Prior to moving to Seattle in 1979, she lobbied for several electric utility trade associations in Washington, D.C.
Becky received a BA in Economics from Duke University and a law degree from American University.
Ms. Bogard is a member of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce and the Association of Washington Business. She is on the board of the Seattle Theatre Group. She is also a member of the Washington State Major League Baseball Public Facilities District.
Brad Lovaas is the Executive Director of the Washington Refuse and Recycling Association (WRRA), and has served in that role since 2002. Prior to WRRA, Brad worked for the Washington State Legislature for 20 years in several policy and fiscal staff positions, including Budget Coordinator for the Legislative Transportation Committee and the Senate Transportation Committee. He is a life-long Washington resident, UW Graduate and lives in Thurston County.
Heather has more than 25 years of experience in environmental work ranging from Zero Waste to toxic chemicals and habitat issues. At Zero Waste Washington, her focus has been on reducing upstream sources of waste and addressing downstream impacts, getting toxic chemicals out of products, eliminating plastic pollution, and building on the organization’s signature producer responsibility policy initiatives. Previously, at Futurewise, she worked to prevent runoff from entering our waterways and improve shoreline management practices and policies. Heather was at People for Puget Sound for over ten years where she focused on protections for the marine environment. Earlier, she was staff scientist for the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers Watershed Council and worked for the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board on water quality standards, regulatory permits, pollution assessments, greening the LA rivers and habitat renewal.
Batteries: The Positives, Negatives, & Everything In-Between!
October 24, 2022 | 9:00 am – 11:30 am | Online via Zoom
Back by popular demand, this WRED event will take an in-depth exploration of battery recycling.
Speakers represent a range of technical experts in the battery recycling world and will illustrate:
- The operational challenges of collecting and handling batteries, from facility fires to humanitarian issues
- An overview of battery types, chemistries, and recycling technologies available
- Legislative initiatives at the national level and a preview for Washington’s next battery bill
- Technical recycling process and tour from a Lithium Ion and EV battery recycler
- The challenges and best practices for transportation and firecode regulations.
WSRA WRED Presents: Equity in Action – In the Recycling World
September 29, 2022 | 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm | Online via Zoom
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, or DEI is a prominent initiative in many of our organizations – including the WSRA! Join us to hear case studies from two racial equity practitioners who are putting those equity principles into action.
Sam Keller from Seattle Public Utilities will share about Seattle’s Community Connections work. Sam is a senior community partnerships planner at SPU who focuses on equitable community engagement. Community Connections is a program that focuses on creating deep and sustainable partnerships that aim to improve the quality of life for people of color, immigrant, and low-income communities through transformative approaches and experiences. The program is currently engaged with Chinese Information Service Center, Horn of Africa Services, and ECOSS.
Sully Moreno is a community engagement and racial equity consultant who has worked extensively on solid waste projects. Her consulting practice is called Culture Shift Consulting. She will share about her work creating and facilitating a community panel for the King County Solid Waste Division Re+ program. Re+ focuses on reducing waste going to the landfill, and the community panel leans on their lived and professional experience to share recommendations for implementing Re+ strategies in ways that advance equity and benefit community members.
August WRED Coffee Chat: Do You Know Ridwell?
August 17, 2022
At this event, SRA members joined to network and to hear from Erin Gagnon on how Ridwell is sustainably reusing, recycling and empowering neighbors and communities to build a less wasteful future.
Sponsored by Ridwell
WSRA’s 42nd Annual Conference & Trade Show
May 15th -18th, 2022
The WSRA Conference and Trade Show is a showcase for the latest recycling, re-use, and waste reduction programs, technology and brings together around 200 industry leaders to learn, connect, inspire, and be inspired.
WRED: Plastic Conversion with Mura and Return to Polymers
Monday, April 25, 2022
David Foell, President & CEO of Return Polymers, and John Cozens, President of Mura North America, will speak about their respective organization’s solutions to what have historically been very challenging materials in the waste stream. The discussion will revolve around these companies’ solutions for various plastics and rigid PVC products (windows, siding, fencing, and pipe). These are end-markets that have not existed in the Pacific Northwest previously, so there are bound to be some great questions and discussions. We look forward to seeing you all there!
WRED: Ink Cartridge Recycling
Wednesday, February 23, 2022
Join us as we learn the three types of toner cartridges available to the market today: OEM, Remanufactured, and New Compatible. After explaining the difference on those we will then highlight the environmental impact these three cartridges create and how the raw materials of each can reused, if at all.
WRED: Networking Coffee Chat
Wednesday, January 5, 2022
This was a complimentary networking chat over a morning cup of coffee or tea, along with making new connections or reconnecting folks who haven’t spoken to each other in a while.
View Recording
2021 Fall Policy Forum
Thursday, December 2, 2021
Presentations from the speakers of this virtual event:
Harris Battery Extended Producer Responsibility KHT 12.2.2021
Jones WSRA-ECY-Fall Policy Forum Presentation
Methane Gas Davina Duerr DRAFT Dec 2 2021 v2
Methane Gas Davina Duerr DRAFT Dec 2 2021 v3
WRED: Packaging EPR 101
Monday, November 22, 2021
Here is a look into the bread and butter of Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility as speakers provide us with Packaging EPR 101 followed by Q&A and discussion to shed light on what EPR is and what it is not.
WRED: Fall Coffee Chat
Wednesday, October 20th, 2021
This was a complimentary networking chat over a morning cup of coffee or tea, along with making new connections or reconnecting folks who haven’t spoken to each other in a while.
WRED’s Food Scraps Cooking Class with The Zero Waste Chef, Anne-Marie Bonneau
Tuesday, August 17th, 2021
Cookbook author, blogger, fermenter and sourdough baker Anne-Marie Bonneau has lived plastic-free since 2011. Through social media, her blog and her book, The Zero-Waste Chef: Plant-Forward Recipes and Tips for a Sustainable Kitchen and Planet, Anne-Marie shows others how reducing their trash not only benefits the planet but also satisfies their taste buds, improves their well-being and boosts their bank accounts. A Canadian transplant, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
WRED’s Paint Stewardship Webinar
Thursday, July 15, 2021
The State of Washington launched the new Paint Stewardship Program through Paint Care in April 2021. By encouraging households and businesses to recycle paint and making free and convenient drop-off locations, Paint Care hopes to increase the amount of paint reused, recycled or safely disposed of. After it is collected it must be transported and disposed of safely. ACT enviro is going to tell you about how they can help you to manage the paint. ACT enviro is a Paint Care approved hauler in the state of WA.
Thank you to our generous sponsors, Northwest Product stewardship Council, Anne-Marie Bonneau and Washington State Department of Ecology. Are you a recycling business or organization wanting to reach an audience of Washington recyclers? Contact us to discuss speaker and sponsorship options.
Upcoming Events:
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