ASBC and its strategic partner, the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY), invite you to celebrate the accomplishments of women and minority owned firms in the waste industry in conjunction with International Women’s Day by registering here.

Opening Keynote: Kathleen Draper, Chairman of the Board, International Biochar Initiative

Panel: Circular Economy Opportunities for Diverse Firms in Waste

The circular economy, the recovery of materials and energy from used products, is becoming a broader practice. This concept is seen as a solution to tackle the current and global environmental, social and economic challenges. It can also create new contract opportunities for women/ minority-owned firms and jobs for individuals in urban communities. Learn from these panel experts and explore partnerships as they share their knowledge and experience to potentially expand your business model and play an integral role in joining the circular economy.

• Sydney Mainster serves as the Vice President of Sustainability for The Durst Organization – a 100-year-old family-run Real Estate company based in New York City. She brings over 13 years of professional and academic Architecture, Design and Construction experience to her role. Her current passion is defining strategies to transform the building product industry and resultant material waste streams. Prior to joining the Durst Organization in early 2014, she served as Adjunct Faculty and Director of the University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture Materials Resource Center. She moved to Austin, TX after earning a Master of Architecture degree from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design in 2010, and after spending the summer teaching design as an Architecture Studio Instructor for the GSD’s Career Discovery program. She worked at a variety of construction industry-related jobs in Los Angeles, Berkeley, Boston, New York City, London, and Austin.
• Kate Daly is Executive Director of the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners. The Center is a hub for business acceleration, investment, and research in packaging, food, the built environment, electronics and apparel & textiles. Kate previously served as Senior Vice President at the NYC Economic Development Corporation, where she oversaw business development programs in sectors including advanced manufacturing, smart cities, cleantech, fashion, tech, and media.
• Amber Lasciak, Founder of REDU. Amber grew up off-the-grid and one of the only African American kids in the county, on 60 acres in Northern California. It is there that she learned to respect the environment. She founded REDU as a salve to this problem. REDU is a design-build company that creates furniture and commercial interiors from 99% re-use materials. REDU is a sustainable design company located in Brooklyn that creates commercial interiors and furniture solely from re-use materials. Its mission is to help keep perfectly usable material out of landfill and incorporate them into innovative functional design. REDU has transformed several commercial interiors throughout the tri-state area with 99% re-use materials.
• Meredith Danberg-Ficarelli, Director, Common Ground Compost. Meredith is a green business entrepreneur. In 2012 she concepted, co-founded, and managed FERN [Food Establishments Recycling Nutrients], a sustainable waste management organization in Beirut, Lebanon which presented a model for green job creation in the Middle East drawing attention from the United Nations and international aid organizations. Meredith was lucky enough to audit the 2015 Master Composter class during that time, deepening her knowledge of compost science. Meredith joined Common Ground Compost in October 2015. Meredith volunteers and works with organizations across the Northeast, including CitySoil in Boston and Talk Trash City in New York City.