Sustainable Materials Action Team

Mission Accomplished: The Sustainable Materials ACTION Team (SMAT) was formed to support Recycling Refinement and Post-Consumer Food Waste programs within the Sustainable Food Court Initiative and Zero Food Journeys projects. In addition, SMAT supported the EPA Scaling-Up Compost in Charlotte, NC Grant.  With the Soil Health Platform announcement, Recycling Refinement and Post-Consumer Food Waste focus areas evolved into Mission Accomplished! Thus, SMAT is Mission Accomplished!

Scope: To engage in material identification within Ei Pilots focused on contamination and value, leveraging the team’s market insights, skill sets and knowledge of value-added industry best practices.
Members:

• Boyd Leake, City of Atlanta, Office of Sustainability
• Rick Lombardo, Natur-Tec
• Grant Braasch, NatureWorks
• Doug Kunnemann, NatureWorks
• Kim Charick, U.S. EPA, Region 4

Accomplishments:

• Compostable Food & Beverage Packaging Education Sessions
• EPA Scaling Up Composting in Charlotte, NC
• World Chefs’ Waste | Recycling Course Curriculum
• Zero Food Waste Journeys at Afternoon in the Country and RayDay

The respective website pages detail important SMAT accomplishments.

In addition, Rick Lombardo presented on SMAT accomplishments at the 2015 National Zero Waste Business Conference (NZWBC) on the Source Separation Maximizes Material Value panel moderated by Ei Founder Holly Elmore. At the 2015 Annual Ei Partner Meeting Rick gave an impressive presentation on SMAT accomplishments. Rick’s SMAT PPT presentation is downloadable on the Annual Ei Partner Meeting page.

In 2016 Rick co-presented the Ei-hosted NZWBC Macro Cost of  Micro Contamination panel and set the stage for the Recycling Refinement focus area of the same name.