California companies receive prestigious environmental awards for their leadership in waste reduction and product stewardship

Oakland, CA, July 25 – On July 26-29, the California Resource Recovery Association will host the largest state conference on waste reduction. On Friday, the welcome will be made by Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf who will share how Oakland is committed to becoming a more sustainable city. Conference plenary speakers include Vien Truong, CEO of Dream Corps, David Allaway of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, and zero waste fashion designer, Daniel Silverstein who will create a custom garment made from recycled textiles. This convening of key material management industry leaders comes at a crucial time as China moves to limit the types and volumes of post-consumer materials they will receive, which is having a negative effect on the recycling facility operators who now have less places to send materials for recycling. There will be extensive dialogue and planning for new remanufacturing facilities in California to manage our materials safely and keep the jobs at home.

“We are delighted to honor companies reducing materials that need disposal,” said Heidi Sanborn, Executive Director of the California Product Stewardship Council. “The Arrow Award winners are leaders in driving a circular economy, which means “waste” product from one business is feedstock for the next. Whether it’s offering refillable propane cylinders instead of disposable cylinders like Sports Basement is doing, or by redesigning medical products to reduce plastic in the hospital waste stream like NewGen Surgical, all our winners are impressive. We are thrilled to highlight companies with such impactful environmental achievements.”

During the conference, the California Product Stewardship Council (CPSC) will honor companies, several based in the San Francisco Bay Area, for their innovative environmental efforts during the organization’s 9th Annual Arrow Awards ceremony. In addition to the Arrow Awards, CPSC will recognize the San Francisco Department of the Environment, the local government leader in innovative materials management policies as well as Recology for working with San Francisco and other California local governments to help achieve the highest recycling rates possible while working to reduce waste generating processes and products, and Assembly member Kansen Chu for authoring AB 1158 in 2017 to increase carpet recycling.

Smarter Sorting is the recipient of the 2018 Golden Arrow Award for overall excellence in product stewardship. Smarter Sorting is a data and technology company that used machine learning to build the world’s first smart chemical database. Smarter Sorting works with cities and retailers to divert consumer chemical products, previously labeled as hazardous waste, and creates reuse opportunities.

NewGen Surgical is receiving the 2018 Green Arrow Award for system and design innovations. NewGen Surgical redesigns and manufactures medical devices and products that significantly minimize plastic waste from operating rooms – replacing single-use disposable plastic products with ones created with upcycled materials. Their Small Change, Big Impact EPP™ program engages healthcare systems to measurably eliminate tons of plastic waste from the supply chain.

California Electronic Asset Recovery is the winner of the 2018 Bow & Arrow Award for coalition building for creative partnerships and demonstrating the inter-dependence amongst stakeholders. CEAR works closely with local governments to create more efficient collection and recycling standards. CEAR’s unique recycling process, which uses significantly less energy than the most common practices for e-waste recycling, has become a model for companies across the United States.

Sports Basement is presented with the 2018 Infinity Arrow Award for service and take-back. Sports Basement integrated the Flame King 1 lb. refillable propane cylinder into their loyalty program, allowing customers to exchange refillable 1 lb. propane cylinders at no cost and with no waste. Through their partnerships, they helped reduce the volume of disposable propane cylinders in the waste stream at parks and facilities all over Northern California.

The California Product Stewardship Council’s Annual Arrow Awards ceremony will take place during the California Resource Recovery Association’s 41st annual conference and tradeshow, held at the Marriott City Center in Oakland on Saturday, July 28 at 5:45 PM.

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California Product Stewardship Council (CPSC) educates both the public and private sectors about Product Stewardship and closely partners with business, jurisdictions, waste and recycling companies, manufacturers and others to promote and encourage sustainable practices and to recognize those companies who are taking a leadership role in participating in waste reduction and recycling. For more information, please go to: www.CalPSC.org.