As Vice President and Operations Manager, Janet Barile brings her experience in management, planning and financial analysis to the firm and team. She has been with R3 since 2004 and may have only planned on staying a few months – but ultimately the opportunity for growth and her ability to help the company grow from a team of four to sixteen was too perfect of a match for her organizational and administrative skills. She manages the day-to-day operations of the firm including contract management, firm and project budgeting, financial reporting, and HR duties.

Janet uses her years of experience in accounting and human resources to keep policies and procedures up to date and continues to seek opportunities for the firm to run more efficiently, provide long term strategic planning and further the company’s overall goals. She spends her free time entertaining, chasing her personal best on her Peloton and spoiling her grandson. If there’s a reason to throw a party, she’s already planning it, and this includes all the R3 outings and gatherings.

Richard Tagore-Erwin’s project work encompasses all aspects of solid waste management and environmental consulting. Over the past 38 years, he has successfully provided hundreds of jurisdictions and public agencies throughout California and the Western United States with solid waste management consulting services that encompass the following: strategic sustainability planning and compliance assistance; financial planning, analysis, and rate reviews; service and rate surveys; and operations and performance reviews. His areas of expertise include designing strategic plans and negotiating solid waste Franchise Agreements that achieve legislative compliance with State ordinances and regulations.

Prior to his work as a municipal management consultant, Richard was a Senior Consultant to the California Legislature, where he was instrumental in the development of many of California’s solid waste management laws, including AB 939, recycled content requirements, used oil recycling requirements, and labeling of rigid plastic containers. He has also served on several national panels on sustainability.

William Schoen is an engineer with more than 30 years of solid waste operational and consulting experience in solid waste operations, rate reviews, and financial analyses and legislative compliance and edible food recovery assistance. He currently manages R3’s food-rescue research and planning efforts and has also managed recycling and landfill operations and reviewed the finances and operations of numerous municipal and private sector solid waste management operations. He has conducted financial analyses of long-term solid waste diversion and disposal alternatives, developed strategies for solid waste collection systems and Zero Waste plans, evaluated collection staffing and equipment requirements, and overseen visual and physical waste characterization studies.

William has significant knowledge and experience in evaluating all aspects of solid waste collection systems, including every-other-week collection, co-collection systems, residential and commercial food waste collection programs, bulky item collection programs, and illegal dumping response programs. This understanding and guidance is vital to R3’s ability to critically evaluate a hauler’s operational assumptions and projections associated with implementing legislative requirements, to identify and support recommended changes and to form options for organics collection in compliance with legislation.

Scott Hanin has more than 30 years of solid waste experience, including serving as the Executive Director of the West Contra Costa Integrated Waste Management Authority (WCCIWMA). Scott was also City Manager for the City of El Cerrito for 17 years, a member agency of the WCCIWMA. Scott oversaw all aspects of city government including budget development, strategic planning, community engagement, organizational development and restructuring, capital projects, legislative compliance, and oversight of all department heads. He conducted multiple operational reviews of the City’s solid waste and recycling operations, which led to numerous changes in program operations including the design and construction of the City’s award-winning drop-off center.

Throughout his career, Scott has worked with dozens of local governments on the review and development of modern franchise agreements. He has recently managed a debt financing study as a subcontractor to R3 for Zero Waste Sonoma. Prior to moving to California, Scott oversaw performance and evaluations of the operations of the New York City Department of Sanitation in his role in the Mayor’s Office of Operations.

Nate Forst has over 15 years of experience developing and managing solid waste, recycling, and sustainability projects and programs. His expertise extends to business, non-profits, and the public sector. Nate has contributed to best practices in sustainability, helped write guidance for the Federal Aviation Administration on airport waste reduction, and has improved numerous solid waste programs through enhanced data tracking/reporting and cost-saving solid waste and circular economy strategies. Prior to joining R3, Nate was a Sustainability Consultant at AECOM and Principal Co-Owner at Tomolla Consulting, where he supported clients including Google, Nike, Port of Portland, US EPA, Starbucks, and multiple international airports.

As Project Developer for R3 Nate combines a deep knowledge of upstream solid waste and recycling practices with market knowledge and a knack for innovative solutions. He approaches projects from a systems-thinking perspective and has helped design materials management programs from the local to national level. Collaboration and communication are key drivers of his most successful initiatives.

Debra Kaufman brings more than three decades of experience  helping local governments improve their recycling, HHW and organics programs and meet regulatory requirements. As an independent contractor, Debra drafted CalRecycle’s model SB 1383 organics disposal reduction ordinance and model procurement policy. In her work as Senior Planner at StopWaste for 16 years, she updated the Countywide Integrated Waste Management Plan, conducted strategic planning, wrote policies and ordinances, helped local agencies improve their procurement programs, provided oversight on the Countywide HHW program, and served as the Agency’s legislative lead.

Debra contributes her expertise in Zero Waste programs, ordinance and policy development and implementation, legislative compliance planning, and technical assistance programs. With her background she holds deep knowledge of statewide solid waste and recycling issues, infrastructure, regulatory requirements, responsible agencies, and available resources.  Having drafted the statewide SB 1383 model ordinance, as well as several local ordinances  and  municipal code updates, Debra is extremely familiar with all requirements of SB 1383, as well as compliance mechanisms. Her depth and breadth of experience makes her a valuable asset to local governments who are conducting strategic planning, updating their policies, ordinances, agreements and codes, seeking improvements to their existing zero waste and HHW programs, seeking legislative compliance assistance, or needing in-depth research.

Carrie Baxter has over a decade of experience in solid waste consulting in a broad range of operational, planning, and financial projects. She is an expert in providing legislative compliance assistance to local jurisdictions for implementing or expanding programs related to collection, tracking, and infrastructure development, as well as assisting in negotiating improvements and best practices into municipal codes and collection agreements. Carrie is passionate about identifying how our clients can incentivize diversion and engage their community and stakeholders.

Carrie brings significant experience with competitive procurement projects for solid waste management services to improve waste hauler collection contracts by incorporating best practices and legislative requirements. Carrie routinely supports jurisdictions by providing financial analysis services, such as studying rates and how to incentivize diversion, engaging the community and stakeholders, operational and performance reviews, evaluating billing and reporting systems, and conducting on-site route audits and comprehensive benchmarking and rate surveys for various cities throughout California.

Ryan Calkins, a Marine Corps veteran, joined R3 after serving as a Manager for Waste Management (WMI) operations in Oakland and Stockton. His successful career managing private sector waste, organic, and recyclable collection systems for WMI and California Waste Solutions (CWS) in the Bay Area included the following responsibilities: training Route Managers; training and certifying sites in Onboard Computing Systems Dispatch (OCSD) systems; using Geographic Information System (GIS) software for rerouting and mapping routes; managing unionized drivers; and coordinating daily collection and operational needs with fleet maintenance services.

Ryan’s extensive operations experience is extremely valuable to his work on all projects involving review and analysis of residential and commercial processing operations. He has contributed his talents and management to R3 engagements in these areas: Collections & Processing Operations Analysis & Review; Collection System Routing Technology; Hauler Performance Standards Reviews; Municipal Operations Reviews; Solid Waste Route Studies; Contract Compliance Audits; Detailed Rate Reviews; Franchise Agreement Reviews and Recommendations; and Negotiation and Procurement Assistance.

With her strong background in research and technical writing, and her solid waste industry experience, Rose Radford provides valuable support for solid waste management planning, program development, regulatory reporting, and solid waste implementation plans by analyzing data, coordinating field studies, conducting surveys, and writing comprehensive reports. Her diverse solid waste planning experience includes: Zero Waste planning; legislative compliance assistance; organics program analysis; municipal code analysis and revision; data and tonnage tracking and modeling; and strategic planning for landfill, organics, and recyclables processing capacity.

Rose’s other areas of expertise include negotiation and procurement assistance; operations, programs, and facility reviews; research and data compilation; operational and performance reviews of haulers; and financial planning, including rate modeling, rate studies, and rate reviews.

Peggy Paulsen is an experienced Marketing Unicorn with nearly a decade of experience in producing proposals, organizing data, brand management, social media engagement, designing and maintaining company websites. She is a very energetic and creative person with a keen eye for detail and organization, and always maintains an understanding of the core story technical staff are trying to communicate. She leads all marketing efforts for R3 and contributes to the growth, leadership, and overall strategic direction of the organization. She is a leader in the development, budgeting, implementation, and adherence to the corporate marketing plan, branding, and messaging.

With her expertise in fine-tuned information design, Peggy also regularly collaborates with project staff and clients to develop visually appealing, easy-to-understand graphics and outreach materials to help R3’s clients engage and educate their target communities about new legislation such as AB 1826 and SB 1383. She designs customizable forms, brochures, newsletters, and presentations for our clients, as well as personalized maps, infographics and logos, and event posters and flyers. To create these materials, Peggy uses her extensive knowledge and skills in data organization and flow, typesetting, color theory, and use of various complex software platforms, including the Adobe Creative Suite and Microsoft Office.

Claire Wilson combines her background in environmental science and ecology with her experience in research and data analysis to work with local governments in reducing and better managing their waste streams. She has a strong background in legislative compliance and community outreach and education, and her expertise is centered around policy development, state law compliance, and solid waste agreement negotiations. She is experienced in Zero Waste and high diversion planning and implementation, specializes in community and stakeholder engagement strategies, and has worked with jurisdictions to develop innovative methodologies to approach Zero Waste and comply with State legislation.

Claire provides important support on a variety of solid waste management projects, including policy development, planning, and implementation; negotiations and procurement; and financial and rate reviews. To date, she has helped 75+ clients manage their hauler contracts, achieve compliance with State and local legislation, and implement new and exciting policies and programs around reuse, foodware, edible food recovery, and zero waste. She has developed an innovative ordinance to reduce single-use plastics on a County-wide level, assisted in the development of personalized plans for outreach, education, enforcement, and secured funding to ensure a successful ordinance implementation, enforcement, and reduction in plastic waste.

Jordan Muratsuchi comes to R3 from Hawaiʻi, where he was the Executive Director of an environmental 501c(3) nonprofit focused on waste management and community beautification. He has a diverse comprehension of environmental management, with direct experience in waste management, regional and community-based natural resource management, restoration ecology and ecological restoration, stormwater management, and environmental engineering. Jordan has designed and built community biodigesters, performed debris studies and analyses, planned recycling and community outreach events, and assisted in multiple research projects focused on local and community-based natural resource management.

Jordan combines his strong analytical skills with regulatory knowledge to develop cost-effective programs for clients. He is solution-focused and well-versed in working with governmental, business, and community stakeholders and clients. He regularly conducts rate studies, cost-of-service and other financial analyses, and assists clients in understanding the benefits and drawbacks of their current solid waste collections agreements, specifically with regards to legislation such as AB 341, AB 939, AB 1826, and SB 1383. In addition, Jordan has recent experience advising clients on the costs and benefits of outsourcing their municipal solid waste operations.

Alex Soulard has 12 years of solid waste experience in the public sector working for the Marin County Department of Public Works. Alex has been primarily focused on implementation of recycling, composting and other waste diversion and AB 939 compliance programs. As staff to the Marin County Hazardous and Solid Waste Management Joint Powers Authority, Alex focused on Zero Waste Plan Implementation, initial food scrap composting rollout, single use plastic bag bans, pharmaceutical disposal, fulfilling CalRecycle reporting requirements, developing public outreach, and fostering community engagement. In his role with R3, Alex is providing legislative compliance assistance to local jurisdictions for implementing or expanding programs related to organic material collection, tracking, and infrastructure development.

Nikhil Tagore-Erwin is a Project Analyst at R3 and provides valuable support for R3 on a wide range of projects, including hauler performance and operational reviews, financial analyses, and solid waste planning. His areas of expertise include supporting hauler audits of contract compliance and financial reporting requirements for our clients. In conjunction with these projects, he has conducted on-site interviews, reviewed franchise fee payments, and developed contract compliance checklists for our clients.

Nikhil’s additional areas of expertise include assisting in negotiation and procurement processes and assisting jurisdictions with incorporating state regulations into solid waste contracts. As part of these projects, he has conducted surveys, performed online and in-the-field data research, and compiled and critically analyzed the resulting data and findings for our clients. Nikhil has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Hawai’i, Manoa. He is a dedicated gym rat and gamer who loves sharing his treasured Kona coffee with his fellow Californians.

Sarah Koplowicz has been working in the waste management industry for 15 years, with a focus on Zero Waste programs and policies. She helped establish the UC Davis Zero Waste system campus-wide, which was used as a pilot for the other UC campuses to adopt Zero Waste programs by 2020. Sarah spent about ten years working in event production providing Zero Waste management to millions of people throughout the state of California. She is experienced with performing waste audits of commercial facilities, waste characterization studies, and Zero Waste training for employees, volunteers, and the public as needed. Sarah has also worked on source reduction projects, such as developing a reusable dish program to help reduce the amount of single use disposables produced at special events as well as ongoing business operations.

Sarah contributes her extensive hands-on experience working in the field with a wide variety of community members and stakeholders. She excels at assessing systems and providing analyses that lead to widespread improvements in cost and efficiency. In her free time, she can be found hiking the Bay Area or reading a book with her cat.