Meet a SWANA Young Professional!

The Young Professionals in the Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) Technical Division of SWANA would like to get to know you and for you to know them! This special feature interviews a Young Professional (YP) to share their interests and their work.

Name: Natalie Lessa

Job Title/Company: Co-Founder, ReCREATE Waste Collaborative

Where you’re located: Long Beach, CA

How many years have you been in the industry? 13

If you were to travel anywhere in the world, where would it be?

India, to do yoga for a month.

What does SMM mean to you?

It means looking at what we throw away with curiosity and asking, how can we do something better with this? It's finding the opportunities in materials to actually serve our environment, rather than harm it. Rather than putting everything in the landfill, we can come up with more creative uses for materials that reduce methane emissions, put carbon back into our soils, prevent natural materials from needing to be extracted, and fuels the local economy. On a deeper level, it means taking care of our natural world so that future generations can have the same spiritual connection with the land/water/air that I had as a kid. 

How did your education contribute to you joining the solid waste industry?

I went to college in a rural farming town where "closed loop" was a way of life. I studied environmental health and learned about the impacts of emissions on climate change from a public health perspective, but ultimately knew I wanted to help shift the messaging around sustainability to appeal more widespread, so I majored in public relations & journalism. There aren't too many folks in the waste industry that specialize in communication, yet education and outreach is such a need. I appreciate my education for providing me with the understanding of both sides. My most impactful education in this industry came in the form of a fellowship with Climate Corp Bay Area where I got experience working for local government and teaching preschoolers how to source separate waste (which isn't much different than teaching adults!)

As a YP working in SMM, what about this industry have you found to be most interesting?

I find it fascinating how many different industry groups and people there are coming together with their own unique skill sets, knowledge, and perspectives to solve a seemingly never-ending problem. 

What are the topics you see keeping you busy over the next 5-10 years?

Education, education, education! Even us solid waste professionals find ourselves perplexed over new policies, jargon, and understanding the realities of products and processing. The communities that we serve are exponentially more confused! The good news is, most people want to do the right thing, they just don't know how. I plan to stay focused on finding creative, engaging ways to teach residents and businesses how to incorporate sustainable practices from a holistic perspective, rather than throwing letters and numbers at them and hoping it sticks.

What’s your favorite project you’ve worked on in regards to SMM? Any lessons learned you’d like to share (successes or ‘what not to do’)?

So many amazing projects happening across the country right now, but the one I hold nearest to my heart was the very first project I worked on with the Town of Corte Madera while with R3 Consulting Group. I helped develop a Zero Waste Implementation Plan for the Town which included 400+ pages of how-to steps for the jurisdiction to take to reduce waste in all sectors. What I loved about this project was that rather than a plan with a lot of analysis and theoretical goals, it included actionable items and tangible resources to address the real barriers that the community was facing, like creative signage for mall areas, lease agreements that included recycling and reusables requirements, checklists for zero waste events, and more. 

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not working?

Anything that gets my body moving - dancing, yoga, kayaking, biking, hiking, running... and a lot of time in the gym to decompress.