Charlotte Dreizen Pushes for Better Recycling Education, Resources for All

When talking to other 40 Under 40 award winners, and, honestly, just others all over the waste industry, when I ask them what the biggest issue with recycling today is, most of them have the same answer.

Education.

Of course, I asked the same question to Charlotte Dreizen, who I like to think of as a recycling expert. And wouldn’t you know, Dreizen, Director, Sustainability and Environment of Plastics Industry Association, answered the same way, siting accessible education as a key issue when it comes to recycling. Along with education, Dreizen believes another big issue is residents having access to efficient recycling programs.

“We know that [the] biggest area of growth is, one that we’re not doing as good of a job of, servicing for recycling education. But we also know that we, frankly, don’t go a good enough job of providing access at a really simple level to that sector [multifamily households in Washington DC] as well. I think that less than one in four multifamily households has access to recycling at the same level that they do trash, which is really wild,” said Dreizen.

Dreizen, who has spent plenty of time around material recovery facilities and the items that come in and out of them, mentioned having seen some odd materials get thrown into the recycling.

“My first time at a material recovery facility when I was working for DC Government, we had a big kitchen knife come down the pike and that’s not something that can be recycled. And it would be really tough for a worker to kind of reach on in and pull that out. A few minutes later, a big block of concrete. That’s not something that can be recycled and, unfortunately, can be really heavy and can damage equipment or folks who are trying to make sure that nothing is getting past them and into the system,” said Dreizen.

When she found out that she had won a 40 Under 40 award from Waste360, Dreizen called the news humbling, overwhelmingly flattering, and that she was grateful to be included.

“I have been the biggest fan and consumer of all things Waste360 ever since my very first days interning in the space and organization and it’s one of the things that I’ve always looked forward to every year. To see such a huge diversity of folks in the space who are doing really interesting and innovative things and to be considered one of those this year, in the awards, was really overwhelmingly flattering,” said Dreizen.

You can find Dreizen on Twitter (@CharDreizen) talking to her followers about recycling and sharing helpful tips. Plus the occasional shade thrown at some community members when they put their recycling into plastic bags.