A warm welcome back to “Women in Circularity,” where we shine a light on women moving us toward a circular economy. This month, I was pleased to connect with an expert in recycling: Judi Gregory.
Judi is the Principal of Go2Zero Strategies, a woman-owned consulting firm in California that specializes in zero waste strategies for businesses and communities. She has over 30 years of experience in recycling and solid waste management operations.
What prompted you to start your consulting firm and how have you grown personally and professionally as a result of growing your business?
Prior to starting Go2Zero, I worked for private hauling companies as well as owned my own hauling businesses. I was very familiar with operations and collections and found that while most of the legislative regulations impacted operations, the regulating entities weren’t taking hauler operations and practices into consideration until after the fact. I wanted to bridge the gap between what we want to accomplish through environmental policy and how we actually put it into practice. One of the biggest hurdles for me in this transition was going from the private sector to working with the public sector. I’m a pretty ambitious person that likes to dive in and get things done, but I had to learn to slow down and take public sector processes into consideration. I can admit it was a bit frustrating at first, but now I feel like it’s an area I excel in and can really help both the private and public sectors in meeting compliance.
How has your GreenEducation program impacted zero waste leaders?
GreenEducation.US began as a passion project. I love to teach and share about our industry because honestly there is just so much information that needs to get out there. Having worked with and learned from some of the most amazing experts in the field of sustainability (you – MaryEllen – being one of them), I knew the wealth of knowledge couldn’t be kept bottled up. The training that GreenEducation.US provides is launching a whole new generation of zero waste leaders. Initially we did the classes in person so I got to personally meet everyone going through the training, but now with the virtual opportunities, there are students going through the programs that will meet me somewhere and say “Hi. I took one of your classes online and really enjoyed it.” It’s cool knowing that GreenEducation.US is helping train the future generation by connecting them to those of us who have been around for a while. It’s also nice to know that a piece of us will remain to tell the stories of how zero waste gained momentum and the hurdles we went through.
On a personal note, I understand you pay it forward through a community garden you started that donates its bounty to local food banks. How did this come about?
Going back to that “can’t stay still” side of me, I founded a non-profit organization, Grow2Zero FARMS, back in 2020. This actually came out of a diagnosis of cancer in 2014 and trying to connect better health with a better environment. A fellow vet and former high school classmate was doing some urban farming and we dreamed of starting an organization that could embrace other aspects of sustainability, such as organic farming, local grown foods and composting. As we were just launching the farm, COVID hit. The farm is located in a particularly hard hit community and we decided to give all the food we grew away. And then we decided to incorporate rescued food into our donation strategy to add more food options. We started working with several cities, haulers, and businesses to identify those that had food to donate and that just sort of became a core part of what services we provide. It wasn’t planned, but it’s definitely one of the most rewarding parts of what we do! Each year we now donate almost 150,000 pounds of farm grown and rescued food.
In your opinion, why are communities around the country embracing the zero waste movement?
That’s a hard one. I do think that we have more of a legacy mindset. More and more we want to make decisions that will benefit future generations. We are also in a period of time when we can see the harmful impacts of bad decisions, bad designs and bad policies. I think we have also seen products and foods that impact our health negatively and zero waste has become more of a broader term that carries with it the expectation of building healthier communities. We have also raised up new generations that are demanding that sustainability and zero waste be mandated. That’s a very different viewpoint from my younger years when the term zero waste would return sour looks. It’s probably one of the most exciting changes I’ve seen over my lifetime.
What is a favorite suggestion that can help inspire others to make positive changes in their lives or communities?
My first recommendation is to join your local “Buy Nothing” group on Facebook. That is seriously one of the quickest ways to make a hyperlocal impact. I regularly donate or share items and meet some amazing people through my local group. The other favorite of mine is local gardening groups. We have some cool ones like backyard crop swap groups and organic gardening. And lastly, I love reading seed catalogs. I love to grow new crops and every time I plant seeds I get food/flowers, create an environment for pollinators, and get to enjoy watching what I planted grow into something. It’s very rewarding and helps to beautify our neighborhoods and communities and absorb the C02 as an added benefit!
MaryEllen Etienne is the creator of “Women in Circularity.” Etienne works on the Market Transformation and Development team for the U.S. Green Building Council. She has over 20 years of experience in sustainability and is a champion of the circular economy.