August Monthly Meeting of the Pisgah Group of the North Carolina Sierra Club: The Economic Impacts of Recycling Is Focus of Sierra Club Talk “What started as an environmental movement 25 years ago is now an economic driver in Western North Carolina,” according to Will Sagar, who will be speaking at the Thursday, August 22, meeting of the Pisgah group of the Sierra Club in Brevard. Sagar is executive director of the Southeast Recycling Development Council. He will give an overview of the council’s work throughout the Southeast with a specific focus on the economic impacts of the recycling industry. The council’s mission is to unite industry, government, and nongovernmental organizations to promote sustainable recycling in the Southeast. Recently, the council completed a study of the regional economic impacts caused by the demand for recycled feedstock by manufacturers that produce consumer goods, such as plastic and glass bottles, aluminum cans, carpet, newspaper, and other paper packaging. Sagar will cover the value chain of materials in the recycling lifecycle and identify specific market dysfunctions, such as the role of the municipality in the value chain. Also, he will provide an overview of recent legislative activity on recycling. Sagar graduated from the University of North Carolina with a double major in economics and mathematics. After building an excavation business in Brevard and operating it for a decade, he became the solid waste director for Transylvania County, NC, and served for 16 years. During that time, he started the county’s recycling program, built the first lined landfill in Western North Carolina, and implemented a Pay As You Throw program. The program resulted in a doubling of recycling in the county. He also established a permanent program for household hazardous waste collection and started an electronics recycling program. Later, with Henderson County, he started electronics collection and created a county energy accounting system. Sagar is the immediate past president of the board of directors of the Carolina Recycling Association. The association’s mission is to conserve resources by advancing recycling and waste reduction throughout the Carolinas. He also chaired the board of The Free Clinic of Transylvania County, which served the medical needs of the uninsured. Sagar’s colleague, Elizabeth Jackson, will assist in the presentation. She is on the executive committee of the Pisgah Group of the Sierra Club and serves as the group’s outings chair. She is a graduate of Brevard College and received her Masters in Environmental Management from the Nicholas School at Duke University. The meeting will be held at the Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship Church on South Broad Street at Varsity Street, one block south of the library in Brevard. There will be light refreshments with socializing at 7 p.m. The meeting starts at 7:30. Non-members are welcome; Sierra Club meetings are open to all. For more information, call 877-4070.
Posted on: Wed, 14 Aug 2013 16:50:33 +0000
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