UCI Sustainable Food-Systems Speaker Series Part 2: Food Waste

Date: Tuesday, February 2
Time: 5pm-7pm
Location: Pacific Ballroom C in the UCI Student Center

Come learn what happens with food waste from UCI as it travels from campus to local waste transfer stations and finally to local water and sanitation districts for processing. Our speakers include Anne Krieghoff from UCI Facilities Management, Tom Koutroulis from Waste Management and Mark McDannel from the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, who will talk about what happens at each step along the journey.

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Our speakers include:

Anne Krieghoff: Anne Krieghoff, the Program Manager for the University of California, Irvine Recycling Department is an alumni of UCI. She has worked on campus for 7 years managing the Recycling Department. In addition, she mentors 12 students annually in the Internship program and advises 3 campus sustainability clubs. Anne’s passion for keeping UCI a leader on the sustainability forefront has resulted in a campus diversion rate of 83%. Anne has won many personal and professional awards in her career and was recently awarded the Mentor of the Year award, the Goodwill Community Partners Award and the CRRA Zero Waste Achievement Award.

Tom Koutroulis: Tom Koutroulis has over 25 years’ experience in the waste and recycling industry. For the past 12 years, Tom has worked at Waste Management of Orange County as a District Manager overseeing operations, developing and building a state of art recycling center, creating customized recycling programs, managing municipal contracts, strategic planning and community relations. During his professional career, Tom obtained his Bachelor’s degree from University of California, Irvine and a MBA in Technology Management and Implementation from the University of Phoenix. In 2007, Tom led the research and development team in a search for food waste recycling solution, now called the Centralized Organics Recycling equipment (CORe). The CORe opened in 2010 for expanded production and since, accepted as an urban solution across the nation for Waste Management. Tom continues to leverage technological advances to enhance the waste and recycling industry.

Mark McDannel: Mark McDannel is a Supervising Engineer in the Energy Recovery Engineering Section at the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, where his group is responsible for developing and operating renewable power plants from the Districts biogas resources, buying and selling power, and implementing the Districts energy efficiency management program. His section is taking the lead for the Districts in evaluating and testing food waste recycling technologies.

Prior to joining the Sanitation Districts, Mr. McDannel spent 21 years in air quality and combustion consulting serving the energy industry. He holds a B.S. in Biological Sciences and an M.S. in Environmental and Mechanical Engineering from UC Irvine. He is a licensed Mechanical Engineer in California and a Board Certified Environmental Engineer.