Denver (September 5, 2024): Jill Hunsaker Ryan, executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, has appointed thirteen individuals to serve on the Colorado Circular Communities Enterprise Board. The board aims to help Colorado businesses, local governments, and communities efficiently use resources through recycling, composting, extending the use cycle of products, and shifting manufacturing processes to reduce waste.

The Colorado Circular Communities Enterprise aims to provide businesses, local governments, schools, higher education institutions, and other entities with the following services:

• Strategic design and implementation of projects that build the state’s circularity infrastructure.
• Support for public-private partnerships across multiple jurisdictions.
• Commission studies that inform local governments, businesses, and community members.
• No-cost technical assistance, education, and support for local circularity projects or initiatives.
• Support circularity projects ranging from product design, reuse, collection, processing, and end markets.
• Support circularity projects for various materials, such as municipal solid waste, construction and demolition materials, and organics.

“These appointments are the result of a robust recruitment process that sought collaborative thinkers with diverse expertise and perspectives in a quickly evolving field,” said Jill Hunsaker Ryan, CDPHE executive director. “The enterprise's services will help grow community and business involvement while cutting waste, saving resources, using less energy, and reducing methane emissions from organic waste.”
The new members include:

Commissioner Matt Scherr, Eagle County.

• Tyler Bandemer, City of Loveland Solid Waste Manager. 
• Steven Bruce, General Manager for Operations at Republic Services.
• Winn Cowman, Owner of Cowgirl Compost in Routt County.
• Jeff Engell, Colorado State University Western Region Specialist and Faculty out of Grand Junction.
• Scott “Hutch” Hutchings, Four Corners Governmental Affairs for Waste Management.
• Joshua Kirschner, Environmental Health and Safety Specialist for Valor Tactical in Grand Junction.
• Maggie Nichols, Vice President for Transportation and Logistics at Iron Woman Trucking.
• Jeannine Rustad, City of Aurora Director of Planning and Business Development.
• Sanjay Rajan, MAANUKA Consulting dba Konbit.One, ClimateResilient.Earth.
• Nina Waysdorf, Waste Diversion and Recycling Manager for the Solid Waste Management Division, City and County of Denver Department of Transportation and Infrastructure.
• Alex Wise, Executive Director for Community Enterprise Development Services in Aurora.

Rachel Roussel-Diamond, policy manager for CDPHE’s Division of Environmental Health and Sustainability, will represent the department on the board. 
For more information about the board and its members, visit the Colorado Circular Communities Enterprise website. The board's first meeting is scheduled for early October. 

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