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Tribal Waste Management Webinars

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Developing Small-Scale Transfer Stations on Tribal Lands

EPA offered free online training courses on November 12 and 19 and December 3 and 10 from 12:00- 2:00 pm Eastern (9:00 am- 11:00 Pacific).

This free online training course was designed to teach others how to develop or improve a transfer station or community convenience area/drop-off site serving smaller populations to meet the considerations and needs of your community. Environmental program staff, public utilities staff and tribal leadership are encouraged to register.

Each session built on content from those prior, but participants were also invited to join the session most relevant to their current circumstance.

  • Session 1- November 12, 2020: Introduces transfer station fundamentals, siting and needs considerations
  • Session 2- November 19, 2020: Explores design factors, hauling considerations, and site layouts from real-life examples
  • Session 3- December 3, 2020: Focuses on design specifics, ancillary facilities, vehicles and equipment, capital costs, funding sources
  • Session 4- December 10, 2020: Addresses operational challenges such as costs, waste handling issues, site security, emergencies, and illegal dumping

Instructor: Larry Sweetser, with over 30 years of experience resolving solid and household hazardous waste program issues and specializing in assisting California rural counties.

Questions: Contract Deirdre Nurre at Nurre.Deirdre@epa.gov

This training series is organized by EPA Regions 9 & 10, with the support of Booz Allen Hamilton.

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Community-Based Social Marketing for Tribal Environmental Professionals

EPA offered a free webinar series this past fall:

  • September 29 (Introductory webinar), 1:00-2:30 pm EST (10am – 11:30am PST)
  • November 3 (training workshop), 1:00-3:30 pm EST (10am – 12:30am PST)
  • November 10 (Training workshop). 1:00-3:30 pm EST (10am – 12:30am PST)

For those that feel like their outreach efforts just aren’t working, this webinar explored a new marketing approach and how to develop communication strategies to engage people in adopting sustainable behaviors.

An introductory session was held on Tuesday, September 29 on why to take a community-based social marketing (CBSM) approach to spark positive behavior change in your community. Participants gained an understanding of what CBSM is and why to use it. During this session, participants heard from Tribal environmental professionals from Pala Band of Mission Indians and Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa who have used CBSM to increase recycling.

Then on November 3 and 10, EPA hosted a two-part workshop to learn about using the CBSM 5-steps model to engage a group of people to change behavior by creating motivation and removing barriers.

  • Tuesday, September 29 - Introductory Webinar: Introduction to Community-Based Social Marketing. 
  • Tuesday, November 3 - Training Workshop: Community-Based Social Marketing, Steps 1, 2, 3. 
    • Step 1. Selecting Community Behaviors to Promote in a CBSM Pilot Plan
    • Step 2. Identifying and Addressing Behaviors and Barriers
    • Step 3. Designing a CBSM Strategy to Overcome Barriers
  • Tuesday, November 10 - Training Workshop: Community-Based Social Marketing, Steps 4 & 5.
    • Step 4. Developing a CBSM Project and Implementation Plan
    • Step 5. Considerations for Evaluating Success

 Instructor: Brenna Thorpe, Booz Allen Hamilton

Brenna has nearly a decade of experience supporting behavior change and social marketing campaigns on environmental topics such as increasing recycling and reducing energy and water consumption. She brings experience with all 5 steps of Community-Based Social Marketing – she has conducted extensive research, developed messages and pilot program strategies, and evaluated the success of campaigns in various settings including within tribal communities. She was also the lead author on comprehensive guidance to aid tribes in executing an environmental CBSM campaign. Brenna has presented twice at the international Behavior, Energy, and Climate Change (BECC) Conference, has a Level 4 Social Marketing Certificate from the National Social Marketing Centre, and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

This training series was funded by EPA Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery and organized by EPA Regions 9 and 10, with the support of Booz Allen Hamilton.

Questions: Contact Angel Ip, ip.angel@epa.gov or Jenny Stephenson, stephenson.jenny@epa.gov

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Starting Community Composting Programs on Tribal Lands

For those looking for solutions on how to manage organic materials on their lands, return nutrients to the soil and reduce landfilling, EPA hosted a series of three webinars to learn how to compost, identify community composting practices and chart a path towards developing a community composting program.

  • Session 1. Compost: what it is, its benefits, and how to do it. Watch a Recording of this Webinar Exit
  • Session 2. Identifying composting methods for your community. 
  • Session 3. Planning your community composting program. 

Instructor: Steven Sherman is a leader in organic materials waste reduction and management. He has provided organics program planning, implementation, and evaluation services nationwide and enjoys helping people to collaboratively identify roles and responsibilities and uncover underused assets or potential linkages within communities.

This training series was organized by EPA Regions 9 & 10, with the support of Booz Allen Hamilton.

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