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Waste to Value: Energy & Sustainable Materials Management

Maryland is taking steps to reduce harmful emissions and looking at opportunities to turn waste to value. Sustainable waste management tied to emission reduction strategies is the focus of this session. The panel will explore best practices and innovative technologies to combat climate change and considerations that make waste to energy a viable tool, including source reduction, renewable sourcing, and waste prevention beyond traditional efforts to reduce, reuse, and recycle as a means to decarbonize. Is it possible to turn trash and underused materials to energy treasure with current and evolving technologies? 

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MODERATOR

Glass_charles

Dr. Charles Glass

Executive Director
Maryland Environmental Service (MES)

Director,
Maryland environmental Service

Dr. Charles Glass currently serves as the Executive Director of the Maryland Environmental Service (MES), after being unanimously confirmed by the Maryland State Senate on March 19, 2021. He was appointed as Acting Director and Chairman at MES by Governor Larry Hogan in June 2020.  He was reappointed by Governor Wes Moore on July 1, 2023. Previously he served as Deputy Secretary at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Prior to his role at DNR, Dr. Glass served as Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy Analysis and Planning and Director of Bicycle and Pedestrian Access at the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT).

Dr. Glass has over 30 years as a research and engineering professional in academia and the consulting engineering industries. Throughout his distinguished career, he has held important positions as a teacher, researcher, and consulting professional in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Dr. Glass is a trained Professional Environmental Engineer, with a doctorate that focused on the microbiological processes involved in wastewater treatment engineering. For 19 years he taught students how to design water and wastewater treatment plants, performed and published research on environmental engineering topics, and taught engineering economics to prepare young engineers to work in the industry.

He has sustained two successful long-term funding relationships involving the District Department of Transportation in Washington, DC, and the National Science Foundation. He has published numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, participated in a variety of widely attended conference proceedings, and is recognized nationally as an expert in stormwater management, green infrastructure, and wastewater treatment.

Dr. Glass joined the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) from Howard University, where he served on the faculty for seventeen years. For eight months in 2010, he spent time as an Environmental Engineer at the United States Environmental Protection Agency as the lead on a potential new regulation for the mitigation of sanitary sewer overflows.

He graduated from Montgomery Blair High School in 1989 and completed his undergraduate degree requirements in Civil Engineering in 1992 at The Johns Hopkins University. He completed his Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1994 and 1997, respectively.

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Anne Hairston-Strang

Dr. Anne Hairston-Strang

Acting State Forester
MD Department of Natural Resources

Acting State Forester,
MD DNR Forest Service

Dr. Anne Hairston-Strang is Acting State Forester for Maryland Department of Natural Resources Forest Service, where she has worked since 1997, starting as a forest hydrologist. She has an undergraduate degree in Forestry from Virginia Tech, Masters in Forest Soils from University of Minnesota, and Ph.D. in Forest Hydrology from Oregon State University. Recent recognition includes Forests for the Bay’s Chesapeake Forest Champion in 2019 and the Robert Hoener Service to Forestry Award from Society of American Foresters in 2022.

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Hamilton_Jill

Jill Hamilton

President
Sustainable Energy Strategies, Inc.

President,

Sustainable Energy Strategies, Inc.

Jill Hamilton is Founder and President of Sustainable Energy Strategies, Inc. (SESI). She has more than 30 years of consulting experience in the alternative transportations fuels industry. Over the past 26 years, Jill and her team have raised more than a billion dollars to expand the biofuels industry. She is a key consultant to Clean Fuels Alliance America and her team helps support the Clean Fuels Foundation. She is also a trusted advisor to the National Clean Cities Program and Chair of the Greater Washington Region Clean Cities Coalition. She will share some of her experience in the rapidly growing biofuels market.

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Kreloff_Shawn

Shawn Kreloff

Founder & CEO
Bioenergy Devco

Founder & CEO,
Bioenergy Devco

Mr. Kreloff is the Founder and CEO of Bioenergy Devco, a global pioneer and leader in the engineering and operations of anaerobic digestion facilities. Bioenergy Devco collaborates with businesses, communities, and governments to address the challenge of organic food waste at scale utilizing a natural anaerobic digestion process. This process generates clean, renewable energy and contributes to cleaner air, water, and healthy soils for communities. With the combination of twenty years of anaerobic digestion technology and expertise in financing, engineering, and management, Kreloff has introduced advanced, climate-mitigating anaerobic digestion solutions to North America. With a distinguished track record spanning 30 years, Kreloff has excelled in founding, investing in, and managing successful enterprises.

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Watts_Charles

Charles Watts

President
Clym Environmental Services, LLC

President,
Clym Environmental Services, LLC

Mr. Watts serves as President and Managing Member of Clym Environmental Services, LLC (Clym). With extensive experience in Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) consultancy, he has served in a variety of capacities including Radiation Safety Officer for governmental entities, Senior Safety Trainer for major pharmaceutical companies, Hazmat / Waste Manager for colleges and universities and Senior Project Manager for decommissioning of major facilities. Clym provides three primary lines of business: Safety Support, Waste Management and Decommissioning services for the life sciences, pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. For more than twenty years Mr. Watts has overseen Clym’s expansion and growth, including our comprehensive regulated medical waste (RMW) management service. As a client-focused organization with an entrepreneurial flair for innovation, Clym recognized the need to rethink the traditional medical waste management paradigm to meet our customers’ growing desire for more sustainably focused operations. Drawing on his decades of experience in creating and implementing effective EHS programs, Mr. Watts turned the company’s attention to crafting a sustainable RMW management service and is excited to share with you the lessons learned and groundbreaking findings of this journey.

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