Zero Waste Humboldt is the only organization on California’s northwest corner that specializes solely on waste reduction solutions. Inspired by the Redwood Coast’s natural beauty and cultures, we educate the public, provide technical assistance and training, and advocate for sustainable materials management and Zero Waste policies. Our sense of urgency to conserve natural resources and fight climate change drives Zero Waste Humboldt to target all single use and wasteful products and packaging with proactive waste prevention strategies. Our public education campaigns create behavior change — not “green marketing happy talk.”

ZWH adopted the Zero Waste International Alliance 10 Zero Waste Business Principles as the foundation for its work in 2012. Our top priority is to implement proactive waste prevention strategies to reduce waste generated in the first place, and our work with materials reuse, recycling and composting methods follows. Recycling-based economic development in Humboldt is essential to our mission; helping local businesses to integrate recyclable materials into their production processes creates the Circular Economy.

Kelly Fortner, President, with degrees from HSU in Geology and Religious Studies, Kelly has a strong understanding of local geology and associated hazards as well as how religion plays a role in environmental concerns. She is the Student Support Coordinator in HSU’s Center for Community-based Learning, where she supports students’ academic internships, service-learning, and career preparedness. Kelly lives in McKinleyville, and is a graduate student in HSU’s Environment & Community Graduate Program. She researched U.S. cities’ plastic bag ordinances, the potential for a regional refillable beverage bottle system; and hosted the 2020 ZWH Movie Night Series.

Maggie Gainer has worked in Zero Waste and community based economic development at the national, state, and local level for more than 40 years. She founded Gainer & Associates, a community development and waste reduction consulting firm in 1985 and directed HSU’s Office for Economic & Community Development. A Bayside resident, she is committed to grassroots organizing and leadership development in the Zero Waste field.

Sophie Jones, Secretary, originally hails from Boise, Idaho but now calls Humboldt home.  She is a local real estate agent and serves on several association boards that assist with fundraising and education. She previously volunteered with Big Brothers Big Sisters and Keep Eureka Beautiful, among other local nonprofits.  Sophie is passionate about our local community, the outdoors, and loves being outside in her free time. She joined ZWH to decrease her environmental impact and encourage others to do the same.

Kate Lancaster, Ph.D., CPA, CPD, ISSP-SA. Kate recently retired as an associate professor from Humboldt State University, School of Business where she taught sustainable business and accounting at the undergraduate and graduate level.  She worked with students to help numerous businesses explore and measure their sustainability (environmental, social, and economic) footprint. Kate has served as a North Coast Cooperative board member and was actively involved in numerous HSU-related sustainability endeavors. She was a presenter in the 2021 ZW Business Webinar Series and developed the selection criteria for our annual Zero Heroes honorees. An Arcata resident, Kate and her husband incorporate permaculture principles as stewards of their urban farm.

Maya Martin, Treasurer, earned her Business Administration degree from HSU and has worked at Coast Central Credit Union for 6 years. She currently supervises a team of 8 staff. She has a strong background in financial services, budgeting, and general ledger balancing. She serves on the ZWH board because of her strong desire to give back to her community.

Krista Miller, Vice-President, is a life-long resident of Humboldt County. She has been a teacher in local schools, and active in the League of Women Voters, the Cooper Gulch Common Grounds, and the City of Eureka working group. She joined ZWH to further its mission and overcome the “consumptive disease” that has a grip on our daily lives. Krista has a personal passion for salvage and reuse of building and construction materials, urban farming and canning.

Ben Winker brings a variety of practical nonprofit management experience to the ZWH board. He is the Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program Manager for Area 1 Agency on Aging and serves on the McKinleyville Recreation Committee. Ben is an enthusiastic recycler who worked for several years at Arcata Community Recycling Center. He enjoys gardening at his home in McKinleyville, and river rafting and whitewater kayaking.

Kyra Skylark, ZWH’s Public Education Coordinator and Administrative Organizer, works with the ZWH Board to update its administrative systems and fundraising. She is restructuring the ZWH website to include a webpage to help Humboldt school districts, businesses and local government understand the new requirements of SB1383, manages social media, and is initiating the process for ZWH to produce a monthly podcast and television program.

Amy Whitlatch is the owner of Whitlatch Bookkeeping Service. Amy specializes in on-line QuickBooks bookkeeping for small businesses and nonprofits. ZWH board of directors contracts with Amy for its financial recordkeeping, nonprofit reporting, and full payroll services.

Humboldt State University Environmental Science & Management graduate program

Conducting research on food waste collection routing

Sam Shea is ZWH’s HSU Environmental Science and Management intern for Fall 2021. She is working on public outreach and education via: social media, graphics design, events planning, and producing the Fall Quarter 2021 eNewsletter.

Lisa Enge is ZWH’s Arcata Business Packaging Reuse Coordinator. Lisa began spearheading this pilot project to help Arcata’s downtown businesses just before the coronavirus. It will resume when business operations are back to normal. The project will reduce packaging waste with an on-line packaging exchange information service.