From l to r, representation from Alberta’s DAOs: Lyle Hoffman, AUOMA, Bob Barss, ARMA, Grant Cameron, APRA, Jim Brent, ABCRC
The Alberta Plastics Recycling Association celebrated its 25th Anniversary at its annual Golf Tournament and General Meeting on June 15 in Carstairs, AB. Special guests included representatives from Alberta’s DAOs, membership, board of directors and former staff.
A special announcement was made at the AGM about APRA’s Executive Director, Grant Cameron’s transition to retirement.
“It has been an honor to work with the board and volunteers who dedicate their time and energy to APRA,” remarked Grant. “I look back on a great nine years of building solid relationships and advancing plastics recycling in the province.”
From l to r, APRA’s 2015-16 Board of Directors: Jim Brent, Dave Schwass, JY Vanier, Darryl Wolski, Grant Cameron, John Reid, Bryan Sullivan, Krista Friesen, Kevin Kernaghan. Missing: Barry Friesen
Tammy Schwass, who has served for the past six years as the Communications Advisor for the organization and more recently shadowing Grant in the Executive Director position, was appointed as the Incoming Executive Director with the official transition set to take place on October 1, 2016.
“Grant leaves big shoes to fill with his knowledge of the industry and experience leading recycling in the province,” commented Tammy. “I look forward to taking the reins to continue to advance the recent projects APRA has been devoted to including agricultural plastics and commercial recycling initiatives as we strive to increase the reduction, reuse and recycling of plastics.”
Tammy Schwass Bio
Tammy has worked with clients in the recycling field for the past six years and is a professional communicator with over nine years’ experience in a variety of industries. As a communications generalist, she offers the expertise in communications to build strategies for the development of programs to increase plastics capture and recycling. She has excellent stakeholder engagement expertise to support members and report to the board of directors. Tammy has also spent her time in the industry working to build her network, industry knowledge and experience with partnering associations.
In her position as the Communications Advisor at Alberta Plastics Recycling Association, she collaborated to lead the organization’s 2015 strategic review from the initial SWOT analysis with key stakeholders, sessions with board members and wrote the final document. This was an important undertaking to advance the direction of the organization and unite board members and stakeholders.
Working in Communications Outreach at CleanFARMS she engaged stakeholders to ensure the CleanFARMS recycling program was running successfully. She conducted interviews, followed-up and responded to address participants’ concerns and wrote reports to provide an update on the program status. Through this contract Tammy explored the recycling challenges and opportunities in smaller communities, which is important as it provides a broad knowledge base to understand the industry in the province.