Shannon Bergstrom - Sustainability Operations Manager, RTS

Shannon Bergstrom is a LEED-accredited, TRUE waste advisor. She currently works at RTS, a tech-driven waste and recycling management company, as a sustainability operations manager. Shannon consults with clients across the hotel industry on sustainable waste practices.

Shannon joins Sustainable Nation to discuss:

• Strategies for implementing zero waste management

• Engaging with suppliers to reduce waste

• Addressing organic waste streams

• TRUE Zero Waste Advisor certification program

• Advice and recommendations for sustainability leaders

Shannon's Final Five Questions:

What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers?

Yeah, think it's really important as a sustainability professional to work for company where you really believe in the value and the vision of the company whatever that may be. For me, it was finding solutions for removing waste and kind of cleaning up the oceans from plastic waste. I think my company RTS as a company is really committed to finding solutions in order to reduce waste and clean up our planet and make our planet a better place. So that was really important for me. I would suggest anybody who's looking to get into the sustainability field, find something that you're really passionate about, whether that's waste or whether that's fashion or you know, buildings and energy find something that you love and get behind a company that's committed to, to being more sustainable in whatever field it is.

What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability?

I'm really excited right now that sustainability has become as big of a topic as it has. I think probably, you know, five, 10 years ago, it's not something that a lot of businesses were focusing on or really cared about or really even understood. I think now it's just being pushed as part of legislation and consumers are really demanding more sustainable products or sustainable practices and it shows and, you know, in what they're choosing to purchase or where they're choosing to shop. So I think businesses are really reacting to that. And I think that's incredible, because I think they have so much power in changing the game and making our world a better place, a more sustainable place. It's through actions of consumers, like, you know, you and me.

What is one book you would recommend sustainability professionals read?

One book? I read Omnivore's Dilemma. When I was in college, I think it was really valuable to kind of understand how where your food is coming from. It kind of inspired me to become a vegetarian just learning about the meat industry and how it kind of impacts the environment in a negative way. And that kind of shaped some of my habits so I would definitely recommend that one.

What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work?

Favorite resources and tools? One of the big ones I would say that is not so exciting, but the EPA WARM model is something that we use. I think a lot of professionals in the waste industry use this as kind of a tool for waste reporting. It's kind of like an industry standard as to the weights of different material streams to help kind of create diversion reports for some of our clients. So definitely check out the WARM model as one of them. I guess just one more is just look at a B Corp that you know of that are in your markets and try and shop with those B Corps and support them.

Where can people go to learn more about you and the work being done at RTS?

So definitely we started working on as a team, as a sustainability team, working on podcasts, webinars and blog posts covering a wide range of sustainability topics that you can find through our website, rts.com and go to our resources page. And there, you can find our on demand webinars and blog posts. Definitely take a look at what you're interested in and stay informed.