The New York Product Stewardship Council works to implement the principles of product stewardship in New York State and nationally.
Dawn Timm
Chair
Resa A. Dimino
Treasurer, RRS
Kenneth Armellino
Secretary
Todd Ellis
Member
Dawn Timm
Dawn Timm is the Director of the Division Environmental/Solid Waste Management in Niagara County, Chairman of the New York State Product Stewardship Council and member of the New York State Association of Counties Climate Committee. Dawn possesses a master’s degree in Environmental Science, Policy, and Resource Management from the University of Wisconsin and an undergraduate degree in Environmental Earth Science. Dawn is active in representing local governments on specific environmental and solid waste management policy in New York. For Niagara County, she is responsible for developing, coordinating and implementing various sustainability, solid waste and recycling programs and advocates for extended producer responsibility policy. Dawn has embarked on ambitious projects and policy throughout her 20-year career, and looks forward to fostering Packaging Stewardship policy in New York.
Resa A. Dimino
Kenneth Armellino
Since March of 2022 Kenneth Armellino has served as Director – Permitting and is responsible for overseeing and tracking multiple major multi-media permitting initiatives within Reworld’s 90+ resource recovery and material processing facilities, as well as providing general support to the Sustainability and Environmental groups. His expertise includes navigation of rapidly evolving issues such as Environmental Justice and Climate Change. Prior to this position Kenneth was responsible for implementing Reworld’s initiatives related to sustainability and community outreach. Areas of responsibility included toxicity reductions in the waste stream and in facility emissions, community outreach,
Kenneth is a licensed Professional Engineer in New York, and has a Bachelor of Science Degree from Saint John’s University in Physical Science and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from Polytechnic University.
Prior to April 2008, Kenneth was Regional Environmental Manager, responsible for the environmental compliance eight of Reworld’s New York and New Jersey facilities. Other responsibilities included participation in due diligence activities in the region, as well as assist in facility programs aimed at outreach. He has been in the EfW and solid waste industry in various environmental roles since 1989 working for American Ref-Fuel and then Covanta Energy.
Todd Ellis
Todd Ellis is the Managing Director of Services & Solutions for Call2Recycle, the leading battery stewardship, logistics, and recycling program. With more than 25 years of recycling and sustainability experience, Todd leads Call2Recycle’s Services & Solutions Team to optimize battery collections and deliver safe recycling solutions to program participants across the U.S. Todd also serves as a valued resource for battery legislation and other compliance issues essential to product stewardship.
Prior to joining Call2Recycle, Todd worked as a recycling planner for the State of New Hampshire, assistant director for the Northeast Resource Recovery Association and was vice president of Operations for Sprint Recycling, Inc. Todd is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire with a Bachelor of Science in Resource Economics.
Ed Gottlieb
Member
Kate Kitchener
Member
Kristen Lawton
Member
Kat McCarthy
Member
Ed Gottlieb
Industrial Pretreatment Coordinator / Senior Operator (4A)
Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility
Chair, Tompkins County Coalition for Safe Medication Disposal
Board Member, New York Product Stewardship Council
Member, NACWA Pretreatment Committee
Member, NYWEA Pretreatment/Industrial Wastewater Committee
Kate Kitchener
Kate Kitchener began her work in waste prevention by implementing waste reduction plans and testing alternative packaging options in the private sector. Seeing the success of these programs inspired her to realize similar policies on a larger scale, acquiring a Master’s Degree in Energy and Environmental Policy from the University of Delaware. In her current position as Director of the Bureau of Recycling and Sustainability at the New York City Department of Sanitation, Kate oversees programs to divert textiles, electronics, organics, and harmful household products. In addition, Kate has a strong focus on waste research and policy working to develop the ideal strategies for managing a changing waste stream.
Kristen Lawton
Kristen Lawton serves as the Director of Recycling & Reduction at the Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency (OCRRA) in Syracuse, NY. Lawton oversees Onondaga County’s award-winning recycling and resource management program. She manages a team of professionals in a variety of environmental efforts including recycling education, compost site operations / food scrap reduction, household hazardous waste collection, battery management and other sustainable endeavors.
Lawton has eighteen years of experience in the sustainable materials management field having also served as OCRRA’s public information officer and recycling specialist, where she advanced OCRRA’s environmental philosophy, goals, and programs within the community through outreach, public relations, marketing, social media, email communications, website management, and quarterly newsletter publication.
Lawton holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Smith College and a Master’s degree in Print & Graphic Media Science from the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Lawton was recognized as a Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) Unsung Hero; received Waste and Recycling News’ Rosie Award and Greening USA’s Community Advocacy Award for her Earth Day Litter Cleanup organizational efforts and excellence in quarterly newsletter production. Under her guidance, OCRRA’s interactive School Education Video Series received SWANA’s Gold Excellence Award for top education program; the Interactive Media Council bestowed the Outstanding Achievement Award on OCRRA for the same school education series, and OCRRA’s Marketing Program received SWANA’s Silver Marketing Excellence Award.
Kat McCarthy
Kat McCarthy is a Waste Reduction and Recycling Coordinator for Tompkins County Recycling and Materials Management and has over 15 years of experience with sustainable materials management. In her current role, she focuses on strategies to promote waste reduction and reuse throughout the community, highlighting food waste prevention and community composting, green purchasing, and business recycling opportunities. Kat holds a BA in Environmental Studies from Ithaca College and an MBA in Sustainability from Green Mountain College.
Luann Meyer
Member
Charlie Porter
Member
Andrew Radin
Member
Melissa-Jean Rotini
Member
Luann Meyer
Luann Meyer is an Associate with Barton & Loguidice with more than 20 years of experience in the materials management industry with a key emphasis on planning and permitting projects. Luann is the current President of the NY Chapter of the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) and Conference Vice-Chair of the New York Federation of Solid Waste and Recycling Associations Conference.
Charlie Porter
Charlie is the VP of Sustainability and Circular Sales at GreenSheen Paint. He started his career as a Technical Engineer at the Love Canal cleanup project in Niagara Fall, NY and has worked in the hazardous waste industry for more than twenty years. The past ten years his focus has been on commercial product stewardship services and “end of life” solutions for material recovery. He has worked with several manufacturers in the industrial, health care and consumer products industry and has expertise managing EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) programs. He is the co-founder of Mail Back Solutions and Circular.eco, which are platforms focused on educating consumers and business partners on best practices for sustainable materials management. Charlie is a past board member with the AWMA and sits on the REUSE committee for NYSAR3. He has B.S. in Industrial Technology from the State University of New York College at Buffalo and an MBA from Canisius College.
Andrew Radin
Melissa-Jean Rotini
Melissa-Jean Rotini, Esq. is the Assistant Commissioner in the County of Westchester’s Department of Environmental Facilities (DEF), with responsibilities for Refuse Disposal District #1, the County’s Refuse and Recycling Division, and compliance concerns arising in the Wastewater & Water Division. Since joining DEF, Melissa has worked to develop new initiatives, including the Source Separation Law electronic inspection system, the Residential Food Scrap Transportation and Disposal (RFSTAD) Program, the Compost and Education Facility (CompostED), and, in collaboration with the Department of Emergency Services, the Lithium-Ion Battery Safety Program.
Prior to her role at DEF, Melissa was a practicing attorney who represented first responders and widows in the September 11th Victim’s Compensation Fund and as member of the Plaintiff’s Liaison Counsel team in the subsequent federal lawsuit. She then transitioned into municipal law, serving as outside counsel to municipalities throughout the Hudson Valley before joining the County in 2008, where she served as Senior Assistant County Attorney handling a varied and complex caseload, including the County’s environmental law matters.
Kate Walker
Member
Kate Walker
Kate is an active board member for the New York State Association for Reduction, Reuse and Recycling as well as the New York State Product Stewardship Council. In addition to her full-time work to advance sustainable materials management in New York State, Kate is proud to serve as the President for the Rochester Ecology Partners Board in Rochester, NY.
Prior to joining ESF, Kate led a statewide Outreach and Education program for the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where she managed project funding to over 100 organizations and municipalities across the state. Kate has developed an extensive network of regional and statewide stakeholders, including government, industry, community, academic, non-profit, and health and environmental organizations to advance sustainable materials management and pollution prevention policies.
Kate lives in Irondequoit, NY and is active in her community as an appointed member of the Monroe County Climate Action Planning Committee. In her spare time, you can find Kate hiking, walking her puppy, or at the Rochester Public Market with her daughters Tessa and Keelyn.