Lynn Leopold served as the former Recycling Specialist for the Tompkins County Solid Waste Management Division, providing outreach and education on reuse, waste reduction and recycling. Prior to that, she served as the Education Coordinator for 5 years for the City of Ithaca’s recycling program, Ithaca Recycles. She came to Ithaca in 1979 and in 1983 received a MS from Cornell University in Science and Environmental Education. She presently serves as a board member of Finger Lakes ReUse, Inc. and is a trustee of the Village of Lansing, and in 2011 was awarded the NYSAR3 Recycler of the Year – Lifetime Achievement Award.

“Reuse is the ultimate waste management tool and for me, it just follows that reuse–creative, adaptive or otherwise–is the most sensible way to manage our precious resources while rerouting wealth back into our community. Keeping useful goods in circulation goes way beyond just sensible resource management. It can provide meaningful work for many and get us off the buy, use up, and dispose treadmill to nowhere.”