By Elena Bagarozza
WOODBRIDGE, NJ – Valerie Montecalvo, President and Owner of Bayshore Recycling in Woodbridge Township, NJ, will serve as the 2013 – 2015 national Construction & Demolition Recycling Association’s (CDRA) first-ever woman president.
Formerly the Construction & Material Recycling Association (CMRA), Montecalvo was appointed by the general membership board as president for a two-year term in April, and she humbly accepted. For the next two years, Montecalvo will lead the CDRA with its rebranding, mission to promote recycling of construction and demolition (C&D) materials, organizational growth, national environmental legislation and education to the public.
“C&D recycling is now a growth industry all across the United States,” Montecalvo said. “As landfills continue to fill, new disposal facilities are not being established to keep up with the volume of materials being generated. Public consciousness is continuing to shift to “green business practices” and strategies like material recovery and recycling of C&D debris to advance sustainability goals. To say the least, it is a very exciting time for the [C&D recycling] industry!”
Coupled with the C&D industry’s growth and rebranded identity comes the need for a renewed and expanded focus on strategic planning. Montecalvo’s immediate plan is to target focus on goals to expand C&D recycling nationwide and to harness the tremendous energy the CMRA was already generating. Effectively managing membership growth will be key to the organization’s success in delivering expanded services, while mobilizing collective skills, knowledge and expertise to help influence policies affecting the industry.
Towards shaping national environmental policy, Montecalvo and her team plan to reconstitute a legislative and regulatory committee onto the current CDRA board of directors. This will help develop model legislation and rules, which will be shared with members to put advocacy for C&D recycling into action. Montecalvo is eager to follow in the CMRA’s immediate past president (and president of CPRC Group in Maine) John Adelman’s footsteps, where he lead the CMRA to achieve many accomplishments under his guidance and expertise.
“Beyond the exciting path our Board of Directors and past Presidents have set us on, being the first woman President of the CDRA has enormous meaning to me and further demonstrates the growth and diversity of our industry,” Montecalvo explained. “I have been blessed with an extraordinary career in contracting and material recycling. Working in partnership with my husband Frank, we have taken a “mom and pop” operation with a single truck performing utility contracting work, to operating the largest and most diversified recycling company in the State of New Jersey, processing as much as 10,000 tons per day of material through seven distinct operations.”
The CDRA’s full executive committee will consist of Jason Haus, CEO of Dem-Con, Shakopee in Minn., as Vice President; Patti Hamilton, Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Sun Recycling in Lantana, Fla., as Secretary/Treasurer; at-large member Mike Dinneen, Vice President of Operations at Agg Rok Materials Co. in Grove City, Ohio and current Executive Director, Bill Turley who also manages the day-to-day work of the CDRA out of Chicago, Ill.
