Innovations in Waste Management and Sustainability with Heather Johnson

<p><strong>Connect with Heather: </strong></p><p><strong>Website: </strong>www.pureingenium.com</p><p><strong>Lisa Ryan:</strong>&nbsp;Hey, it's Lisa Ryan. Welcome to the Manufacturers Network podcast. I'm excited to introduce our guest today, Heather Johnson. Heather is the CEO of Ingenium and has over 25 years of experience in hazardous waste management. Her innovative sustainability and waste management approach has positioned Ingenium as an industry leader in waste-to-energy programs and zero-waste initiatives.</p><p><strong>Lisa Ryan:</strong>&nbsp;Heather, welcome to the show.</p><p><strong>Heather Johnson:</strong>&nbsp;Thank you, Lisa. I'm excited to be here today.</p><p><strong>Lisa Ryan:</strong>&nbsp;Share a little bit about your background and what led you to do what you're doing.</p><p><strong>Heather Johnson:</strong>&nbsp;You named it over 25 years of experience. Back in my college days, I was answering phones in this industry. Along the way, I started doing some marketing and sales and ultimately ended up 27 years in the industry. I never look back on anything, finding anything in this and carrying it forward.</p><p><strong>Lisa Ryan:</strong>&nbsp;Yeah. Right now, many companies are aspiring to achieve a zero-waste status. What are some of the steps and strategies businesses can take to embark on this journey?</p><p><strong>Heather Johnson:</strong>&nbsp;So zero waste is a journey, as you mentioned, and there are several steps. The first step for a business is to determine that they want to move forward. And in that, the first step is looking at what they're generating in terms of waste, what's going into the trash cans at the cubicle level, what's going into the trash cans in their kitchens or cafeterias throughout the facilities that all end up in a dumpster typically and where we start is at the dumpster level.</p><p>For lack of a better term, we call it a dumpster dive, but dig in the trash and look at what are these guys producing that might have some value and be removed from the waste worl