Ruth Abbe

Bio/Background

Ruth Abbe, president of Zero Waste USA, has more than 25 years of experience working with municipalities across the U.S. to develop the social and physical infrastructure to achieve Zero Waste. In her home city of Alameda, CA, she is a grassroots leader with Community Action for a Sustainable Alameda. Abbe has also assisted in the development of the U.S. EPA’s online planning tool Managing and Transforming Waste Streams, identifying over 100 policies and programs to reduce the amount of waste disposed in landfills and promote waste prevention and materials reuse across waste generation sectors.

“Storytelling is absolutely the best way of persuasion and engagement with people… Stories really resonate and a great story can really change people's attitudes.”