Heidi Sanborn is an independent consultant providing product stewardship/Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and integrated waste planning services and solutions to public, non-profit, and private sector clients. Her strong skills at bringing partners and stakeholders together in a collaborative process have lead to successful project development and implementation at the local, state, and national level. Located in Sacramento, California, Heidi has most recently been instrumental in the design and development of product stewardship strategies for individual jurisdictions, states, and organizations throughout the United States.

Biographical Sketch

As of July 1, 2010, Heidi Sanborn transitioned from independent consultant to a full time employee of the California Product Stewardship Council (CPSC) as Executive Director.

Ms. Sanborn previously contracted with the Product Policy Institute as the National Outreach Director to facilitate the start of new Product Stewardship Councils around the country. Prior to working for CPSC, she was a Senior Manager at R3 Consulting Group Inc. in Sacramento California, where she was the primary author of two groundbreaking documents: The Sonoma Extended Producer Responsibility Implementation Plan (2/07) and the Contractor’s report to the CIWMB titled “Framework for Evaluating End-of-Life Product Management Systems in California” (7/07). Her work history includes projects such as designing household battery curbside collection program that is transitional to EPR as well as sharps and universal waste collection strategies.

In 2000, while working as Technical Advisor to the California Integrated Waste Management Board Chair Linda Moulton-Patterson, she became increasingly interested in Product Stewardship. Ms. Sanborn later worked as an independent consultant to the Product Stewardship Institute, a national non-profit organization, to assist in facilitation of the Paint Product Stewardship Initiative. In the fall of 2006, Ms. Sanborn went on to work with R3 Consulting Group where she worked on projects for jurisdictions while expanding her interest, involvement and expertise with product stewardship. Ms. Sanborn received her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science – Public Service, in 1992 from University of California at Davis and a Master’s of Public Administration from the University of Southern California in 2004.

Mission

Heidi’s mission is to help state and local governments and organizations reduce the public costs and environmental and public health problems caused by municipal solid waste through development and implementation of product stewardship, waste reduction, and recycling policies.