EARTH CIRCLE CONSERVATION AND RECYCLING is an independent consulting firm specializing in strategic planning, implementation, and promotion of recycling programs and enterprises for government, business, and non-profit clients.Earth Circle’s mission is to engage individuals and organizations at home, work, and school in cutting edge, yet practical steps to safeguard the environment, conserve resources and energy, and combat global warming, while at the same time fostering new jobs and enterprises in a Zero Waste, healthy future. In all of our work, Earth Circle is guided by E.F. Schumacher’s philosophy of Buddhist Economics, that is, appropriate technology and economics as if the people…and the planet…matter.

 Ms. Gretchen Brewer, principal, has over 25 years leadership experience in recycling, including award-winning recycling and Buy Recycled plans for government and the military; creation of recycling strategies for several major industries; and 10 years in specialized development of recovery systems for waste plastics, used tires, mixed wastepaper, scrap wood, glass, and other difficult materials.  She has extensively researched recycling innovations in Europe and the US, and facilitated transfer of new technologies and end-use products to foster a recycling industry in North America.  She helped a recycled glass tile manufacturer in CA with a major plant expansion; was instrumental in launching the first US plant making 100% post-consumer plastic trash bags; and has invented several successful recycled content products.

 Ms. Brewer is the author of two books, numerous articles, and several manuals on recycling.  She is a popular speaker and workshop organizer at regional and national recycling conferences.  First trained as a teacher, she has used this know-how to conduct staff development, workshops, lectures, and public awareness campaigns targeting diverse audiences--school children, inner-city residents, graduate students, recycling professionals, government officials, and corporate executives.  Eco Emballage used her Guide to Recycling Communications handbook and library for the national recycling rollout in France.

For her pioneering efforts she has received commendations from former President Ronald Reagan, the late Mayor Harold Washington of Chicago, other government leaders, and various state recycling organizations.  The National Recycling Coalition ranked Ms. Brewer among the twenty leading recycling innovators in the US, and Grinnell College honored her with an Alumni Award for Extraordinary Professional and Community Service in 2006. 

Working with selected associates from the top ranks of North American recycling professionals, Ms. Brewer offers clients think tank and advanced information services for planning, publicizing, and implementing comprehensive “soup to nuts” strategies spanning public awareness, pollution prevention, collection, processing, and reuse all the way to manufacture and sale of new recycled products.

If you would like to:

• Zero Waste your business, school, or home (and save money)
• Simplify your life by getting rid of extra stuff (living more with less)
• Understand how to identify and recycle plastics or other complex materials
• Or just talk through an idea…

Get in touch!And please watch this site for good resources—Powerpoints, guides, manuals, articles, blogs, and favorite links will be posted soon.