Wayne Rifer

Wayne Rifer is an expert in solid waste management, zero waste, and product stewardship at the Zero Waste Alliance.  Wayne works on an ad hoc basis, chiefly with public agencies such as the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality Green Permit Program to find innovative intersections between regulation and sustainability.

Wayne provides key subject matter expertise on product stewardship and waste management issues. He previously facilitated public agency and private participation through the Western Electronic Product Stewardship Initiative (WEPSI), a subset of the National Electronic Product Stewardship Initiative, of which he is a member. He is the Project Manager for the Zero Waste Alliance’s Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) project, a multi-stakeholder dialogue to design a product stewardship program for electronics equipment.  He is also a member of the NEPSI (National Electronic Product Stewardship Initiative (NEPSI) national negotiating team organized by EPA that is working with the electronics industry and other interests to develop a product stewardship agreement.

As a Senior Fellow at Portland State University, Mr. Rifer developed an education and research program in Industrial Ecology as a joint offering of Environmental Sciences and the School of Business Administration.  He received an AT&T Industrial Ecology Fellowship to develop one course on the Principles of Industrial Ecology and a second course on Metrics and Measures for Sustainable Business.  These courses are being integrated into a new sustainability tract at Portland State. 

The Zero Waste Alliance is a national leader providing assistance to industry sectors and organizations for development and implementation of standards, tools and practices that lead to a more sustainable future through the reduction and elimination of waste and toxics.  They help organizations implement sustainable solutions and standards to realize a more sustainable future.

They collaborate with universities, government, businesses and other organizations working to develop, promote and apply zero waste and sustainability strategies for the benefit of current and future generations. They work to provide improved profitability, competitiveness and environmental performance through the development and implementation of practices that lead to the reduction and elimination of waste and toxics.