Marialyce Pedersen

Marialyce Pedersen is a sustainable materials management & circular economy expert with deep experience (~30 years) in the quest for zero waste. She has served on the advisory board for the TRUE Zero Waste Certification system since inception in 2017 and helped design the TRUE Adviser test for GBCI. As Senior Policy Analyst at The Walt Disney Company for 16 years (2003-2019), Marialyce achieved success in establishing and implementing a wide range of environmental policies and standards (addressing sourcing and use of paper, wood, plastic bags, balloons and foodware), and championed a Zero Waste Goal. In 2011-2012, Marialyce worked as an adjunct community college professor, developing a 16-week curriculum and teaching a Zero Waste in Business course, funded a US Department of Labor Green Jobs grant. Prior to that, Marialyce led business environmental programs for the County of Ventura, including managing a CalRecycle green building grant in 2003 which resulted in a successfully permitted experimental straw bale building in Ojai, CA which survived recent wildfires. She is also the co-author of the bestselling paperback book, Backyard Composting (600,000 copies in print).