Paul Ligon

Paul entered the World of Waste (WOW) in the late eighties when he attended the University of Vermont's Environmental Program. In 1989 he landed an internship with the RI Resource Recovery Corporation, which was implementing the first statewide curbside recycling program in the US. During this internship he realized just how much waste and recycling could affect every individual, business, and societal level, and he wanted to use what he learned to address a series of environmental issues.

Paul landed his first "real job" with the Tellus Institute, where he got paid to analyze the environmental impacts of packaging and to tour the world working on sustainable alternatives to disposal. Over the last few years he’s worked with Waste Management, the nation's largest residential recycler, on building new businesses focused on converting waste to resources. In 2009 he helped launch the GreenOps, LCC with a “phenomenal group of partners and colleagues,” and he currently serve as GreenOps’ managing director.

Paul and his wife have 3 kids, so they tend to be very mindful about how and what they consume. They try to put a "resource efficiency" filter on this, and this helps the family to consume less. He’s happy to have a curbside recycling system in his neighborhood (which makes recycling easy), and he enjoys talking with students at all levels about the topic of waste-to-resources. He says, “I find that it forces me to abandon industry jargon, and I always walk away inspired and feel like I've learned more from the students, whether they’re in kindergarten or have PhDs.”