Dr. Ali Abedini, Ph.D, P.Eng.
Manager of Landfill Operations (MOLO) & Principles of Landfill Gas Management
Ali Abedini
Dr. Ali Abedini is the President and Chief Engineer at Methane Expert Engineering Ltd., and a senior advisor at Sperling Hansen Associates. With over two decades of experience, he is a distinguished expert in Landfill Gas engineering and solid waste management. Renowned in his field, Dr. Abedini also contributes as a faculty member at SWANA BC and is an active technical member of the International Waste Working Group (IWWG) in the Methane Abatement Technical Working Group. He also serves as a technical advisor to Environment Canada and Climate Change (ECCC) and works with the World Bank Group as a technical consultant, supporting solid waste management projects in over 20 developing countries.
Dr. Abedini’s specialized knowledge in Landfill Gas engineering has led to significant innovations, including the development of the UBC Integrated Landfill Gas Generation Model (UBCiModel©) and the pioneering Surface Scan Fugitive Emission Quantification Technique (SSEQT), patented in both Canada and the USA. These contributions have established him as a leader in his field, dedicated to advancing sustainable practices in landfill gas management and solid waste management.
Lynn Belanger
Lynn Belanger is the Manager of Transfer and Landfill Operations for the City of Vancouver. She has 20 years’ experience, mainly with municipal government, and some with regional, provincial and federal governments. Lynn is responsible for the efficient operation of the City’s 135,000 tonne-per-year transfer station and the Vancouver Landfill which serves approximately 70% of the Metro Vancouver region. She is a member of SWANA’s training committee and an active certified instructor. In her free time, she is a mom to three sons, aged 20, 12, and 9.
Tal Bogdonov
Tal is an environmental engineer in training with nearly 4 years of experience in the solid waste industry. Working at the Vancouver Landfill, he has assisted in managing environmental protection systems, delivered Landfill infrastructure improvement projects, and introduced new diversion programs at the City of Vancouver’s Zero Waste Centres. In his free time, Tal enjoys playing music, cooking, and skiing.
Alex Bursac
Alex Bursac has been involved in the Environmental field since 1996 and is currently with the City of Kamloops where he is the Environmental Services Coordinator. He has been involved with the City’s three landfills and composting site for the last 15 years and currently oversees the day-to-day operation of the city’s landfills. Alex is an active member of the Coast Waste Management Association Landfill Gas Field & Flare Operators Working Group as well as the Landfill Operators Group. Alex has been MOLO certified since 2017 and been an instructor for Landfill Operations Basics (LOB) the last three years.
Calvin Jameson
Calvin Jameson is from Lil’wat Nation (Mount Currie) but originally hails from the Vernon, BC area. Calvin is President of the Indigenous Zero Waste Technical Advisory Group (IZWTAG) and the first Indigenous Zero Waste Operations trainer.
When he’s not in the office or in the field, he and his wife Jaclyn are parents to 3 boys and 3 foster daughters. He’s a part time coach to 2 of his boys’ ice hockey teams in Whistler (WMHA). His goal is to use his skills, knowledge and experience to improve the water and solid waste systems for all nations.
Kevin Johnstone
I am the Environmental, Health and Safety Supervisor at Ecowaste, a DLC landfill. I have eight years landfill experience, mostly in environmental management, and only more recently in safety. I have been a member of SWANA since 2014 and have served in various roles including YP head. In my day to day, I am responsible for the overall compliance of the operation for both environment and safety.
Curtis Jung
Bio to come.
Michelle Langdon
Bio to come.
Andrew Marr
Former Director of Solid Waste Planning, Metro Vancouver
Originally trained in Chemical Engineering from the University of BC, Andrew Marr worked as an environmental engineer with Metro Vancouver for 31 years, until his retirement in early 2022. Although some years were spent managing other utilities, most of that time was in solid waste management where he was a Professional Engineer (Environmental) and the Director of Solid Waste Planning, overseeing a group of engineers, planners, and others to implement the 3Rs activities in the region’s solid waste master plans. This includes the policies (e.g. regional disposal bans and regulations, input into provincial and national waste reduction and recycling policies) and programs (e.g. input to regional public education and behaviour change campaigns, interfacing with provincial EPR programs, participation in Canada-wide waste programs such as co-chairing a Plastics Advisory Panel for the National Zero Waste Council). Prior to joining Metro Vancouver, Andrew spent 7 years in the private sector in rechargeable battery R&D, and in hazardous waste management. From 2004 to 2021 he also taught waste reduction and recycling technology at the BC Institute of Technology. His spare time interests include hiking, travel, martial arts. and swing dancing.
Ruth McDougall
Ruth McDougall has been involved in composting in BC for 25 years, primarily with agricultural and small-scale facilities. She has experience with composting of municipal biosolids, food waste, yard and garden waste, fruit processing wastes, slaughter waste and livestock manures. She develops Plans and Specifications for new compost facilities under the BC OMRR, and advises on development of small-scale and agricultural compost facilities. She has been involved with writing provincial guidelines for composting. She also provides regulatory support for compost facilities as requested on an on-going basis.
Hannah Musslick
Hanna Musslick (MOLO, B.Sc) is the lead Landfill Gas Technician at the City of Vancouver Landfill. Over the last ten years, she has overseen the implementation of many new technologies to improve landfill gas collection. This includes: precision orifice plate gas well heads, solar and pneumatic leachate pumps, buried and suspended temperature sensing, down hole well inspections using a cabled camera and, most recently, automated well field tuning devices. In addition to these technologies, she has directed the change in wellfield tuning procedure in anticipation of two renewable natural gas facilities (commissioning in 2024), and been on call for flare station trouble calls during the best of times, and the worst of times.
Hanna is an active member of the Coast Waste Management Association Landfill Gas Field & Flare Operators Working Group, and is on the Program Advisory Committee for the Environmental Protection Technology program at Kwantlen Polytechnic University.
Marcel Pitre
Marcel is a senior manager, professional engineer, sustainability expert with over 20 years of experience in the solid waste and recycling industry in a regional government role. An ENVISION Sustainability Professional, he is experience in a variety solid waste and recycling program implementation, infrastructure development and financial sustainability initiatives. A husband, father of two and community activator, Marcel enjoys spending his spare time catching up on sleep.
Dr. Tony Sperling
Dr. Tony Sperling has been at the helm of Sperling Hansen Associates since 1995. Over the past 27 years he has accumulated a wealth of practical landfill design and construction experience on more than 1,500 projects across Canada, from Haida Gwaii to St. John’s Newfoundland and Creston to Iqaluit.
In 2014 Tony worked closely with staff from the Ministry of Environment to update the Landfill Criteria for Municipal Solid Waste, a document that has put B.C. in the forefront of environmental protection. In his career Tony has worked on a number of super challenging projects including the Hartland Landfill Expansion into Heal Basin in 1995, the Nanaimo Geogrid Berm Project in 2005, and the Vancouver Landfill Western 40 Ha Closure Project and the award winning Forceman Landfill in 2014-2017.
Not one to shy away from challenges, in 1998 Tony agreed to take charge of a landfill fire extinguishment at Campbell Mountain Landfill. Today, 45 fire extinguishments later he is recognized internationally as one of the top subject matter experts on landfill fires and elevated temperature landfills.
Nicole Steglich
Nicole Steglich is a Professional Engineer with over 15 years of experience in the solid waste industry with local government. She currently works for Metro Vancouver as a Senior Project Engineer and oversees the contracted operation of four recycling and waste centres.
Outside of the office, Nicole enjoys practicing yoga, spending time in the beautiful outdoors with friends and family, and reading historical fiction.
Mike Thomson
Mike is a Professional Engineer with more than 15-years’ of experience in academics, consulting and industry, including multi-disciplinary design coordination, operations support, environmental innovation, project management, project development, technical direction and customer relations. His primary technical area of expertise is process engineering focused on organic waste management.
During Mike’s Master’s research he operated a research scale facility for co-composting of animal mortalities with woodchip amendment, which provides detailed understanding of compost process management, as well as practical understanding of facility design and operations data collection to support best practices. He has applied his knowledge as a consultant and with GFL to support commercial scale facility design for upgrades, as well as adjustment of facility operating practices to reduce odour emission potential and support achieving compost quality for beneficial use of finished products.
In his current role at GFL, Mike provides support to operations at GFL’s composting facilities to refine operations, troubleshoot challenges, manage capital projects, and maintain regulatory compliance.
Reinhard Trautmann
Bio to come.
