Ronald S. Kemalyan is president of Pacific/West Recycling Services, Inc., a Southern California-based consulting and brokerage firm. The firm's brokerage activities focus on the global marketing of post consumer, post industrial and post commercial plastics.

Ron is the former executive director of the Plastic Recycling Corporation of California. Through his innovative public education programs, the recycling rates for PET soft drink bottles in California grew from under 1% to over 73% under his leadership. At the same time the number of curbside recycling programs collecting plastic dramatically increased through an intensive outreach program to public recycling officials, waste haulers and recyclers.

As a former senior vice president for a leading West Coast public relations and marketing communications company he was instrumental in developing public education programs on recycling and managing solid waste management issues for many environmental clients.

Ron's recycling background began over 20 years ago while he was an executive director for Los Angeles area YMCAs. Working with local recyclers he established drop off recycling programs for neighborhood YMCAs. Ron is also the former executive director of RecyCal, at one time the state's largest privately funded program to fight litter and promote recycling. Through RecyCal, a nonprofit beverage industry coalition, Ron was also instrumental in helping establish California's unique beverage container recycling law.

Through his diverse background and contacts with many links in the recycling loop, Ron offers a unique perspective on recycling and a highly specialized knowledge of plastic recycling.