Though Josephine Tarrazi’s internship with the Recycled Materials Association (ReMA) started in Fall 2024, she’s been aware of the recycled materials industry since 2022 when she was a senior in high school.
“My teacher gave our class a poster assignment about recycling and sustainability and the relationship between recycling and climate change,” Tarrazi said. “My partner, Mark Monteleone, and I created a poster about how rising sea levels affect our coastal community and how recycling rubber tires can be a solution.”
The poster provided practical steps that residents could take to support tire recycling, including donating old tires to local manufacturers or turning the tires into a gravel substitute, wastewater treatment filter, or garden mulch.
Their teacher submitted the poster to the 2021-2022 Youth Recycling Video and Poster contest hosted by ReMA and JASON Learning. This annual poster and video contest is for students in grades K-12 and features recycling-related themes.
“In the spring, Mark and I learned that our poster had won, and we were awarded with a trip to Vegas for the 2022 ISRI Convention and Exposition.”
Attending the Convention was not only a rewarding experience for Tarrazi to learn more about the recycled materials industry, but also one that helped open doors for future career opportunities.
“One of the co-chairs of ReMA’s Youth Outreach Subcommittee at the time, Peter Van Houten, knew I was interested in pursuing a law degree,” Tarrazi said. “He put me in touch with Rebecca Andrechak, ReMA’s assistant general counsel and director of contracts and trademarks. We traded a few emails, and it was great to learn about her role and the work she does in the industry.”
Her experience attending the convention and conversations with Andrechak helped inspire Tarrazi to change her major. When she started at University of Maryland, she planned to pursue a degree in criminology but switched to environmental science and policy after her first semester of freshman year.
“Going to the convention helped open my eyes to potential career opportunities in the realm of sustainable development and environmental policy,” Tarrazi said. “And when I learned about ReMA’s sustainability internship through its Pathways Program I knew I had to apply.”
Since becoming ReMA’s fall sustainability intern, Tarrazi has been able to work on several projects including the 2024-25 Poster and Video Contest with JASON Learning, updating the ReMA-JASON Learning curriculum, and ReMA’s workforce development program.
“What I’m doing for the workforce development program is trying to get entry level job descriptions from ReMA member companies to start a program that helps previously incarcerated people find jobs in the recycled materials industry,” Tarrazi said. “Being involved in this type of program is important to me because of my interest in environmental justice.”
Thus far Tarrazi has really enjoyed her internship experience at ReMA and feels that it has helped inform her interest in sustainability and environmental policy.
“I’ve definitely seen an improvement in my research skills as I’ve been looking into municipal codes and grants,” she said. “And I’m also honing my remote office work skills such as participating in Zoom meetings, keeping up with emails, and note taking. I’m really excited to see what the next few months will bring.”
ReMA is expanding its efforts to build the recycled materials workforce by inspiring more students like Tarrazi to pursue recycling careers. ReMA members can share the free Youth Recycling Contest information or JASON Learning Recycling Activities curriculum with their local schools, sponsor a school with the full JASON STEM program, or host their own intern or fellow through the Pathways Program.
Student applications for the 2024-25 Youth Recycling Contest are open until December 13, 2024. This year’s contest challenges students to create a poster or a 1-minute video that explains how the recycled materials industry is Sustainable, Resilient, and Essential.
