Bruce Olszewski is the Director of The Center for Development of Recycling (CDR). Bruce Olszewski earned San Jose State University’s (SJSU) first MS in Environmental Studies, twice led the Environmental Studies Program including co-leading it to Department status, was the first Environmental Specialist with the City of San Jose, designed the city’s first city-wide water conservation program.

Bruce Olszewski founded the Center for the Development of Recycling (CDR), the Santa Clara County Recycling/Reuse Hotline and Household Hazardous Waste appointment center, the website RecycleStuff.org for the counties of Santa Clara and San Mateo, and created courses in service learning, Sustainable Materials Management, Globalization and the Environment, and was recognized as a “Hidden Treasure of SJSU” (1997 SJSU Tower Awards).

As founding Director of SJSU’s Center for the Development of Recycling (CDR) he has managed 1000+ service-learning students who have worked on 60+ contracted projects. CDR’s students operate the recycling hotline and website and have responded to over 3 million recycling/reuse information requests. As it was designed, 100’s of students have used their CDR experience to earn environmental internships and nearly 100 CDR students have become sustainable materials management (recycling/reuse) professionals.

CDR’s mission is to divert natural resources from landfills by generating, managing, and delivering recycling and reuse information to the public while developing our staff of service-learning university students into environmental professionals. Our vision is to maximize the benefits of resources through sustainable product design, waste prevention, and recycling that reduces environmental impacts while creating green jobs.