Emma Pardini, Environmental Program Coordinator (Recycling, Reuse, and Waste Reduction) joined the Environmental Programs team in 2022, with responsibilities including public education, outreach, communications, and compliance assistance in the areas of recycling, reuse, and waste reduction. She is a member of the Duluth Superior EcoRotary Club.

Pardini holds a B.A. in English from Northwestern University and a Master’s Certificate in Environmental Education from the University of Minnesota Duluth. Prior to WLSSD, Pardini served as the exhibit designer at Duluth’s Great Lakes Aquarium.

Western Lake Superior Sanitary District (WLSSD) is a special purpose unit of government created by the Minnesota Legislature in 1971 to address serious environmental pollution problems in the lower St. Louis River Basin. WLSSD provides wastewater and solid waste services and oversight for a 530 square mile region around Duluth, Minnesota that includes the cities of Duluth, Cloquet, Hermantown, Proctor, Rice Lake, Carlton, Scanlon, Thomson and Wrenshall, and eight surrounding townships. WLSSD operates a wastewater treatment plant, yard waste and food scraps composting site, a hazardous waste collection site and solid waste transfer station in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Duluth, Minnesota. WLSSD also operates its Materials Recovery Center solid waste recycling and disposal site in the City of Rice Lake.

WLSSD’s mission is to plan and provide for the effective and economical collection and treatment of wastewater and to ensure responsible solid waste management through effective planning and oversight, education and customer services in order to

– protect public health and safety;
– preserve and ensure the best use of waters, land, and natural resources;
– prevent, control and abate water and solid waste pollution,

thereby protecting the St. Louis River basin and Lake Superior.

These services will be performed in a manner that exceeds state and federal environmental regulations and with a focus on pollution prevention, waste and toxicity reduction, beneficial reuse and recycling.