Caroline Ask

Professional Summary

Company

City of College Station

Current Position

Solid Waste Division Manager

Job Duties

Responsible for day-to-day, operational management and leadership of collection handling and transport; strategic and long range planning through engineering development review; contract and financial management; solid waste and recycling education and outreach; and all matters related to safety within the Public Works Department.

Manage compliance for federal, state, and local regulations, e.g. OSHA standards administered through DSHS such as Hazard Communication Standard, as well as various EPA/TCEQ programs including TPDES – MS4 & MSGP, SPCC, Tier II, Transporter Registrations, and AST/USTs.

What are you passionate about?

Work-wise, I thoroughly enjoy education and outreach; I love talking about trash and recognizing the fantastic team I work with. I also enjoy continuing education, it’s like a vacation back into the classroom without finals.

Personally, my family, and travelling – being immersed in different cultures and being able to experience life from a different point of view.

What impact does your position make in the community?

The Solid Waste Division plays an essential role in community health, safety, and quality of life. Our crews service every residential customer, apartment complex, and commercial entity each week – more than 41,000+ accounts; annually collecting about 100,000 tons within College Station.

The Solid Waste Division works along side fellow Public Works Divisions serving the community as first responders during emergencies through disaster debris management; removing debris from roadways to allow mobility for EMS, Fire, and Police response.

Describe your educational history

B.S. in BESC from Texas A&M University, Class of ’12
Certified Floodplain Manager
Underground Storage Tank A/B Operator
Hazardous Materials Response Technician
MS4 Stormwater Management Certification

What advise would you give to the current Aggies interested in entering environmental industry?

Find a job/employer willing to teach and invest in you through experiences, continuing education, and exposing you to various projects in more than one media. Ultimately, I’m more inclined to hire someone with initiative and willingness to complete tasks no matter how redundant than someone with the perfect resume and no drive.

The best advice I received from a former BESC professor, was be preventative rather than reactive; this mindset will get you where you need to go with less stress.

If you were entering the environmental industry today, what area would you pursue? Why?

In this day and age, anything environmental-related is needed. I would say (1) waste – MSW or RCRA; every person and company produces waste needing to be handled, transported, and disposed of in an appropriate manner; or (2) industrial EHS professions with an emphasis in safety or sustainability by working towards earning any of the three, highly coveted C-certifications, i.e. CIH, CSP, or CHMM