UCLA Alumni and Instructor Eugene Tseng, ’73, receives Legacy Award

Jun 11, 2020

image of Eugene Tseng on right. image reads: Eugene Tseng. E.Tseng and Associates Inc. MSW Legacy Award 2020 Winner. Eugene Tseng is an Environmental Engineer and Attorney with 48 years of design, construction, operational, and regulatory experience with MRFs, transfer stations, and conversion technology facilities. He holds various process pate ts on new construction materials made from the recycled feedstock. Eugene is a part-time Law Professor with the University of West L.A. School of Law and is the Founder/Instructor of the UCLA Extension's Recycling and MSW Management Program. He has taught solid waste engineering and environmental law for 35 years. Eugene worked for 16 years in industry designing, constructing, and operating MRFs and waste-to-energy facilities. He has served as the technical lead for the Federal government for evaluating international best management practices in solid waste conversion technologies and has also assisted developing countries in creating their solid waste plans. He assisted in the creation of the City of Los Angeles Local Enforcement Agency and has served as their legal and technical advisor since their inception and performs facility design and operations review. Most recently, Eugene has been working with NASA, Jet Propulsion Labs on greenhouse gas emissions from solid waste facilities and their potential impact on climate change. "What I foresee in the next 30 years is a more serious effort to develop a true 'integrated solid waste' which includes conversion technologies, making a much more robust infrastructure. There will also be an increased local manufacturing capacity to utilize recycled materials so the overall system is less sensitive to global recycling markets. With the recent findings by NASA that landfills are the largest point sources for methane in California, solid waste planning/programs will take a much higher priority in sustainability and climate action planning."

Eugene Tseng, ’73, a UCLA alumni and founder/instructor of UCLA Extension’s Recycling and MSW Management Program, has received the prestigious Legacy Award for 2020 from the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA). Their journal, MSW (Municipal Solid Waste) Management, featured the announcement pictured above.