Meet the Team

… with a combined experience of four decades in sustainable organic waste management and composting solutions.


  • Founder

    It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more.

Founder

Derek Tabak, Founder of Eccotec has over three decades of experience as an industrial products marketing executive, and entrepreneur in private industry. His business experience combined with a genuine appreciation for the environment resulted in the nexus of driving real economic gains through organic waste management. As most industries were highly dependent on expensive waste haulers, he saw no reason that many organizations couldn’t either significantly reduce their bio-waste through new technologies and/or convert that waste to compost, a valuable resource that not only replaces the need for toxic fertilizers but also creates water usage efficiencies.  

“Composting is the most affordable, cost-effective, and simplest way for a business to reduce its costs of operations while contributing to the betterment of the community and society. Eccotec has the most qualified team of associates who are experts in their field. We offer products that will continue working to save you money for the long run and have a positive effect on the environment.”

Having a deep background in sourcing industrial products worldwide, he has established a consulting organization with exceptional waste remediation expertise that can source, install, and maintain specific equipment that fits each client’s unique needs and budget.

Over the past 16 years, Derek has had the honor of helping a wide array of organizations from university campuses to international laboratories to hotels and resorts, including such well-known organizations as Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, Abbott Labs in Mexico City and Buenos Aires, and the Marriott organization.

Mr. Tabak is a member of the United States Building Council Los Angeles Chapter, the US Composting Council, the Coalition for Clean Air Los Angeles Chapter, Global Green + USA, and the Sierra Club. Derek Tabak received his Bachelor of Science degree from the State University of New York.


  • Environmental Officer

    I

Environmental Officer

Rich has more than 32 years of hands-on composting experience working extensively in ten U.S. states, Mexico and the Caribbean. He has designed, managed, permitted, evaluated, and/or remediated more than 120 large-scale composting facilities for both private and public sector clients. He has also been involved in public policy formation, rulemaking development for state composting regulation, composting technology assessment and development, regional studies evaluating organic resource management, and analyzing and writing the composting and organics sections of Zero Waste plans for a multitude of cities.

A specialist in public relations and education, Rich does frequent outreach work, writes instructional manuals, promotional materials, editorial pieces, and gives lectures and workshops on a regular basis. He has designed three permanent home composting exhibits, appeared in two instructional videos, and has written more than100 educational guides, articles for trade magazines, and workshop and certification program manuals and curricula.

An active supporter of Zero Waste, Rich is a founding board member of Zero Waste San Diego. He is also a founding board member of COOL2012 (a national initiative to divert all Compostable Organic Out of Landfills by 2012) and a member of the Association of Compost Producers (ACP), focusing much of his work on source reduction and composting food residuals, as well as policy and direct programs designed to facilitate the symbiotic relationship between organic resource management and agriculture.

Rich was recently invited to join Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods’ (SOIL) Advisory Board. SOIL is a non-profit research and development organization working in Haiti to design, test, and implement sustainable and cost-effective solutions to the island’s sanitation crisis. He is also an advisor to the non-profit organization, Desert Compost, which operates a multitude of community composting sites in the Palm Springs, California region.