Otak Blog

King County’s Solid Waste Division has named 50 local companies to its “Best Workplaces for Recycling” list. Otak’s Kirkland, Washington office is one of the firms who made the list and is being recognized for its internal recycling program and commitment to making recycling easy for employees. Kirkland’s more than 85 staff practice recycling and waste reduction methods from recycling old electronic equipment to eating lunch with reusable dishware and glasses instead of disposable products. Recycling bins are located at each employee workstation and next to all printers and copiers throughout the office.

Kay Van Sickel, director of Lake Oswego’s Public Services Group, was recently nominated as a board member for ACEC’s Oregon Chapter and was sworn in at the awards ceremony post-golf tournament. The ACEC is one of the more active engineering societies in the Portland area, representing 3,000 employees in over 120 firms across the state. Kay will serve a multi-year term for ACEC, working on projects such as government relations among engineering firms, promoting engineering excellence, and continuing education opportunities.

Four members of Otak’s Transportation, Public Services Group took an afternoon to enjoy the sunshine and network with fellow industry leaders at the joint ACEC/ASCE Golf Tournament. Held at Langdon Farms Golf Course in Wilsonville, the Otak team was one of 40 teams, but surpassed all the others for number of women players. The team consisted of Amanda Owings, Kristen Ballou, Josh Robertson, and Sarah Hughes.