The Northeast’s solid waste management capacity is limited, and several waste-to-energy facilities and landfills have closed or have planned near-term closures. Several areas, such as in Massachusetts and Connecticut, have begun to focus on regional solid waste management planning to address capacity issues. In addition to evaluating transportation-related emissions, fuel usage, and labor cost, these planning efforts are also looking at shared or cooperative opportunities involving local solid waste management disposal, organics management, waste reduction, and other regional self-sufficiency options.

In this presentation Debra Darby provides examples of regional planning efforts and impacts, including a case study about Barnstable County, Massachusetts; several Connecticut Councils of Governments; and regional waste planning and sustainable materials management planning in other states, including Michigan. Climate action, waste diversion, zero waste, and contaminants of emerging concern have complicated the future of solid waste management and planning. Ambitious statutory programs regulating emissions, effluent and combustive fuels for energy, and transportation are narrowing available options for the disposal of solid waste. This overview will highlight future regulatory trends informing regional planning efforts.

About the Speaker

Debra Darby
Organics Sustainability Solutions, Client Manager | Tetra Tech

Ms. Debra Darby is a client manager with 18 years of organics experience in the solid waste industry. She leads the organics initiative in Tetra Tech’s Solid Waste East (SWE) region. She is a U.S. Composting Council Certified Composting Professional (CCP).  Ms. Darby has garnered a reputation as a leader in her field through her extensive background working with organics and compostable materials, implementing organics management infrastructure, including composting and anaerobic digestion systems. Her experience encompasses feedstock analyses, permitting, program development including collection and processing, and facility and operational design. 

Ms. Darby has experience in regional solid waste planning, waste reduction/zero waste plans and waste characterization studies, and her foresight and environmental awareness draw out the best ideas from committees and stakeholders, which she then brings together into actionable plans for clients. She has 20 years of experience in environmental marketing and has served as a strategic advisor in the public and private sectors. She has provided perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) awareness education as part of her work in finding cleaner production opportunities through toxic use reduction. Ms. Darby serves on the Board of Directors for the New Jersey Composting Council (NJCC), and on the Board of Trustees for the Compost Research and Education Foundation (CREF).