CEO Column

It’s great being back together in person.

SWANA held the SOAR Technical Conference in late March in Kansas City, Missouri. Everyone was so happy to be meeting together again and catching up with other SWANA members. The educational sessions were almost universally praised &,mdash; from Michael E. Hoffman’s terrific keynote to the many sessions on PFAS to the excellent presentation by EPA on the National Recycling Strategy, and the subsequent workshop, during which nearly 100 participants identified challenges and opportunities relating to its implementation.

The exhibit hall buzzed each day as attendees visited with exhibitors, consumed delicious food, and networked. Most of the SWANA Technical Divisions held their first in-person meetings since 2019! After seeing each other primarily via Zoom or Teams for more than two years, people were eager to network in-person.

Many people should be thanked for helping make SOAR 2022 a great success. I’m concerned if I identify specific individuals, I’ll leave someone out! I do want to recognize several groups. First, thank you to the Missouri and Kansas chapters for hosting the conference, encouraging members to attend, and the awesome event on Wednesday night. Second, thank you to the Technical Division leadership for their great work at their meetings. Finally, thank you to #TeamSWANA for producing a terrific event, which provided first-class educational and networking opportunities for members.

Many chapters will be holding conferences and meetings in the next few months. It is very important to gently and repeatedly remind members and others about these events. With the “Great Resignation” and the ongoing labor shortage, everyone is very busy and may not read or even see the initial email inviting them to an upcoming chapter event. For example, I spoke with someone from Calgary at SOAR who was unaware of the Canadian Waste Symposium in early April in Banff.

SWANA staff will be attending some of the upcoming chapter events and look forward to seeing you at these conferences and meetings. I will be speaking at the Western Regional Symposium in California this week, and the South Carolina Spring Conference and the Federation conference at the Sagamore in upstate New York in May. Other staff have been invited to speak at several other chapter events, and SWANA will have a booth and a presence at Waste Expo. Come say hello to us at Booth 2811!

Good associations associate people. They bring together peers to share experiences and knowledge at events like WASTECON© and SOAR; they facilitate mentoring (e.g., MentorMatch); they provide opportunities for buyers and sellers to network and develop relationships; they provide education and training; and they advocate for the industry in the broadest possible sense. SWANA does all these things very well, and also provides terrific networking and educational opportunities virtually through the SWANA Forum and webinars. We even have a growing job board with 64 openings as of March 25. If you are an employer looking to fill a position, we strongly encourage you to take advantage of the SWANA job board.

As the United States and Canada emerge from the pandemic, the need for you and your co-workers to be efficient and knowledgeable during these challenging times is paramount. Take advantage of our digital networking and educational opportunities. Go to your chapters’ spring and summer events. Attend the Regional Training Center in Chicago on June 7-9. Plan on attending WASTECON© in San Diego on Dec 6–9. These events will make you a better solid waste professional, are an important signal that the worst of the pandemic is (hopefully!) behind us, and will remind you why you are a member of the biggest and best waste and recycling association in the United States and Canada.