CEO Column

How Do You Plan to Take Advantage of this Opportunity?

I spoke last month at the Waste to Energy Technology (WTERT) conference, a biennial event in New York City. I explained that because of Climate Change, marine litter, plastic pollution, and concerns about recycling, elected officials and the general public, around the world, are actually thinking about solid waste management. It’s been on the cover of major international publications such as National Geographic, and billions of dollars in funding is being made available to address these huge global challenges.

I asked the WTERT attendees: how do you plan to take advantage of this opportunity?

Today, I ask the same of all SWANA members.

Twenty years ago, if you asked someone about trash, they may have made a funny Sopranos reference. Now, in the wake of China’s National Sword, growing concerns about methane emissions, images of plastic floating in the ocean, and accelerating Climate Change, there is much broader interest in how to manage waste properly.

The career path you have chosen provides an opportunity to address several of the biggest challenges facing our planet. Pretty cool stuff, if you ask me.

The leaders from more than 100 local governments, technological innovators, private companies, and others will be gathering in San Diego next month for WASTECON. It’s an opportunity to learn, network, and have some fun in a beautiful location. It’s a chance to help SWANA celebrate WASTECON’s 60th anniversary and re-connect in-person with fellow solid waste experts from the United States and Canada, many of whom you may not have seen (other than on a screen) since October 2019 in Phoenix. If you’re a chapter leader, it's a chance to attend the new Chapter Connect sessions that are part of SWANA’s effort to implement the new Strategic Plan and create stronger ties between chapters, and strengthen the relationship between the chapters and HQ.

Solid waste is on the radar screen. Let’s make sure it’s also in the recycling bin, compost pile, digester, transfer station, landfill, and waste-to-energy facility, and not on the street, in the park or river, or in the ocean. It’s a quintessentially local issue, but with global implications.

Come to WASTECON. Take advantage of this opportunity.