CEO Column

By: David Biderman, SWANA CEO and Executive Director

We’re going to WASTECON^® in Orlando in less than three weeks. I hope you are planning to join us there. The public health situation in Florida has improved substantially over the past few months and barely resembles what we saw on the news over the summer. SWANA is monitoring several government and media data sources and we’re pleased to see they all report significant decreases in new cases over the past 10 weeks. One source I saw this morning reported the number of new COVID cases in Florida have declined by more than 80 percent since late August. If the current trend continues, that would mean a drop of more than 90 percent by the time we travel to WASTECON^®. SWANA will continue to monitor closely the situation in Florida as we prepare for WASTECON^®.

Important SWANA business will occur at WASTECON^®. We will hold our only in-person Strategic Planning meeting at which the four workgroups that have been working all summer will report their observations and recommendations, which will help identify our strategic priorities for the next five years. The Board of Directors and the Advisory Board will be meeting and I’ll report the results of the recently conducted chapters survey (thank you to all the chapters that responded!). Lawrence Lecturer Tara Hemmer will inspire us concerning sustainability and discuss how she became Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer at Waste Management. EPA will discuss important policy changes concerning recycling. We will discuss how the industry overcame the many challenges posed by the pandemic and participants will share their stories. Your Route to Sustainable Strength runs through the Gaylord in Orlando.

Even as we conduct business and host a popular trade show exhibit hall, SWANA will take needed precautions to protect you. We strongly encourage all participants to wear a mask (and will hand them out). The Gaylord makes hand sanitizer available in all public spaces. We will ask participants to engage in social distancing. The Gaylord will clean our meeting spaces and other high traffic and high touch areas multiple times each day to help keep us safe.

It’s not easy going to a solid waste conference, even as pandemic concerns lessen. In August, when the Delta variant was at its peak, I attended a SWANA regional conference. It was a bit challenging. I wore a mask. I socially distanced in the exhibit hall, and I didn’t join some members at the bar who did not appear to be practicing safe procedures. But other than attending my mother’s wedding, that SWANA conference was probably the high point of my summer. I had forgotten how good it feels to be with many of you at a SWANA event. I’m looking forward to that feeling next month at WASTECON.

For some people who have not gone to any solid waste conferences – or any other public events – in the past 20 months, it may be emotionally challenging to be in the same place as hundreds of other people. Those many months of isolation have made it feel safer to stay close to home, regardless of the experience or exposure waiting for us. Another member of #TeamSWANA who spoke at a recent chapter event said she felt like she had forgotten how to function in large groups. I would not be at all surprised to learn that feeling is widespread. But rusty social skills are not a reason not to attend or to stop learning, networking, and advancing our industry. Some things can’t be shared via Zoom or Teams.

All of you have overcome many challenges during the past 20 months. Please join us at WASTECON^®. Dust off your rusty networking skills and get the newest tools and resources you need to overcome current and future solid waste challenges. And importantly, come see your SWANA family – in-person, not on a screen – in sunny Florida.