SWANA Applied Research Foundation Releases New Research Reports

The Benchmarking of Solid Waste Collection Services: FY 2008 Report was developed by the Foundation’s Collection Research Group. The report represents the second output of a multi-year, sustained effort to address the industry’s need for meaningful and comparative benchmarking data of collection services.

The Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Group developed the Waste-to-Energy and the Solid Waste Management Hierarchy Report. This report presents the environmental benefits of waste-to-energy systems as determined an environmental life cycle assessment model developed by the US EPA. Based on the EPA’s own research, it recommends that the EPA adopt a new ‘systems-based’ hierarchy that places waste-to-energy-based systems on the top tier. The report also includes an assessment of waste-to-energy as a renewable energy alternative.

The Disposal Group released two reports for FY 2008. The first report, Benchmarking the Performance and Costs of MSW Landfills, presents summaries and analyses of benchmarking data on the management and operation of MSW landfills which should be of interest to landfill managers and operators.

The second report, Long Term Environmental Risks of Subtitle D Landfills, represents a compilation and analysis of recent and historical research publications on the actual long-term environmental risks associated with Subtitle D landfills and suggests management alternatives that can be used to manage and minimize these risks.

The Curbside Collection of Residential Food Waste is a research memorandumwas developed in FY08 by the Foundation’s Recycling Research Group. The memorandum provides solid waste recycling managers with up-to-date technical and programmatic information regarding the curbside collection of food waste from residential customers living in single-family households.

"The publication of these timely reports is made possible by the support and involvement of the 34 member organizations of the SWANA Applied Research Foundation. The solid waste managers who represent these organizations are experienced, knowledgeable and visionary leaders who identified the research topics, guided the research and reviewed these reports prior to their publication,” said Jeremy O’Brien, P.E., Director of Applied Research.

The goal of the Applied Research Foundation is to support SWANA's mission of 'advancing the practice' by conducting collectively-funded research on pressing solid waste issues that are identified and selected by the Foundation's subscribers. Solid waste organizations have the opportunity to support and participate in the Foundation's research activities by becoming foundation subscribers and contributing a "penny a ton" for the waste they manage on an annual basis. Subscribers are directly involved in identifying and defining research topics and reviewing interim results and final work products. ARF subscribers also receive research products from all research groups free of charge.

Four of the five reports are currently available for purchase at www.SWANAstore.com. The research memorandum on the Curbside Collection of Residential Food Waste is available free of charge to SWANA members on the SWANA web site (www.SWANA.org).

For questions about the Applied Research Foundation or any of these reports, contact Jeremy O’Brien, P.E., Director of Applied Research via e-mail at jobrien@SWANA.org.