News

Updated Landfill Benchmarking Report Provides Performance and Cost Data on North American Landfills



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 11, 2018

Sara Swanson
Marketing Coordinator
240-494-2238
sswanson@swana.org

Updated Landfill Benchmarking Report Provides Performance and Cost Data on North American Landfills
Findings Released by SWANA's Applied Research Foundation

Silver Spring, MD – A new report issued by the Solid Waste Association of North America’s (SWANA) Applied Research Foundation (ARF) presents an update to its 2008 report on Benchmarking the Performance and Costs of MSW Landfills, providing current technical and operational data for landfill owners and operators in their benchmarking efforts.

The report, “Benchmarking the Performance and Costs of MSW Landfills – 2017 Update,” features new data on landfill productivity, efficiency and effectiveness after analyzing the overall performance and costs of 49 municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills in the United States and Canada.

"Using benchmarking as a way to search for best practices, innovative ideas, and effective operating procedures can help landfill owners across North America identify strategies to improve facility performance and maintain superior standards,” said Jeremy O’Brien, SWANA’s Director of Applied Research.

Findings from the report confirm the significant economies of scale that are associated with landfill operations and the importance of minimizing cover soil usage to conserve landfill airspace.

“Landfill owners and operators face a wide variety of operational challenges; this new report will help them understand how to operate more efficiently, maximize airspace, and employ the appropriate numbers of personnel and equipment based on facility size,” said David Biderman, SWANA’s Executive Director and CEO. “With more waste expected to go to landfills in the short-term as a result of China’s waste import restrictions, providing landfill owners and managers with access to accurate and meaningful data to help their facilities is more important than ever.”

The full report, “Benchmarking the Performance and Costs of MSW Landfills – 2017 Update,” is currently only available to SWANA ARF subscribers. SWANA members receive free access to ARF industry reports one year after publication.

To learn more, click here for the Executive Summary of the new report.

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About SWANA:

The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) is an organization of more than 10,000 public and private sector professionals committed to advancing from solid waste management to resource management through their shared emphasis on education, advocacy and research. For more than 50 years, SWANA has been the leading association in the solid waste management field. SWANA serves industry professionals through technical conferences, certifications, publications, and a large offering of technical training courses. For more information, visit swana.org.


About ARF:

SWANA’s Applied Research Foundation (ARF) supports 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. Subscribers provide penny per ton contributions — based on the amount of waste that they manage — to support and participate in the Foundation’s research activities on an annual basis. For more information, visit swana.org/research.

About SWANA

The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) is an organization of more than 10,000 public and private sector professionals committed to advancing from solid waste management to resource management through their shared emphasis on education, advocacy and research. For more than 60 years, SWANA has been the leading association in the solid waste management field. SWANA serves industry professionals through technical conferences, certifications, publications and a large offering of technical training courses.

Media Contact

Andrea Lazo
Director of Marketing & Digital Communications
(240) 494-2235
alazo@swana.org