The Iowa Recycling and Solid Waste Management Conference planning committee is diligently working on hosting an in-person conference October 4-6, 2021, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Cedar Rapids Convention Complex. Naturally, we’ll be attending if at all possible. So get your vaccine and plan to head to Cedar Rapids in October.
Check back; more information to come! We are recycling it here 🙂
Please join the Air & Waste Management Association for their annual Information Exchange (virtual conference), December 8-10, 2020.
The conference will feature information exchange, discussion, and solutions from and among industry and regulatory leading experts. This year’s virtual program will cover policy updates, regulatory changes, and research on the latest environmental topics.
U.S. EPA speakers from the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards (OAQPS) and Office of Research and Development (ORD) will present their latest information on environmental rules, policies, and research on current topics, including:
Additional speakers from industry, NGOs, agencies and academia will share their expertise and the latest solutions for maintaining compliance and reducing environmental impacts, including:
Two panels are also in development on the topics of PFAS and Global Climate Change.
Click for registration and conference details
SCS Professionals Ali Khatami and David Hostetter, along with sustainability expert Leslie Lukacs will discuss “Landfills, Technology, and the Future” at a panel hosted by the US Green Building Council on December 3 (1:00 PM Eastern).
Landfills are a part of what keeps our society moving. While they have their drawbacks, advances in landfill design and technology use in landfills are improving their operation and management. This panel will address what we see coming in the future to help our society manage our waste.
Event registration: https://101520landfills.eventbrite.com
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/643323933211008
LinkedIn event: https://www.linkedin.com/events/6718943429298003968/
Learn more about Waste Management’s Award at minute 30:54 of the video conference recording. Congratulations to the Waste Management Team!
The Ignition Firebrand Awards recognize system integrators such as SCS Engineers and industrial firms for their use of technology to create innovative solutions.
Today at the virtual Ignition Community Conference, Waste Management (WM) is accepting the 2020 Firebrand Award for its landfill technology and automation platform advances. The Company designed an internal solution then contracted with SCS Engineers’ RMC Practice, and Vertech Industrial Solutions to deploy WM’s new innovative ‘Connected Landfills’ pilot.
“Waste Management is excited to be recognized for our innovative work and use of new technologies,” said Bryan Tindell, vice president of disposal operations at Waste Management. “Striving for the most innovative and advanced technology in the world of waste helps ensure we are able to continue providing essential services for residents, customers and our communities. The use of advanced technology has also introduced new ways of working for our employees, further elevating their daily experience and streamlining our processes.”
WM’s Connected Landfills system was first piloted at the West Edmonton Landfill in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The pilot proved to simplify workflows, equipping landfill assets with internet-connected devices and sensors. Technicians are able to review data remotely via dashboards on mobile devices, allowing them to monitor changes, make decisions and even directly interact with equipment with the push of a button. With less time spent in transit, landfill employees will be able to spend more time managing landfills’ productivity and health.
“The integration of remote monitoring and control helps make landfill operations more efficient, sustainable, and creates a safer environment for landfill staff and the surrounding community,” said Dave Hostetter, regional manager of SCS RMC®. “That the innovation is being recognized as well is gratifying.”
This design and integration advances WM’s existing environmental management platform by increasing worker safety, the user experience, and running the landfill systems efficiently. It also supports Waste Management’s commitment to ensuring public safety and environmental protection for landfill staff and the surrounding community. Landfills, and the municipalities and companies that operate landfills use sophisticated technology to manage the complex environmental systems that keep citizens and the air, water, and soil surrounding landfills healthy. Ongoing collection of data from these assets, often collected by checking meters positioned throughout landfill sites, is essential for landfills’ safe operation.
Waste Management operates the largest network of landfills in the industry, managing the disposal of almost 100 million tons of waste every year at over 250 sites across Canada and the US. Based on the pilot’s success, WM plans to expand the Connected Landfills system to other sites throughout North America.
About Waste Management
Waste Management, based in Houston, Texas, is the leading provider of comprehensive waste management environmental services in North America. Through its subsidiaries, the Company provides collection, transfer, disposal services, and recycling and resource recovery. It is also a leading developer, operator and owner of landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. The Company’s customers include residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers throughout North America. To learn more information about Waste Management, www.wm.com.
About SCS Engineers
SCS Engineers’ environmental solutions and technology are a direct result of our experience and dedication to |solid waste management and other industries responsible for safeguarding the environment while delivering products and services. For more information about SCS, please visit our website at scsengineers.com or watch our 50th Anniversary video.
Air & Waste Management Association’s 113th Annual Conference – “ACE 2020 Gateway to Innovation”, has been transformed into a virtual conference that will begin on June 30.
A&WMA’s ACE 2020 Virtual Conference will allow you to stay up to date on timely and critical topics – all within an online environment that can be accessed from anywhere. The same great information and knowledge in their technical program will be available, with enhanced online features that will allow you to connect with presenters, attendees, exhibitors and sponsors.
The ACE 2020 Virtual Conference runs Tuesday, June 30 through Thursday, July 2 with an engaging lineup of scheduled live-streamed sessions each day and hundreds of on-demand presentations that will be available through June 2021.
The Virtual conference will include dozens of livestream events and presentations and numerous on-demand sessions, including the following by SCS professionals:
Click for more information and to register
Both associations are providing guidance, as many waste management activities must continue. SCS is following association advice, state protocols, and our clients’ recommendations in our own procedures as we continue to perform essential work. We share the SWANA resources and recommendations here and thank them for their dedication. SCS employees should use SCS resources available on the SCS intranet and through our Health & Safety protocol, which reflect the safety precautions advised here.
Reprinted Letter to SWANA Members dated March 23, 2020
As communities and companies throughout the United States and Canada respond to the Coronavirus pandemic, SWANA will continue to provide assistance to its members and the waste industry.
A growing number of states and localities are issuing orders identifying certain industries as “essential” during the pandemic, and these orders typically include the solid waste industry and other categories of employees who may be SWANA members. In those locations, employees and contractors may need to demonstrate proof to law enforcement personnel or others that they work in an essential industry. See this template letter that employers can customize to their needs and provide to employees and contractors. The letter should be on agency/company letterhead and include a contact person and a telephone number to call. The contact person should be familiar with the applicable emergency declarations.
Employees and contractors should carry the customized letter with them at all times, and particularly when they are going to or from work. Several waste industry employees in California in their personal vehicles were stopped on their way to work by law enforcement personnel late last week, but fortunately, their employer had created a letter similar to the attached and the employees were able to show that letter and proceed to their places of employment.
This letter is intended to allow workers to demonstrate that they work in a job category identified as an essential service, including solid waste and recycling operations. It should not be used for any other purpose or by employees that are not actively supporting these operations.
In addition, attached is a notification document for solid waste employers and others to place in their work vehicles to demonstrate they are covered by recent emergency order guidance. It cites the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, March 19, 2020 memo that identifies workers engaged in the removal, storage, and disposal of residential and commercial solid waste and hazardous waste as essential infrastructure workers.
Please do not hesitate to contact Jesse Maxwell at or me at if you have any questions about this letter, or need assistance responding to the Coronavirus pandemic. Please stay safe and healthy.
NWRA resources are plentiful and include these:
COVID-19 WORK PRACTICES At this time CDC and OSHA are not issuing waste and recycling specific guidelines for the handling of waste and recycling materials related to COVID 19. If this changes, NWRA will alert its members. Use this industry guidance.
COVID-19 RESOURCES Resources and information provided by agencies and organizations.
Thank you!
Waste 360 will host its Global Waste Management Symposium 2020 at the Hyatt Regency Resort & Spa in Indian Wells, California, February 23-26, 2020.
The conference will feature world-class content, including innovative presentations by top industry experts; think technology, trends, critical issues, and scientific innovation; state-of-the-art breakthrough research; and showcases by leading suppliers of the latest solutions to the industry’s challenges. SCS Engineers professionals speaking this year include the following:
James Law will provide an Overview of ISWA’s Global Initiative on Closing Dumps, on Monday, February 24 at 2:00 pm (Track B: Waste Management Planning & Odor Control).
Alex Stege will evaluate the Local Effects of California’s Senate Bill 1383: Changes to Organic Waste Disposal & Impacts on Methane Generation, Recovery, and Emissions on Monday, February 24 at 2:00 pm (Track C: Organic Management Policy/Strategies).
Dr. Viraj DeSilva will deliver a presentation on PFAS Treatment – The Devil We Know and Need to Manage, on Tuesday, February 25 at 8:30 am (Track A: PFAS Management).
Dr. Gomathy Iyer will discuss the Suitability of Un-Composted Grass Clippings and Biosolids as Biocovers for Biological Methane Removal from Landfills on Tuesday, February 25 at 8:30 am (Track B: Landfill Covers).
Ray Huff will demonstrate The WAG: An Innovation in Landfill Gas Data Analysis on Tuesday, February 25 at 1:30 pm (Track B: Landfill Gas Management) and at the Fugitive Air Emissions Workshop on Wednesday, February 26 at 10:00 am.
Pat Sullivan will provide a Comparison of Organic Waste Management Options in Terms of Air Quality and GHG Impacts on Tuesday, February 25 at 3:30 pm (Track A: Life Cycle Assessment).
The Environmental Research & Education Foundation (EREF) is a strategic partner of this conference to deliver a program that is more technical, innovative and essential than ever before. The core education of GWMS is the submission of comprehensive abstracts in all areas related to solid waste engineering and management that have been vetted by GWMS’s committee of industry experts. The presentations will be given by researchers from top academic institutions and industry experts.
For the complete agenda, updates, and to register, visit the conference website.
This week the solid waste industry is celebrating 25 years of valuable research, inspiration, and support of solid waste professionals provided by the Environmental Research & Education Foundation. On Tuesday, industry leaders met to recognize EREF’s impact on the solid waste industry and acknowledge the role stakeholders play supporting the Foundation and sharing the resulting research.
EREF is a trusted source of data-driven, empirical science for the betterment of solid waste management and policy informing industry, federal and state agencies, academics, and the public. The foundation is also a resource for students and young professionals in the solid waste industry, by providing scholarships, internships, and MSW eTextbook programs. These programs inspire young professionals and ultimately add to EREF’s research and the industry as a whole.
EREF receives funding and participation from companies such as SCS Engineers to continue new research and scholarship programs such as the Robert P. Stearns Master’s Scholarship. The foundation is remarkably successful in producing unbiased reports, which translate ideas and data into action for sustainable waste management practices.
Thank you and congratulations from your colleagues at SCS Engineers for 25 years of scientific research and educational initiatives for the benefit of our industry and the communities we serve.
The City of Olathe, Kansas is the fastest growing municipality in the Kansas City metro area, and the Solid Waste Division Manager recognized that increasing population; new, single and multi-family home developments; and growth in commercial establishments would require additional services, resources, and infrastructure to continue the same excellent level of service. The City determined that a long-term, solid waste management plan (Plan) was necessary to address future waste management needs of the City, as well as optimize the performance and efficiency of existing waste management services and facilities.
Olathe’s long-term solid waste plan was a first for the City and resulted in creating tangible pathways to environmental and financial sustainability for the next several decades despite the cost of recycling programs. Customers and elected officials support the City’s approach, surpassing another sometimes-prickly hurdle.
In their recent APWA Reporter article, Karen Luken and Anastasia Welch of SCS Engineers describe how the Olathe Solid Waste Division now has a strategic approach and schedule for adding collection routes, increasing recycling, purchasing equipment, and expanding facilities.
This informative article, Strategic planning for sustainable and stakeholder-supported waste systems is available online at APWA.
Solid Waste Management Planning
Many state and provincial governments have begun promulgating policies and regulations that target the recycling of organics prompting local solid waste agencies to develop advanced municipal curbside collection programs.
A key question for local solid waste agencies to answer is, what types of organic wastes will be targeted for collection and processing? SCS Engineers covers this and other facets to consider as part of your plan, such as:
Read the full article by clicking here.
