In case you missed it: Thoughtful, newsworthy comments from industry professionals, consumers, and legislators.
"A guy that plays fair and square doesn't have a chance."
— Dominic Tringali, founder and president of Troy, MI-based Tringali Sanitation, to Detroit Free Press regarding losing many contracts to Rizzo Environmental Systems over the years. Rizzo is now involved in a major federal corruption investigation in Michigan, however the company has not yet been charged with any criminal wrongdoing.
"[DSNY] is going to decrease waste drastically just with those basic steps. But zero waste? Come on. That’s absurd, what are they talking about?"
— New York-based activist Rob Greenfield in an interview with Waste Dive regarding the city's efforts to reach zero waste by 2030. In a recent social experiment, Greenfield wore all of the waste he created over the course of 30 days on his body like a suit to increase awareness about consumption and trash disposal.
"If the general public wants a dump that’s half full of out-of-state garbage, then that’s fine with me."
— Dana Snowman, a critic of Casella's plans to expand Maine's Juniper Ridge Landfill, to Maine Public Radio. Snowman believes that an expansion of the site will only lead to environmental troubles and not have many benefits toward the surrounding area or state of Maine.
"I've been in this business 30 years ... When I saw the amount of coins coming out of that one plant, it was absolutely an eye-opener."
— Steve Bossotti, Covanta’s senior vice president of metals management, to Bloomberg regarding the estimated $62 million in coins that Americans throw in the trash annually. Covanta recovers about $360,000 of those coins per year with magnets and they plan to open a facility next year that can better sort aluminum, copper and coins.
"This is an intelligent alternative to improve our environment ... We have a problem with waste in this country, and recycling solid waste is a viable system that will produce energy to provide to our homes, schools and businesses.''
— New Jersey Sen. Bob Smith to NJ.com regarding a proposed state bill that would require large businesses to separate and recycle organics for use in waste-to-energy facilities. The bill would begin to roll out in 2019 and continue taking effect until 2022, depending on the size and volume of waste generation from the establishment.
"RCRA is one of the great environmental success stories of the past 40 years."
— SWANA CEO David Biderman to Waste Dive regarding the nation's top solid waste law, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The EPA will soon be hosting a "RCRA Next" event that will look at the program's role over the next 40 years as the industry figures out the best ways to develop and improve current waste management standards.