Looking to talk more trash? Catch the first episode of our new audio series, "Talkin' Trash with Waste Dive," here.
In case you missed it: Thoughtful, newsworthy comments from industry professionals, consumers, and legislators.
"These guys are on every street and every alley throughout the city every week, 52 times a year ... They know their customers, they know their neighborhoods, they know when something's out of place."
— Ken Gimpel of the Spokane, WA Public Works Division in an interview with KXLY.com. Spokane, Kansas City, KS and various other cities across the nation have committed to working with local law enforcement to share observation from routes regarding criminal activity.
"The bottle bill works, and it has worked and will continue to work. Are there options in the future to improve it? You bet."
— Mick Barry, president of Mid America Recycling in Des Moines, IA, in an interview with The Des Moines Register regarding debates around axing the state's five-cent bottle deposit program. On Thursday, House Study Bill 163 was narrowly approved by Iowa's House Environmental Protection Committee, however lawmakers don't plan to advance the bill in 2017.
"The cost of technology has to come down. Our industry has to figure out a way to reduce the cost."
— Johannes Escudero, CEO and executive director of the Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas, in an interview with Waste Dive regarding various waste-to-energy technologies. Escudero notes that, while there is great potential for the industry to develop new facilities and projects, the "financial engineering" is proving to be a huge obstacle.
“Our most tried and true metric has always been the recycling rate, but there is growing clamor about its fundamental flaws."
— Katie Bailey, director of Eco-Cycle Solutions, in an interview with Sustainable Brands regarding the challenges of consumption-based metrics. Bailey explained that measuring zero waste progress is difficult due to the varying interpretations of what "zero waste" means.
"It’s score one for the little guy ... It’s such a slam dunk."
— Dennis Walker, representative of the class of plaintiffs in a suit against Kansas City, MO over trash rebates, in an interview with The Kansas City Star. Kansas City was ordered to pay $10 million for "knowingly, intentionally and deliberately" violating the terms of a 1976 order requiring rebate payments be made to multi-family buildings with seven or more units.
"We stood our ground and fought for a fair process, free of intimidation, and now we have it."
— Jordy Lopez, a worker at Sims Municipal Recycling center, following an agreement with Teamsters to hold on election on unionization. The election will be held Friday, and Waste Dive will be updating the story as it develops.