In case you missed it: Thoughtful, newsworthy comments from industry professionals, consumers, and legislators.
"The unsung opportunity all long has been CNG."
— Jon T. Gabrielsen, author of a report titled "Alternatively Powered Commercial Vehicles: Global Markets," which examined 10 alternative fuels for commercial vehicles. The report showed that CNG fuel has remained very competitive in the market despite low diesel fuel costs.
"Take a close look when you walk around or drive around today. Your eyes will be assaulted by a steady stream of Styrofoam coffee cups, empty 'nip' bottles, plastic beverage containers, and the most littered item on planet Earth—cigarette butts. We may as well rename our state Trashachusetts."
— Keep Massachusetts Beautiful Founder and Executive Director Neil Rhein on the state's littering problem. Rhein wrote that over the past three years, an average of 90,000 bags of trash have been collected from major highways annually.
"We used to have health problems, high blood pressure, and tiredness because of inactivity, but I am now active."
"We have had employees in the past who have gotten stuck with a needle ... It's a scary situation."
— Amanda Davidson, a spokeswoman for Penn Waste, on a recent spike that the company has seen in needles coming through the recycling center. Penn Waste believes the sources of the needles are consumers with medical conditions who regularly inject medications, or illegal drug users.
"We should ask ourselves, why are we using materials that take hundreds of years to break down in nature to drink from once and then throw away?"
— Ari Jónsson, a product design student at Iceland Academy of the Arts, on the global issue of plastic pollution. Jónsson recently developed an algae-based bottle that decomposes as soon as it is emptied—a solution that is not yet perfected, but is a step in the right direction for a more sustainable alternative to plastic.
"That’s really the way you have to look at solid waste ... It affects everyone, and everybody has a role in it."
— Angela Futter, public education coordinator for the Louisville, KY Department of Public Works, to Waste360 on the city's efforts to create a 10-year Solid Waste Master Plan. The plan is aimed to help Louisville and Jefferson County reach its 90% diversion goal by 2042.