In case you missed it: Thoughtful, newsworthy comments from industry professionals, consumers, and legislators.
"Having Scott Pruitt in charge of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is like putting an arsonist in charge of fighting fires."
— Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune in a statement regarding president-elect Donald Trump's selection for EPA chief. Scott Pruitt, who is currently the Oklahoma Attorney General, has a history of criticizing the EPA and is a strong advocate for state-based regulatory approaches.
"When I or our advocacy team goes to Capitol Hill, we’re known on the Hill as plastics ... I don’t say I’m with SPI. I say I’m with plastics."
— Bill Carteaux, president and CEO of the newly-named Plastics Industry Association, as reported by Plastics News. The Society of the Plastics Industry changed its name and logo this week to reflect a new focus on all six facets of the industry's supply chain, including brand owners, material suppliers and recyclers.
"The best part of this bill is that it gives us an opportunity to correct this bad behavior with 'ironic punishment' — as some offenders could be cleaning up the very mess they made."
— Staten Island Minority Leader Steven Matteo to SILive.com regarding a new bill that aims to curb illegal dumping. The bill would give judges the option of requiring 70 hours of community service for illegal dumping rather than issuing a fine.
"While we understand what the city has done and why they’ve done it, we’re a bit disappointed with it."
— Harvest Power spokesman Stephen Bruyneel to Vancouver Sun regarding the city of Richmond in BC, Canada deciding to divert all organic material from the company's facility. The switch is due to more than 1,200 odor complaints coming in over the past year regarding Harvest Power's composting facility.
"Especially for the little ones, this is like a dream come true ... They are seeing the truck up close and in person."
—Phoenix Public Works Department employee Yvette Roeder to AZFamily.com regarding the city's sanitation workers bringing holiday gifts to children along collection routes. Throughout 2016, the industry has seen how fascinated children become with garbage trucks, often befriending the workers who collect their waste each week.
"If there's such a thing as a worst practice in recycling, I think baling unsorted recyclables and shipping them hundreds of miles to be un-baled and re-sorted is probably it."
—Dan Ezekiel, Ann Arbor, MI resident and a co-founder of Recycle Ann Arbor, in an interview with MLive regarding the city's current recycling system. Ann Arbor is currently considering proposals from three companies that wish to run the city's MRF next year.