In case you missed it: Thoughtful, newsworthy comments from industry professionals, consumers, and legislators.
"It's hard work and physically demanding...You are always watching out for cars and kids and people crossing the street, but I've learned how to work really hard."
— Will Montolla, a member of a driver apprenticeship program run by Waste Management and Oakland, CA-based Civicorps, as reported by SF Gate. The program gives local residents the opportunity to enter the waste industry — and potentially become a full-time employee — through proper driver training.
"When I went out with our crews on their collections, my jaw was on the floor – I could not believe what I was seeing and the danger the crews were facing every day due to reckless drivers."
— Lawrence Emerson, Biffa’s head of health and safety, to CIWM regarding how reckless driving is affecting waste professionals in the U.K. Biffa began a new campaign, Driving Recklessly on Pavements (DROPS), to increase prosecutions of reckless drivers.
"His compassion for those less fortunate, his commitment to and his endless efforts for his community are making the world a better place — one person, one family at a time. He is a very special man who is making a big difference."
— Waste Management President and CEO Jim Fish to Waste Dive in reference to employee Arnold Harvey. Harvey won Hauler Hero in the 2016 Dive Awards for the waste industry due to his over-the-top efforts to help others in the community he serves.
"When you think about it, in our country we spend all of this money digging holes in the ground to harvest coal, only to turn around and spend more money taking organic matter that we could be burning as an energy source, and instead putting it back in the ground. It's a waste."
— Former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum in a speech to Tennessee's Bi-County Solid Waste Board, as reported by The Leaf-Chronicle. Santorum is now touring through parts of the state to push waste-to-energy initiatives on behalf of Connecticut-based VikingPeak Energy.
"Let's face it, there are areas in this county where you are dodging garbage — we don't want to be that."
—Pompano, FL Solid Waste Manager Russ Ketchem in an interview with the Sun Sentinel. Pompano, along with Fort Lauderdale, has invested in new automated waste collection boats to pull debris out of the canals.
“Is this anti-consumer and counterproductive to the shop local movement?”
—Massachusetts Retail Association Vice President Bill Rennie in reference to a proposed bag fee in Boston, as reported by the Boston Herald. The 5-cent fee would apply to both plastic and paper single-use bags and could potentially set the precedent for a statewide bill.