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The Business of Solid Waste and Recycling
Americans generate some 250 million tons of municipal solid waste per year. Our options include burying, recycling it, or burning it. Over half is disposed of in landfills, oftentimes across state lines. Recycling is still about a third of the total. The pros and cons of these options were hotly debated in a recent nationally-syndicated show, "The Diane Rehm Show" on National Public Radio. The panel of experts provide an interesting backdrop of the pros and cons of these options. In case you missed this show, here's a link to the radio segment, Click on this link
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Interesting Articles From the Trade Press | |
Collection
Is Portland's bi-weekly garbage pickup a future health hazard, The Skanner, February 16, 2012. For those communities interested in bi-weekly collelction.
More education needed on RFID chips, Waste&Recycling, February 21, 2012.
Flow Control
Dallas should start over on ill-advised trash law, Dallas News, February 13, 2012
Landfills
Other voices: is solar the right fit for your landfill, Waste&Recycling, February 21, 2012.
Nimby notes: heading south, Waste Age, February 17, 2012.
Planning
Lake looks at trash disposal options, Orlando Sentinel, February 16, 2012.
Privatization
City gives final ok to garbage pickup deal, Miami Herald, February 19, 2012.
City to explore cost of trash services, Lakeland Ledger, February 16, 2012.
OP council votes to privatize town's sanitation services, Clay Today, February 16, 2012.
Rates & Assessments
What led to garbage fee woes, Lakeland Ledger, February 12, 2012.
City seeks trash fee hike, Tampa Tribune, February 12, 2012.
Recycling
Lead by example? Council lags a bit, Tampa Bay times, February 16, 2012.
Parent company of area recycling firm files for bankrupcy, Gainesville Sun, February 7, 2012.
Recycling processor files for bankrupcy, Hernando Today. February 5, 2012.
Trucks
FMCSA adds phone use violations to CSA, Overdrive Trucker, February 3, 2012.
Waste-to-Energy
Less garbage leads Metro Vancouver to downsize waste fired plant, South Delta Leader, February 21, 2012.
Pennsylvania town rejects waste-to-energy plant, Waste&Recycling, February 16, 2012.
Fire erupts at incinerator, News Herald Panama City, February 13, 2012.
Marion looking for more trash - Marion needs more garbage if it'll be the first city in the nation to zap trash into energy, The Gazette, February 8, 2012.
New deal provides long term stability for sustainable waste management, Bloomberg News, February 6, 2012.
Waste Management partners with Fulcrum for waste to energy projects, Waste Age, November 18, 2011.
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The Crystal Ball | |
Fourth quarter earnings have just been reported for most of the major integrated waste management firms. Some of the trends expressed by the major "players" include the following:
- MSW volume outlooks appear to be improving.
- Residential and municipal contract business remains competitive.
- Price forecasts are below the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
- There is an attempt to balance overall price increases with retaining profitable commercial accounts.
- Internal cost-reduction initiatives are underway at these firms to maintain profitability.
- Spending on fleet acquisition in 2012 is focused on compressed natural gas (CNG) powered trucks to reduce energy costs.
Source: Courtesy of the The Circular File, February 22, 2012. |
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Upcoming Conferences |
- SWANA Landfil Gas Symposium, March 19-22, Orlando, FL.
- SWANA Alabama/Georgia Conference, April 2-4, Orange Beach, AL. SCS's Bruce Clark will presenting a paper on landfill solar caps
- RFT Annual Conference, June 3-5, St. Petersburg, Beach.
- SWANA Florida Summer Conference, June 24-26, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL. A Call for Papers has been just issued!
- WASTECON 2012, August 14-16, 2012, Washington,D.C.
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SCS Completes Landfill Benchmarking Study | |
The use of benchmarking information and data is only in its infancy for the solid waste industry in North America. Operational benchmarks and cost information are currently limited to specific surveys conducted by individual solid waste agencies for comparison purposes, and a larger survey of landfill owners and operators, which was conducted by SWANA for the first time in 2008. A review of the landfill benchmarking data collected by our firm provided a major landfill operator useful data and information on similarly-designed and operated landfills. This revealed opportunities to optimize efficiencies in terms of staffing, scheduling, and equipment.
Not only does SCS know about solid waste, we are first and foremost trash experts with more than 40 years helping communities improve their efficiency. Talk to us about your trash challenge! Dr. Marc Rogoff (813) 621-0080 We would like your feedback, thoughts, and suggestions as we create future issues of SCS Florida Solid Waste Planning eNews. Your input will be invaluable! |
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SCS in Print | | |
Bruce Clark, P.E., and Marc Rogoff, Ph.D, Turning Your Landfill Into a Solar Power Factory: New Technologies Provide More Opportunities is featured in the February 2012 issue of Waste Advantage Magazine.
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Recent Florida FDEP Rulemaking
The Department seeked approval from the Environmental Regulation Commission (ERC) for proposed amendments to Chapter 62-701, F.A.C., which contains regulations for a wide variety of solid waste facilities including landfills, construction and demolition debris disposal facilities and waste processing facilities. A number of simplifying changes are being proposed to the chapter with the goals of continuing environmental protection but also: (1) reducing unnecessary regulations; (2) reducing costs to the regulated community; (3) clarifying existing regulations; and (4) conforming the chapter to recent statutory changes. These measures will result in a significant savings to the regulated community while continuing to provide environmental protection.
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ES Consultants Has Joined SCS Engineers
ES Consultants became part of SCS Engineers on March 1, 2012 and operates under a new name SCS ES Consultants. Prior to joining SCS, ES Consultants was a Miami-based engineering services company with other offcies in West Palm Beach and Pensacola, Florida. As SCS's new South Florida presence, SCS-ES will continue to be leaders in the environmental and civil engineering fields focusing primarily on:
- Solid waste engineering and materials re-use
- Hazardous materials assessment and remediation
- Environmental compliance audits
- Civil engineering, site development design
- Storm water management
- Construction services
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