SWANA’s turning 50, and we need you to be a part of the celebration.
Who’d have thunk it back in the waning days of 1961—when six Los Angeles area waste managers sat down to discuss the challenges they faced—that the get-together would spawn what is today SWANA, the world’s largest municipal solid waste association?
While it may not be a deep, dark secret, neither is SWANA’s Golden Jubilee the hottest topic on the airwaves, in cyberspace, or even print, so…let’s tell the world about it and take a pat on the back for ourselves as well.
To that end, I’m beating the bushes for photos and tales from you and your colleagues to help us tell the association’s story in a special 50th birthday celebration issue, a significant portion of which will consist of contributions from the people and businesses who have made our industry what it is today. That means you!
Interspersed throughout will be SWANA- or solid waste industry-related memories from you and your colleagues along with old pictures of equipment, places, and people from years long past.
Regarding illustrative materials, we’d prefer receiving scans. But if that’s not practical, just send me your old pictures; we’ll do the scanning on this end and promptly return the originals to you. If you have old product shots, send them to us along with whatever details you can recall. How about pictures of you and your staff taken at the GRCDA conference in ’73 …or from WasteCon last year in Nashville? Whatever the time frame or venue, we need your help telling the world what was going on, so please include the following:
* Who are the people and what were they doing?
*
Who were they working for?
*
What in the world were they thinking then…and now?
*
General description of the scene, including any equipment shown.
As for your memories, fun stories, remembrances, etc. please write them up as if you were being paid by the word. What do you remember from that conference in ’66? Who was there? What was the big buzz of the time? If it’s too long, we’ll edit it down a bit to fit into the printed issue, but we’ll run longer versions in the digital edition that will be posted online and available to anyone at no cost for years to come.
This is a big project and we’re already well under way, so time is of the essence. Please take a few minutes to get those old images and stories to me. I can accept material as late as April 30.
Please feel free to contact me anytime about this project. I can be reached here directly at 805-679-7619, online at www.forester.net/swana50/, or by e-mail at jtrotti@forester.net.
P.S. Here’s an example of the kinds of materials we’re looking for:
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| The Dapper Six (l-r): Harry King, Jerry Fairbanks, Bob Lawrence, Bill Larson, Lanny Hickman, and Bob Epler. |
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California Dreaming ... it was the 1978 GRCDA International Seminar and Equipment Show at the Sheraton Harbor Island Hotel where we went from a regional show to a real national one. We had Mike Curb, lieutenant governor of California, give an address at the opening day lunch, a golf tournament at the Torrey Pines Golf Course, dinner in Tijuana, and a full house at the show—so everyone was smiling and happy. We had attracted enough vendors that brought heavy equipment that we took the risk of holding the next year’s show in Phoenix and rented a real convention center for the first time rather than using the meeting space in the conference hotel.
It really was a great time, and it’s when Lanny coined his favorite quote of “this week, GRCDA belongs to the president, the rest of the year it’s mine.”
—Bob Epler
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Upcoming Forester University Webinars
April 18th, - May 25th, 2012
Sediment and Erosion Control
Master Class Series
Join industry expert and bestselling author Jerald S. Fifield, Ph.D., CISEC, CPESC and Tina R. Evans, PE, CISEC for a comprehensive 6-part online master class and workshop series (0.9 CEUs / 9 PDHs) exploring the ins and outs of effective sediment and erosion control plan design and review based on Fifield’s recently released 3rd edition of the bestselling manual Designing and Reviewing Effective Sediment and Erosion Control Plans (included in your Master Class Series package).
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April – May 2012
Water Auditing Master Series
3-Webinar Series
Learn the ins-and-outs of water auditing! Join 2010’s Speaker of the Year, Troy Aichele, LEED AP (O+M) of Aichele and Associates LLC for the Water Auditing Master Series, a 3-part webinar/webcast series focusing on getting you up-to-speed on the key attributes, uses, and opportunities in water auditing, as demonstrating step-by-step how to conduct a water audit, avoid the pitfalls, calculate payback periods, and incorporate these into your reports.
Series includes:
* Water Auditing 101: Introduction to Water Auditing
* How to Conduct a Water Audit and Avoid the Pitfalls
* How to Calculate Water Audit Payback Periods and Write Water Audit Reports
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April 18th, 2012
Evaluating Erosion, Sediment & Sedimentation
Go beyond the basics! Join Jerald S. Fifield and Tina R. Evans for the first installment of our advanced Sediment and Erosion Control Master Class Series, Evaluating Erosion, Sediment, and Sedimentation, exploring the differences between erosion, sediment and sedimentation and developing an understanding of these variables allowing for the quantification of erosion and sediment yield on a construction site.
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April 25th
Designing Effective Sediment Containment Systems for Construction
Are your containment systems effective? Join Jerald S. Fifield and Tina R. Evans for the second installment of our advanced Sediment and Erosion Control Master Class Series and the first part of our Effective Sediment Containment Systems Series, Designing Effective Sediment Containment Systems for Construction Sites, exploring a scientific and engineering assessment of parameters necessary to capture design size particles while flood flows are discharging from a containment system.
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April 26 th, 2012
BMP Nutrient Sources and Transformations -
How to Optimize Nutrient Removal in SCMs
Are your Stormwater Control Measures (SCMs) effectively removing nitrogen and phosphorus from runoff? Join Bill Lucas to explore how to select and design SCMs to improve nitrogen and phosphorus retention. After an overview of nitrogen and phosphorous forms, sources, and transformations, Lucas will discuss how nitrogen and phosphorus transformations can be optimized in SCMs; how to select and design SCMs for settings; and how to tailor these programs to meet TMDL requirements more cost effectively.
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May 2nd, 2012
Limitations of Commonly Found Construction Site Sediment Control
Are your temporary BMPs reliable? Join Jerald S. Fifield and Tina R. Evans for the third installment of our advanced Sediment and Erosion Control Master Class Series and the second part of our Effective Sediment Containment Systems Series, Limitations of Commonly Found Construction Site Sediment Control BMPs, exploring temporary BMPs, their limitations (e.g., barrier BMPs), and the principals and practice in assessing and evaluating the effectiveness of barrier BMPs.
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May 3rd, 2012
How to Conduct a Water Audit and Avoid the Pitfalls
Avoid the water auditing pitfalls! Join Troy Aichele, LEED AP (O+M) of Aichele and Associates LLC for How to Conduct a Water Audit and Avoid the Pitfalls on Thurs., May 3rd to learn the step-by-step process of performing a water audit; the key information, tools, equipment, rebates, and typical pitfalls in performing successful audits; and learn how to use a custom plumbing fixture water audit spreadsheet. Learn how to successfully conduct your own water audit and avoid common water auditing pitfalls to ensure your audit goes smoothly.
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May 31st, 2012
How to Calculate Water Audit Payback Periods and Write Water Audit Reports
Maximize your payback! Join Troy Aichele, LEED AP (O+M) of Aichele and Associates LLC for How to Calculate Water Audit Payback Periods and Write Audit Reports on Thurs., May 31st addressing the most essential skill in water auditing: how to calculate payback period and incorporate it effectively in your water audit report. Within this discussion, Aichele will explore how to calculate water audit improvement periods using a custom-built payback spreadsheet calculator; how to calculate use rates; how to incorporate savings, rebates and utility increases into your payback calculations; and how to write a water audit report letter incorporating water audit results and payback periods.
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