I just got finished holding a phone conference with members of my editorial advisory board, looking to pick their brains for editorial ideas…and, boy, were my expectations met.
Of the several topics up for discussion, the most provocative had to do with the difficulty of arriving at a standardized methodology for calculating diversion performance rather than the hodgepodge of practices that seem to do more to obscure than illuminate the situation.
As the discussion progressed, the notion that there might be many municipalities that really didn’t know the fate of the materials entrusted to their care under the banner of waste management began to rankle me until one of the participants asked, “Why don’t municipalities make accurate accounting a contractual requirement?” Why not indeed?
Indeed, were SWANA’s Applied Research Foundation, for instance, be tasked to develop a standard system for waste and diversion accounting, and promote it through the organization’s chapters, how long would it take to bring the chaotic situation we now face under control? Better still, who could oppose this?
Please…please…give me your thoughts on this.