I’m off to Long Beach, CA, for SWANA’s annual main event. Chief among issues I’ll be digging into with attendees and exhibitors alike will be diversion in its various forms and how these interact and/or conflict with one another. Since the show is in California this year, it should be a good opportunity to gather firsthand information on the impasse that exists between those favoring and opposing full diversion credit for Conversion Technologies (CTs).
At the center of the controversy is AB-222, which cleared the California Assembly in the last session, but stalled out in the Senate’s Environmental Committee, where it will sit until the next session. When I return from Long Beach I hope to have a clearer picture of why environmental groups such as Californians Against Waste are so vigorous in their opposition to CTs, particularly since the waste component at issue is the 70% of the wastestream bound for landfills for which no recycling markets exist.
Then, of course, I’ll be looking at a wide variety of “sustainability” strategies and practices, including the use of CNG in collection and transfer vehicles, value-added methods for recyclables, and advances in LFGTE programs.
Finally I’ll have an opportunity to update my understanding of governmental regulatory and financial initiatives…a daunting task under the most stable of conditions.
If there are areas you’d like me to explore while there, or if you’re attending WASTECON and would like to chat, please e-mail me at editor@forester.net.