Back to Basics
SWANA’s Mission
Statement: Advancing the practice of environmentally and economically sound
management of municipal solid waste in North America.
Reflect on that
for bit and then ask yourself whether this is really the direction the solid
waste industry has been headed for the past several years. I think not; but if
not, is it because the ideas it expresses are no longer appropriate, or because
we, like our nation in general, found ourselves headed down a different
path?
I don’t know
how much of our national wealth has been squandered in the past year seeking
first to obscure a host of looming crises and then to apply a few useless
bandages to stanch the bleeding of activities whose basic flaws left them well
beyond repair or recovery. My guess, however, is that when historians 100 years
hence total up the damage, it will be in the multiple trillions of dollars
range, making the bailout figures released to date look like chicken-feed.
Even those in
charge of the most rock-ribbed institutions are having a tough time ignoring the
momentous changes taking place in the nation and around the globe. Many question
whether it makes sense to throw money and effort into perpetuating systems that
are no longer relevant to the emerging situation, yet here we are poised to go
back to the well again (and presumably again and again) in the hope that there’s
a magic elixir somewhere short of when the bucket hits bedrock.
My concern is
not that these infusions of money can’t produce a short-term appearance of
recovery, but, rather, what then? The list of “spend your way into prosperity”
historical success stories is virtually blank, yet here we go again flying into
the face of precedent.
Is it any
different in the world of waste? I worry how long it will take for the
revolution taking place all around us to fully impact our waste systems as well,
and for us to realize at a visceral level that not only will our practices be
affected, but that the basic assumptions on which we’ve built our present-day
programs and systems may no longer apply to the realities of a future coming at
us at the speed of heat.
We’ve seen
recycling taking a lot of flak in the media because of the collapse of
markets…mostly foreign since onshore markets have been bypassed in favor of
areas where labor rates are substantially lower. If indeed the pocketbook is the
basis for diversion rather than the environment, then who’s to say the critics
are wrong? But it certainly wasn’t the basis for the hierarchy, so what’s the
situation today? The real question is: What are we willing to do to create an
environment in which market-based recycling can take place?
If you want to
increase recycling, you have to convince the marketplace (i.e., the
manufacturers on the front side of the material equation who live in a
just-in-time environment) that you can meet their strict demands of quality and
timeliness 100% of the time with no excuse for failure allowed. To do this, you
need guaranteed processing all the way from receiving to shipping. In the waste
world, where a constant supply of specific materials is a pipe dream, this calls
for the maintenance of a reserve. Thus, if you want to convince manufacturers
that you’re a serious competitor to virgin materials suppliers, it’s my belief
that stockpiling—sequestration—should be accorded a place in the hierarchy.
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For certain, I
don’t know how to read tarot cards, and, even if I did, I couldn’t glean from
them how you should prepare for the uncertainties of the future. But what I do
know is that now is not the time to look to the recent past for answers, because
many of these practices—especially those leading to the outsourcing of
recyclables instead of working to ensure local markets—are the waste world’s
embodiment of stranded investment.
No,
it’s a return to fundamentals—approaches that focus firmly on the challenges
themselves and then to solutions free from preconditions and agenda of another
day and age—that will be our salvation. We need to wipe the slate clean and then
look at all the means available in the practice of environmentally and
economically sound management of municipal solid waste, and this
includes the development of market-oriented processing capabilities for
fostering genuine onshore recycling systems, along with the promotion of
efficient and effective waste-to-energy production practices. It is by
eliminating the artificial barriers of institutional thinking that we will
achieve greater environmental and societal benefits than ever before.
Author's Bio: John Trotti is the Editor of MSW Management magazine.
March-April 2009
Back to Basics
SWANA’s Mission
Statement: Advancing the practice of environmentally and economically sound
management of municipal solid waste in North America.
Reflect on that
for bit and then ask yourself whether this is really the direction the solid
waste industry has been headed for the past several years. I think not; but if
not, is it because the ideas it expresses are no longer appropriate, or because
we, like our nation in general, found ourselves headed down a different
path?
I don’t know
how much of our national wealth has been squandered in the past year seeking
first to obscure a host of looming crises and then to apply a few useless
bandages to stanch the bleeding of activities whose basic flaws left them well
beyond repair or recovery. My guess, however, is that when historians 100 years
hence total up the damage, it will be in the multiple trillions of dollars
range, making the bailout figures released to date look like chicken-feed.
Even those in
charge of the most rock-ribbed institutions are having a tough time ignoring the
momentous changes taking place in the nation and around the globe. Many question
whether it makes sense to throw money and effort into perpetuating systems that
are no longer relevant to the emerging situation, yet here we are poised to go
back to the well again (and presumably again and again) in the hope that there’s
a magic elixir somewhere short of when the bucket hits bedrock.
My concern is
not that these infusions of money can’t produce a short-term appearance of
recovery, but, rather, what then? The list of “spend your way into prosperity”
historical success stories is virtually blank, yet here we go again flying into
the face of precedent.
Is it any
different in the world of waste? I worry how long it will take for the
revolution taking place all around us to fully impact our waste systems as well,
and for us to realize at a visceral level that not only will our practices be
affected, but that the basic assumptions on which we’ve built our present-day
programs and systems may no longer apply to the realities of a future coming at
us at the speed of heat.
We’ve seen
recycling taking a lot of flak in the media because of the collapse of
markets…mostly foreign since onshore markets have been bypassed in favor of
areas where labor rates are substantially lower. If indeed the pocketbook is the
basis for diversion rather than the environment, then who’s to say the critics
are wrong? But it certainly wasn’t the basis for the hierarchy, so what’s the
situation today? The real question is: What are we willing to do to create an
environment in which market-based recycling can take place?
If you want to
increase recycling, you have to convince the marketplace (i.e., the
manufacturers on the front side of the material equation who live in a
just-in-time environment) that you can meet their strict demands of quality and
timeliness 100% of the time with no excuse for failure allowed. To do this, you
need guaranteed processing all the way from receiving to shipping. In the waste
world, where a constant supply of specific materials is a pipe dream, this calls
for the maintenance of a reserve. Thus, if you want to convince manufacturers
that you’re a serious competitor to virgin materials suppliers, it’s my belief
that stockpiling—sequestration—should be accorded a place in the hierarchy.
For certain, I
don’t know how to read tarot cards, and, even if I did, I couldn’t glean from
them how you should prepare for the uncertainties of the future. But what I do
know is that now is not the time to look to the recent past for answers, because
many of these practices—especially those leading to the outsourcing of
recyclables instead of working to ensure local markets—are the waste world’s
embodiment of stranded investment.
No,
it’s a return to fundamentals—approaches that focus firmly on the challenges
themselves and then to solutions free from preconditions and agenda of another
day and age—that will be our salvation. We need to wipe the slate clean and then
look at all the means available in the practice of environmentally and
economically sound management of municipal solid waste, and this
includes the development of market-oriented processing capabilities for
fostering genuine onshore recycling systems, along with the promotion of
efficient and effective waste-to-energy production practices. It is by
eliminating the artificial barriers of institutional thinking that we will
achieve greater environmental and societal benefits than ever before.