By John Hadfield

I hope my mother doesn’t find out what I am doing. She wanted me to be a doctor.”

“I am glad mom lives in another city, because I am too embarrassed to tell her about my job in the waste industry.”

“Why are there so few women working in our business?”

“There is no political ‘Upside’ to solid waste management.”

Have you ever felt like these people who said these things or have you ever been one of them? Do you feel proud to work in the industry, or does it make you a little uncomfortable to tell others about your profession?

I recently had the pleasure of attending the SWANA Senior Executive Seminar in Albuquerque, NM. These were a few of the opening comments as we introduced ourselves to each other, taking a few minutes to describe how we landed in this field. Certainly these comments were “tongue-in-cheek,” designed more to attract attention than to describe a true sense of self. Unfortunately, any time we suggest out loud a low self-image, others who hear us accept it as our reality and eagerly accept the joke. It has been said that it takes 20 positive statements about one’s self to overcome just one negative statement. In this industry we are saddled with plenty of negative images, from Jimmy Hoffa to Tony Soprano. We don’t need to add to them.

Self-Image includes these attributes:

• How you think you look, physically, to others
• How your personality comes across
• How much you like yourself
• What you think others think of you
• What kind of person you think you are

One caution is that one’s view of one’s self is shaped and distorted by that individual’s unique thoughts and beliefs and sometimes by other influences in life.

Image has to do with how others perceive us, and this, in turn, will affect how others relate to us. What do you think of yourself and of the others who work beside you day in and day out? Are you proud of your achievements and what you have accomplished? If given the chance, would you do it all over again in this field? Sure, you might very well do some things differently and better. You are more mature now. But would you still choose to work in the solid waste industry? Would you be proud enough to tell your mother “I want to work in solid waste when I graduate from this expensive college?”

Well, SWANA and those of us in the business have taken what used to be a job of last resort and recreated it as a professional level occupation. That was sorely needed. The EPA and our state regulatory agencies have required more professional level attention to how we manage our discards. We no longer dig a hole in the ground, fill it with trash and leave.

There is a large cadre of professional engineers, many SWANA members, who are designing landfills to protect the environment from the stuff our society tosses away. We now require operator certification for many of our top jobs in this field, not simply job experience or a degree. We began this movement by recognizing the connection between waste management and public health and safety. Now we recognize it even more.

When I reflect on this industry, the image that comes to me is one of environmental stewardship. Virtually every environmental pollution problem is caused by thoughtless disregard. Whether it’s a clean air issue or a clean water or groundwater problem, environmental problems come from lack of thought, care, or knowledge about the impact on the natural environment. We, on the other hand, are environmental stewards of the first order.

We also have another responsibility directly related to our roles in this industry. That responsibility is to see past the current rules and requirements to the next level—to anticipate where science, technology, public opinion and public policy will take this industry. Related to that is our obligation to tell others what it means to have this responsibility, to share the experiences, the challenges, and the satisfactions that come with doing work for the public good.

Part of the image building is whether we think of the job as simply just a job or think of it as a calling.

In the March/April edition of MSW Management, John Trotti asked how we can attract new and educated talent to this field—“What can we do to lure the best and the brightest” to this industry? How can we stimulate others to want to be a part of the field?

Perhaps it has to do with the legacy we leave those who come after us. I am proud of the legacy I leave to my children and grandchildren. I want them to understand and appreciate that whatever little contribution I have made has a lasting affect on the place they live, an affect on the environment that surrounds us all.

We have accomplished a lot and we should be proud. We have a lot to tell others about what we do to preserve the environment, how we have left this place and how they can be a part of that legacy. I think I would be proud to tell my mother, and I think she would be proud of such a vital profession.

John Hadfield is with the Southeastern Public Service Authority in Chesapeake, VA. He serves as a member of MSW Management’s Editorial Advisory Board.

MSW - July/AugustS 2006