A new year is bringing some changes to the magazine.
Each month, companies announce new regional sales representatives, chief operating officers and even CEOs. Changes in leadership—particularly at the top—can alter the course a company takes in the ensuing years. We’ve decided to give these important personnel announcements their own place in our magazine, beginning on Page 12 in this edition, where you can learn about big changes at Doosan Infracore North America (now Develon), Mack Trucks and more.
Waste Today also has launched a podcast series called “New Voices,” which readers can learn more about on Page 50. The new podcast features new faces to the waste and recycling industry. Listeners can learn more about how these up-and-comers joined the waste and recycling industry, what they’ve learned so far and the challenges they’ve faced since entering the field.
Another area relatively new to the waste industry is the increasing importance of environmental justice (EJ) and the need for more diverse opinions in conversations surrounding solid waste facilities. Unfortunately, waste management facilities often are in under-resourced communities, which must learn to live with the negative effects those facilities can sometimes produce. Addressing the inequities created by siting decisions that could have taken place decades ago can be complicated, costly endeavors for companies. Fortunately, “We won’t achieve what we don’t measure,” an article penned by Eugenia Manwelyan, a project manager for Gershman, Brickner & Bratton, starts on Page 40 and describes a systematic process that companies can initiate to address EJ challenges.
Another complicated matter that affects the industry is the challenge landfill operators face when trying to track nonmethane organic compound (NMOC) emissions. Since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) updated its New Source Performance Standards, operators need to be aware of when they reach the lowered 34 megagrams per year (mg/yr) threshold for NMOC emissions, at which point they need to install a landfill gas (LFG) collection and control system (GCCS). Our story “Under control,” starting on Page 28, describes how Houston-based WM’s Gray Wolf Regional Landfill in Dewey, Arizona, worked with SCS Engineers to install a GCCS within 30 months after crossing that 34 mg/yr threshold.
Some of the landfill technologies we’ve been learning about have been particularly interesting to me, including the increased use of drones to help monitor potential LFG leaks, a practice SCS says it has taken up in some locations. Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Sniffer Robotics has received EPA permission to use drone technology to prescreen for surface emissions at landfills. To learn more, see our Product Spotlight department on Page 48.
Following along with game-changing technology affecting landfills and other areas of the environmental services industry certainly has become one of my favorite aspects of my work, and I look forward to hearing about more innovations throughout the year.