Reader Profile: John Hassis

John Hassis’ atypical career path took him from ministry to management of the St. Louis (MO) County Health Department’s solid waste program. Even his job is unusual, he says. “Nearly every municipal government owns a landfill, transfer station, recycling center or collects trash. I’m one of the few who regulates the industry without owning any facilities.”

His program’s focus is public health protection through licensing facilities and regulating trash hauling and recycling. The program also finances recycling and waste diversion efforts with landfill fees. The West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton, MO—which hasn’t accepted new wastes since 2005—has radioactive material on one part and a subsurface oxidation event on another in addition to odor problems leading to public discontent, notes Hassis. While its problems are rooted in past action, Hassis’ goal is to reduce the potential for another problem through minimizing landfill disposal.

“My job is to implement and maintain an integrated solid waste management control system for the county,” says Hassis.

The county’s one million residents live on 560 square miles, with 90 incorporated municipalities contracting their own waste hauling services; the county handles collection bids for unincorporated areas. As vice director of SWANA’s planning and management division, Hassis takes note of other operations’ missions, of which he says economics is a driving factor. Higher tipping fees on the East Coast drive waste-to-energy technology development which would not be feasible in his area with lower tipping fees, he says. Landfill waste reduction is a Catch-22 for many authorities, he points out, as waste revenues fund operations.

What He Does Day to Day
In addition to his day job duties, Hassis conducts events, organizes, and provides training for his SWANA work, which also includes presiding over the local chapter. Planning and management is the “umbrella” of all other SWANA efforts in landfill gas, recycling, communication, and education because it’s all part of an integrated system, he says.

What Led Him to This Line of Work
After earning a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Missouri-Columbia, Hassis worked in a state-run air pollution control program. His life took a dramatic twist after six years, when he left the engineering field to go into pastoral church ministry for 17 years. He returned to engineering, doing building code plan review, before hiring on in his present post 10 years ago.

“I really didn’t know anything about it,” Hassis says. “But I do like environmental regulatory control, so I thought this ought to be interesting.”

What He Likes Best About the Job
Hassis has gone from being a “servant” of his congregants to a public servant. “I enjoy helping people,” he says. “Everyone has trash and I have oversight over all of it. It’s a lot of customer service, trying to relay to people the public health benefits and sometimes having them do things they don’t want to do or don’t understand why they need to do it.”

His pastoral work notwithstanding, “this is the most interesting, fun job I ever had,” notes Hassis. “I enjoy being able to direct a group of people with a common goal, pulling out their talents and abilities. There are so many things to research and get metrics about to figure out how we’re going to do it here. It’s more than just public health protection—a good goal in itself—but it’s also about economic viability. For the companies we regulate, their bottom line is making money and if they can’t, they’re not going to be happy with us.”

His Greatest Challenge
“One size does not fit all in solid waste regulations or strategies,” says Hassis. Circumstances, solid waste mix, and public sentiment must be considered for an effective integrated solid waste system, he adds.

“My biggest worry as a regulator is forcing something in the wrong direction that doesn’t accomplish what we thought it would and hurts more than it helps,” he says. “I’m very conscious into looking into what we’re doing, how we’re going to do it, get stakeholder input, best management practices and put all of that together in a program that may not work anywhere else, but will work here in St. Louis County.”