A Message from Keith Howard, Solid Waste Committee Chair 2008-2009:
Welcome to the APWA website for the Solid Waste Technical Committee.
One of the main responsibilities of Public Works is management of infrastructure. These examples are best represented by the visual features we see in our everyday lives such as roads, bridges, and parks. Management of Solid Waste is the invisible infrastructure that helps keep our communities clean, safe and healthy. Residents of our communities are content with knowing that the materials placed at the curb before leaving work are gone when they return. What happens next and how it happens is not often part of the resident’s conscious thought. It is through the efforts of solid waste professionals in Public Works that this system operates smoothly, economically, and in an environmentally sound manner.
The Solid Waste Committee represents a diverse background of professionals that track changes in the solid waste landscape. With the increased emphasis on climate change, carbon footprints, and sustainability, the Solid Waste field has been at the forefront of these issues and will continue to provide strong contributions to the future of our communities as well as APWA. APWA’s commitment to environmental responsibility in regards to internal operations as well as Congress in a great example of this Committee’s efforts. As seen in New Orleans, the amount of paper waste that was not generated was a big success. We look forward to this trend continuing in Columbus in 2009 and beyond.
Some of the issues that we, as a Committee, will focus on during the upcoming year include transportation issues in light of rising fuel costs, recycling outreach, and new waste conversion technologies. We are greatly pleased at the participation levels for our first Click, Listen and Learn program in some time and look forward to bringing another exiting topic for the summer of 2009. We are proud of our recent publication the “Solid Waste Pocket Guide”. This booklet is a quick resource guide that includes all of those facts and figures that we, as Solid Waste professionals, use regularly but often forget. The Committee is also evaluating ideas for certification that may be of benefit to the Public Works field.
With our roots firmly grounded in recycling, we look forward to the solid waste challenges ahead. We welcome participation from APWA members in the ongoing efforts of the Committee. We encourage APWA members to solicit and search for information through the InfoNOW communities as well as the many other educational opportunities presented by APWA. Please contact members of the committee if there are issues that need more information or collaboration to help us help the rest of APWA in improving solid waste activities.
If you are interested in working with the committee on any of the topic areas above or have new ideas, please contact myself or any of the other committee members. Our contact information is linked below.
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