Kicking off the second day of ISWA World Congress/WASTECON was ISWA and SWANA’s award program and SWANA’s annual business meeting. Attendees came to the ballroom early in the morning eager to hear about SWANA’s past year and who was elected to the 2018 board. SWANA’S Executive Director and CEO, David Biderman made remarks about how the organization’s membership was at an all-time high with more than 9,000 members, almost 1,000 Young Professionals and more than 300 student members. He stated that it was time to move forward as a stronger, smarter and more relevant organization in every chapter division and through leadership and technical divisions in order to ensure that SWANA was successful. Afterwards, the SWANA Excellence Awards were given out and all the organizations throughout the industry who had developed innovative ideas and solutions in the fields of education and communication, collection, waste to energy, transfer stations and others were recognized in this special ceremony. In addition, ISWA took the stage and gave out their own awards in the categories of Video, Communication and Publication.
The special event led right into the Megacities Solid Waste Leaders Panel, with speakers like Kathryn Garcia, New York City’s Commissioner in the Department of Sanitation; Jim McKay, General Manager for Solid Waste Management Services in the City of Toronto; and Carlos Silva Filho, the Vice President of ISWA who spoke on Brazil. Each experts talked about their challenges and successes within their own regions and gave advice on what the attendees could do if faced with similar situations.
Other Keynote presentations included talks on The New Plastics Economy and a Marine Litter Showcase, while smaller sessions focused on waste management challenges, automation, smart cities and the technologies that help make them so, resource recovery strategies, working groups and more. The exhibit hall was also open from mid-morning to the afternoon to allow attendees to take advantage of seeing the solutions and products that the companies had to offer for their particular needs. The exhibit hall was packed with those eager to chat and networking with companies and other professionals who had the same challenges.
Tuesday night, the Networking Gala at Camden Yards offered attendees food, drink and entertainment and everyone full took advantage of the time to relax and have a good time. A great band was playing and attendees and SWANA members alike got their groove on and partied until they dropped.
Wednesday morning held not only a Safety Super Session but also a keynote talk on Global Biogas Opportunity, Closing Dumpsites as well as a variety of other topics throughout the morning. In fact, once the final keynote was finished on Closing Dumpsites, David Biderman presented one of the speakers, Timothy Bouldry, Program Director of the ISWA Scholarship Programme, with a check for $45,000 to add to the scholarship fund. Bouldry was surprised and grateful for such a generous donation and SWANA was proud to be a supporter of the program. Afterwards, final talks were made, including the presentation of the final results of the working groups collaborating together to create solutions for timely problems — closing dumpsites, increasing recycling participation and product package design/circular economy. Biderman made enthusiastic remarks on what an incredible week it had been and how the event had reinforced great partnership with ISWA as well as moving forward together. The ISWA World Congress baton was passed onto the World Management Association of Malaysia who has the honor of hosting the World Congress next year in Kuala Lampur in October. In the end, Baltimore’s Mayor Pugh made the final remarks on the show, what everyone learned and experience and thanked all for the opportunity to host this important event.
The exhibit hall opened one last time in the afternoon to offer attendees one last chance to see the latest technologies and solutions, then the 2017 ISWA World Congress/WASTECON ended on a high note Wednesday afternoon. WASTECON will return in 2018 to Nashville, TN at the Gaylord Opryland from August 20 – 23. We will see you there!
