WASTECON® Texas Brings Together Professionals from Across the Industry

This year’s WASTECON focused on networking, education and leadership across the board by offering many great opportunities to learn and meet with experts in their fields.  

At the end of August, attendees from all over converged upon Grapevine, TX at the fabulous Gaylord Texan to talk waste and recycling with their peers at the 52nd annual WASTECON® organized by the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA). With a great venue, networking activities, celebrations, technology showcases, educational sessions and more, WASTECON® 2014 was the place to be. Below are some highlights from this year’s show that got you talking and some that you may have missed.

SWANA Certification Celebration Recognizes Elite Group of Individuals

Each year, hundreds of solid waste professionals show their commitment to the industry by becoming SWANA certified and this year was no different. The 4th annual SWANA Certification Celebration on Sunday, August 24, recognized those who have put in the dedication to become part of this elite group of individuals. The evening kicked off with a relaxing cocktail reception where Celebration attendees could grab a drink and mingle before sitting down to a dinner buffet and the recognition ceremony. SWANA instructor, Joe Williams emceed the night and started off the celebration with a bit of SWANA trivia, which included industry and organization questions. After Brian Tippetts, incoming SWANA President, welcomed the audience, Williams segued into the importance of the certification program and how successful it was this year, calling out the Deputy Director of SWANA, Sara Bixby, up to the stage to give out the awards. The honorees included Robert Stalford, recognized for currently holding the most SWANA certifications, W. Farrell Kid for being SWANA certified the longest amount of time and the Northern Lights Chapter, which certified the most individualsin the past year. James Lapp, SWANA International BoardMember, said “Our Chapter Board was absolutely thrilledabout this honor. We have a very engaged board that reallyfocuses on training. We’ve developed our own faculty who arereally very passionate about training and in our chapter we arefinding that members and even non-members are looking fortraining and they come to us for it, so we end up doing morecourses and more training. They see the need for it, they arelooking for it and we are there.”

SWANA Breakfast Honors the Best in the Solid Waste Industry

WASTECON®’s annual SWANA awards ceremony honored those waste industry professionals and organizationswhose programs have stood out in this past year. The ExcellenceAwards recognized organizations for their outstanding programsand facilities, the Professional Achievement Awards honored individualsfor their personal contributions to the profession and SWANA andthe Faculty Awards recognized the valuable work and commitment ofvolunteers who develop and teach SWANA’s training courses. DavidHorinek, SWANA’s outgoing President first welcomed special guestsand recognized past presidents of the organization. As part of theevent, Michelle Leonard, SWANA’s Vice President presented the AnnualBusiness Meeting minutes and financial report from Long Beach,CA and SWANA’s Executive Director, John Skinne shared threehighlights of the organization, including: 1) the financial reservesare at the highest point, 2) the end of the year membership is at anall time high (nearly 8,400 members) and 3) the 17th annual WorldCongress may take place in the U.S. for the first time in many years.

Rich Allen introduced the 2015 International Board Officers and Horinek passed the Presidential torch to Brian Tippetts, who was gracious in his acceptance, talking for several minutes on putting the focus on education and ways people can engage more in the industry as well as what he would like to accomplish in his term as President; he then presented Horinek with the Past President’s Award. The ceremony also honored SWANA Unsung Heroes and the WASTECON® 2014 Local Committee. Awards given included:

• Communication – City of Guelph, ON (Gold)
• Public Education – ReThink Waste, CA (Gold)
• Marketing – The County of Simcoe (Gold)
• Recycling Systems – Republic Services North Texas Recycling Center (Gold)
• Composting Systems – Monterey Regional Waste Management District, CA (Gold)
• Special Waste Management – Montgomery County, OH (Gold)
• Waste-to-Energy – City and County of Honolulu, HI H-Power (Gold)
• Professional Achievement Award – Warren N. Smith
• Life Member Award – Lannie Brant
• Robert L. Lawrence Distinguished Service Award – Stephen G. Tomczewski
• Honorary Member Award – Dr. Mike Biddle
• Chapter Award – Largest Membership Increase – The Northern Lights Chapter
• Chapter Award – Largest Percentage Membership Increase – The Central California Sierra Chapter
• Commitment to Service – Matt Cotton, S.C.
• Tenured Faculty of the Year – William Teter, S.C.
• Most Certifications by a Faculty Member – Joe Williams, S.C.
• Collection Systems – City of Kissimmee, FL Sanitation Dept. (Silver)
• Transfer Station – King County, WA Bow Lake Recycling & Transfer Station (Gold)
• Landfill Management – Southern Idaho Regional Solid Waste District (Silver)
• Landfill Remediation – Escambia County, FL Saufley Field Road C&D Landfill (Silver)
• Landfill Gas Utilization – Gaston County, NC (Silver)
• Integrated Solid Waste Management Systems – Gaston County (Silver)

Congratulations to all who were honored this year!

WASTECON® 2014 Focuses on Training, Leadership and Thinking Outside of the Box

WASTECON®’s educational sessions this year put more of a focus on leadership and training, while also addressing the ever-present issues of regulations, landfill management, planning, recycling, waste conversion, collection and transfer operations and more. At the same time as the sessions were occurring, attendees were also taking SWANA certification exams as well as taking advantage of the SWANA training center, full-day sessions focusing on collection operations and systems, composting programs, solid waste management systems, and managing recycling systems.

In addition, two great, dynamic Mega Sessions kept attendees on their toes as they focused on helping companies create job satisfaction and preparing for the changing workforce. The first session featured this year’s Lawrence Lecturer, Kenneth Baylor from Progressive Waste Solutions, who interwove his experiences and advice to make for an informative session. He touched on the problem with the industry’s image and how we need to change the perceptions, the fact that people are your most important asset and breaking old habits. He stressed that company leadership has to find a way to keep people motivated with lots of opportunity, respect, sharing knowledge and recognizing the great work employees do everyday. Brian Tippetts, SWANA President, was the moderator for the session and before the session ended, he challenged the audience to take the time to think about what they heard and to use it in their personal and professional life.

The following Mega Session, featuring speaker Sarah Sladek and introduced by Michelle Leonard, SWANA Vice President, was aimed at preparing the audience and leadership for the changing workforce. She went through the different generations of work cultures, how each of them think, react and respond to a variety of situations and how to complement their styles and talents. Sladek aslo touched on the next biggest workforce, Generation Y as well as Generation Z, both of whom have grown up with technological devices in their hands. She stressed the demographic shift and that waste management jobs have the potential to grow 10% each year (according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics), but that the industry’s challenge is to keep people interested in wanting to work in this job culture. Finally, she presented a series of questions for the audience to think about in their companies, with regards to knowledge, responsibility, delivering value and other factors for retaining employees. It was a great lecture, followed by a Q&A session that allowed the attendees to ask her about their own unique situations.

Exhibits Feature New Technologies and Opportunities for Customized Solutions

Each day, the exhibit show floor was a flurry of activity that included attendees visiting with exhibitors and learning about new technologies, services, products, customized solutions to fit their needs and more while renewing friendships and developing new relationships with those who could help them solve a particular problem or show them a more efficient way of the waste and recycling process. The trade show reception at the end day on Wednesday, August 27, allowed even more networking opportunities at the SWANA Break Zone by offering fun, food and drinks to everyone on the floor. SWANA’s Break Zone in the middle of the exhibit floor also gave attendees the opportunities to take a break from the activities and enjoy refreshments and good company while talking to the SWANA staff about their take on the industry. In addition, at the end of each day raffle drawings were held for cash prizes and on Thursday, a drawing was held for a detailed quilt that represented the great state of Texas.

Receptions and Parties Keep WASTECON Rocking Throughout the Week

WASTECON® 2014’s Welcome Reception on Monday evening, August 25, included fun, food and great networking all night long. Starting at 7:00 at the Texan Station Pub in the middle of the Gaylord Texan’s atrium, the venue filled up quickly with

people coming in to see old friends, create new contacts, watch some sports and have a good time. Stretching from the front of the restaurant to the back, groups kicked back and enjoyed food and dessert in a great atmosphere that lent itself to the overall look and feel of the hotel. And the party lasted long after the end time of 9:00 with groups staying for more drinks, conversations, or retiring to a quieter part of the hotel to relax and get ready for the week. Everyone looked forward to the show’s opening ceremonies, seeing what would be featured in the exhibit hall as well as the technical sessions offered during the week.

On Wednesday night, August 27, attendees partied the night away at the Glass Cactus nightclub at the final event of the show, the networking reception hosted by the Texas Chapter of SWANA. Located on the Gaylord Texan’s property, attendees and exhibitors hopped on the hotel shuttle to arrive at the night’s venue which started just after the close of the show floor. Featuring a fabulous outdoor patio with a great view of Grapevine

Lake, people came prepared to relax, converse and dance the night away on the nightclub’s 2,000 square foot dance after a hard day’s work. As the sun went down, the atmosphere was lit up with lights, laughter and smiles all around as people grabbed drinks from one of the venue’s four signature bars which were about as big as the nightclub itself. Relationships and friendships were renewed and there was lots of networking all around. It was a great way to relax and close out the show’s night time celebrations.

Thank you to everyone who attended this year’s WASTECON®! We look forward to seeing you again in Florida next year.

For more information about WASTECON® 2015 or to enter your facility for SWANA’s 2015 awards, visit www.swana.org.