MSW Management | Editorial

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The Times They Are A-Changin

By Peter Kuniholm

Sustainability, “going green,” or conservation in all its many forms has turned an important corner. This past year we’ve seen a fairly dramatic increase in awareness of conservation/sustainability issues, in no small part due to steep increases in energy costs and measurable as well as perceived impacts of climate change. We’ve watched some of our largest private solid waste firms repositioning themselves as “environmental companies,” and major industries are lining up to tout their green credentials and reduce their carbon footprints. While the original Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) framers had a vision in 1976 when this name was coined, it was a bit fuzzy as to how it would all unfold. Aside from the well-known hazardous-waste sections, the goals of the RCRA included the mandate to “Conserve energy and natural resources by recycling and recovery.” The EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and the states’ environmental agencies undertook a host of initiatives including mandating landfill standards, promoting recycling, and undertaking many types of waste cleanup efforts, many of them aimed at regulatory enforcement with penalties for noncompliance. A lot has been accomplished in 30 years, but I believe it’s time for a new paradigm. The buzzwords today are about redefining “waste” in terms of sustainable materials, renewable energy, and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Energy-environmental issues are pushing us towards a much broader base of public support. The average layman and the average businessperson have begun to “connect the dots,” becoming more aware of the interdependency of energy costs, diminishing supply of materials and resources, national security, and global pollution. And market-based solutions involving biofuels and waste/biomass feedstocks from recycled materials and more local metrics are emerging with the potential of becoming economically viable in the foreseeable future. How does all of this affect the New York solid waste industry and the things we are planning for today and tomorrow? These questions are timely as the DEC begins the process of developing a new State Solid Waste Plan.

How to “think globally and act locally?” The challenge is to take the next leap forward, to think beyond this generation, and to plan for the future, but in a way that also works economically today.

Some are advocating a “zero waste” approach, others are thinking about aggregating “post-consumer wastes” into “bioenergy ecoplatforms” (this is your present landfill complex) aiming at ways to convert wastes back into energy or salable materials. All of this will require education and planning—and will no doubt take a while to implement—but it is the vision we ultimately need to cultivate. Three major legs of this platform include: 1) “waste” reduction/recovery; 2) energy and materials conservation; and 3) conversion of remaining materials into usable energy or commodities.

Changing the general attitude from one in which residual wastes must be destroyed or forever entombed to one in which we and the public (eventually) view them as recoverable materials, energy, or bio-industrial feedstocks is the goal. To move in this direction will require creative partnerships that bring together enlightened, long-term arrangements, public and private, that are facilitated by a new and flexible management hierarchy at the local, state, and national levels.

It’s obvious that future sitings of traditional landfills or expansions will have a finite but critically important trajectory. They are often perceived as a nuisance; costs are going up, and we haven’t yet learned how to reposition ourselves and our “feedstocks” onto the recovery, energy, and ecological platforms of the future. But competing solutions must become progressively more economical. Why not lean toward the future, educating ourselves, our friends, and our neighbors and beginning the planning process for what could reasonably be done now to develop safe, sustainable, and economical solutions for our grandchildren? We can all do more to reduce our waste and energy needs right now. We may not all agree (or need to agree) on just what to do, but we can move the ball forward by opening a new dialogue focusing on more education, progressive economic/political policies, and emerging technologies.

New or updated solid waste management plans can be the basis for providing encouragement, innovation, and educational or financial support for a future “beyond waste” to a sustainable management strategy in New York.

It’s an exciting and challenging time to be in our business. As grass-roots managers and professionals, we have the responsibility as well as the opportunity to help bring a new vision to the public, as well as to our business and political leaders. The first step is that of becoming more informed about safe, practical, and sustainable future solutions ourselves.

The second step is to look for the “edge,” i.e., the place where we see that a confluence of public, political, and private interests exists to make something happen.

I look forward to working with all of you to raise the bar.

Peter Kuniholm, P.E., AAEE, is vice president of SCS Engineers at Valley Cottage, NY, and president of SWANA’s New York Chapter.

MSW - July/August 2008