In order to develop a highly trained workforce, SWANA offers a wide range of technical training courses and credentials, publishing and research, and technical education to industry experts. By bringing together members to discuss important topics, exchange knowledge, and strengthen industrial ties in all facets of integrated waste and resource management, the organization strengthens the waste and resource management sector.

“Safety is our top focus across the board,” says CEO Amy Lestition Burke, MA, FASAE, CAE. “We want to make sure people come home at the end of the night to their families.”

This means a constant search for new and improved technology to help achieve this goal. “There are trucks and heavy equipment in every part of our industry, and technology advancements are really important. It’s also important to keep pushing the industry in terms of finding solutions to challenges,” says Lestition Burke.

Technology helps with this, she says, because it can make the industry safer and has already done so in many areas, with cameras, sensors, and advancements in equipment used at facilities. “That’s really important as we look ahead to protect workers and those safeguards. It’s not only thinking of protecting our workers and our team on a day-to-day basis but also the public coming into our space: what’s the best way for them to drive throughout our recycling center, and if they are getting out of their vehicle, what’s the safest solution?”

Unfortunately, most fatalities within the industry occur on collection routes when a vehicle is speeding around one of the collection trucks and fails to see the worker. In August 2025, OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration), the National Waste and Recycling Association, and SWANA committed to working together to create greater safety resources and disseminate information to ensure the public slows down around vehicles to help avoid potentially fatal interactions.

That’s another area where technology can help, Lestition Burke says. “The more we can modernize the trucks, the more we can keep people safe,” she says. “At SWANA, we make sure we’re providing ongoing safety—and we do that in a variety of ways, but one way is through Safety First, a weekly newsletter we put out.”

One recent major concern is the advent of lithium-ion batteries and their direct impact on causing fires, whether at landfills, MRFs (materials recovery facilities), recycling centers, or in the trucks themselves. “We’ve done a lot around that issue with trying to get more technology to protect and detect batteries. We also need more technology to put out the fires,” says Lestition Burke.

This calls for workforce training and a lithium-ion battery working group with several subgroups. “We’ve been working with other like-minded groups, including fire chiefs, to cooperate and learn from each other, because that’s the only way we can solve it,” she says. “We can’t work in a silo. It’s not just our industry; it’s broader than that, and that’s how we’ll make a difference, by bridging gaps and finding synergies together.”

Another SWANA focus is addressing the full lifecycle of products and packaging within the industry, something Lestition Burke has focused on since coming to SWANA, building on her previous role at the Consumer Brands Association representing Grocery Manufacturers, where she learned about packaging sustainability.

“We’re also talking about PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) and EPR (extended producer responsibility),” she explains. “All of those issues I had knowledge of from the manufacturing side, and I was able to bring that into SWANA when I became CEO, which was really exciting. This has been a way for SWANA to initiate conversations with brands and have a more open dialogue about the design of plastics and the products we can support the design of for recycling, composting, and reuse.”

From the products’ beginning of life to their end-of-life use, SWANA and the industry can more effectively manage recycling when working together. “We’ve had some fantastic conversations with brands about how we can work and bring that together.”

Lestition Burke is also excited about the U.S. Plastics Pact, which will host its in-person Activator Action Summit event as part of SWANA’s RCon conference in November, bringing brand owners and packaging designers together in the same room as the municipalities and companies running the recycling programs. “We’re looking to this to start driving things forward with greater collaboration, versus working separately.”

Unfortunately, SWANA is disappointed that an agreement was not reached with the UN negotiations on the International Plastics Treaty. While the last run of negotiations was slated to take place in Geneva at INC-5.2, they did not reach a conclusion. “The positive is that a lot of conversations did happen around INC-5.2 and brought stakeholders together proactively to try to find solutions.” SWANA hosted a roundtable in Washington, DC before INC-5.2 to bring key stakeholders together; people left wanting more of that conversation, something SWANA is committed to continuing.

“Our industry is a huge solution to ending plastic pollution, and we need to play a larger role,” Lestition Burke says. “If you’re going to end pollution, you need our industry to be part of that.”

But what exactly does that look like? Plenty of answers can be found at SWANA’s upcoming RCon, a brand-new conference taking place November 12^th to 15^th in Columbus, Ohio. “We’re really embracing SWANA’s mission, which is to advance waste to a resource,” Lestition Burke says. “The R primarily stands for resource, so that can mean recycling, reuse, or repair,” she explains.

“The waste and recycling industry and resource management industry really are essential workers,” she continues. “If we were not moving forward in terms of the work we do, it would be of grave concern to the public. I love the conference; it’s brand new, so everyone’s a first-timer,” and it’s also a bit of a “build your own adventure. There are lots of options for how someone can craft their day.”

These options include technical deep dives, leadership sessions, and SWANA training courses that will focus specifically on PFAS, how to manage a landfill, and dealing with landfill gases with some exciting new technology.

“We heard from members that they want to sit down and have a peer-to-peer exchange with different people, hear their challenges and solutions, and hear what they’re doing,” says Lestition Burke. “We have lots of roundtables set up, we’re doing facility tours throughout the entire conference, and if you don’t want to sit in the convention center in a concurrent session, you can tour a landfill, an MRF, or a PFAS treatment plant. We also have a sustainability tour of the zoo and the Ohio State University stadium.”

There’s even a behind-the-scenes tour of the greater Columbus Convention Center, which offers “outstanding” sustainability efforts. “We’re also looking at unexpected, thoughtful experiences for attendees. I’m calling them ‘surprise and delights,’ so we can create some memorable, positive, long-lasting impressions for attendees.”

Billed as “more than an event,” RCon is an experience like no other, she says. The Expo Hall has been expanded due to demand, displaying solutions for everything from the different technology on trucks to PFAS to advancements in bio-solids. A wide range of companies will be showcasing solutions for municipalities.

“I’ve been to a lot of conferences, and I just want people to learn a lot but to have fun along the way; you can have both. We do need to sit and digest the information, but then we can have a really fun break. We can have a dynamic general session speaker and have information presented in a unique way. All of that can be combined, and that’s what the team at SWANA is working hard each day to deliver on.”

When SWANA made the decision to sunset its two previous events and move to RCon, it knew it had to differentiate the conference not only from what was done in the past but from others in the market. “We want attendees to keep coming back year after year, and it’s going to be different each time,” with facility tours, museums, technical content that will mirror current trends, and practical information the industry needs.

SWANA has also been working to update its educational offerings with trainings and courses, meaning that certification is available in specific areas such as landfills, recycling, landfill gas, or PFAS. “As a membership organization, SWANA is also working on bringing to life the community and recognizing volunteers, members, and the people,” Lestition Burke says. “We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t have the people and what they do.”

This means a focus on highlighting their stories and accomplishments. “We’re thinking about that long-term—getting more people into our profession and our industry. If we can get more stories and people out there, I think that will really drive the difference going forward.”

The post From Rubbish to Resource: SWANA Takes Trash Seriously<p class="company">The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA)</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Poor waste management has an impact on the environment that goes beyond ugly landfills; it also greatly increases greenhouse gas emissions, contaminates soil, and harms wildlife. Environmentally friendly waste management, meanwhile, can increase waste collection efficiency, promote recycling practices, and encourage community and corporate participation in waste reduction programs, creating a radical change in direction toward sustainability, with waste seen as a resource rather than just trash.

SWANA (The Solid Waste Association of North America) is positioned at the forefront of waste and resource management, with its premier conference, RCon™, taking place this November 12 to 15 in Columbus, Ohio. RCon™ aims to transform the field by bringing together experts to address the challenges of resource and waste management, while attendees can learn about the latest trends and innovations aiming to transform.

Garbage collection is just one aspect of waste management, encompassing energy recovery, recycling, composting, safe disposal, and trash reduction at the source. When implemented properly, smart management transforms linear systems into circular ones where materials are recycled instead of thrown away, with valuable resources collected, repurposed, or converted into energy rather than ending up in landfills, says OneStop ESG.

Around the world, this strategy is being embraced in a variety of ways. Creative nations are setting the pace by promoting innovation in infrastructure, material processing, and even the design of products. In Mexico, for example, the use of bioplastics—using fruit waste to replace plastic—is one such feat. Biodegradable polymers are made from banana peels, an invention that offers a natural remedy for food waste in addition to replacing plastics derived from petroleum.

India is literally paving the way with plastic, incorporating plastic garbage into road construction to create longer-lasting, more affordable, water-resistant roads, a technique that calls for melting plastic garbage and mixing it with asphalt. Meanwhile, coffee waste is being used by furniture designers in the UK to generate fashionable interior pieces, creating long-lasting panels for tables, cabinets, and decorative finishes. By mixing discarded coffee grounds with natural resins, this method gives post-consumer or industrial trash a new, frequently more valuable life and demonstrates that circular designs can be both aesthetically pleasing and useful.

In Sweden, incinerators burn non-recyclable waste using high-efficiency technology before collecting the heat to create electricity and power district heating. Thanks to this unique method, Sweden sends less than one percent of residential waste to landfills, according to OneStop ESG.

In Canada, the need for ecologically friendly waste management systems appears to have grown during the last 10 years, says Environmental Business Review. Industries are being urged to reevaluate trash management and take into account more environmentally friendly options, resulting in more companies looking to adopt the concepts of the circular economy.

The issue of contamination—when specific non-recyclable products become mixed up with residual recyclables, ultimately increasing landfill waste—has been improved with new sorting technologies like robotics, machine learning algorithms, and AI-powered systems. Waste-to-energy (WTE) technologies have also become more popular, processing materials that cannot be recycled through basic recycling and instead converting non-recyclable garbage into electricity. These sophisticated systems transform environmental impact into renewable energy, advancing chemical recycling procedures to make better use of plastics.

In order to advance sustainable waste management techniques and usher in a new era, technology is essential, writes MD Shipon Hossain for Daily Green Life Ideas. Smart trash cans, for instance, interact with trash management services in real time thanks to Internet of Things (IoT) technology. Sensors installed in each bin keep an eye on capacity, guaranteeing that collection routes are optimum, lowering fuel usage and greenhouse gas emissions related to waste collection in addition to improving operational efficiency.

Waste-to-energy technologies like anaerobic digestion and incineration provide clear benefits in tackling the expanding garbage problem and producing energy. Through the biological process of anaerobic digestion, organic waste is broken down by microbes without oxygen, producing biogas—mostly methane—and using it to create fuel or electricity for vehicles, as well as reducing the amount of landfill space used. Incineration, on the other hand, reduces waste volume and produces thermal energy by carefully burning garbage at high temperatures.

Chemical recycling, which breaks down plastics and other materials using chemical processes, is becoming more popular as a practical substitute for mechanical recycling, writes Hossain, allowing plastics that have been polluted or are too complicated for traditional recycling procedures to be recycled to create premium materials that are reusable in a variety of applications.

Pyrolysis is another innovative technique that uses heat to break down organic materials without the presence of oxygen, with waste transformed into useful items like fuel, wax, and char. Both plastics and organic garbage can be handled efficiently by pyrolysis, enabling a dual strategy for sustainable waste management.

Urban mining, the process of recovering valuable resources from urban waste—especially electronic waste (e-waste), which builds up in cities all over the world—calls for creative approaches to sustainable waste management in order to reduce negative impacts on the environment and effectively recover valuable resources. These resources—metals such as gold, silver, copper, and even rare-earth elements—can be mined using cutting-edge hydrometallurgical technologies that maximize recovery rates and reduce environmental damage.

In recent years, composting has also advanced significantly, especially with the advent of contemporary technologies that improve the efficacy and efficiency of digesting organic waste. Aerated static heaps and in-vessel composting systems are two examples that provide a sustainable waste management option that enhances the organic materials’ decomposition process. By introducing air into a compost pile through a network of pipes, aerated static piles promote aerobic conditions that hasten the decomposition of organic materials, not only producing higher-quality compost but also significantly cutting down on composting time, preventing unpleasant smells and greenhouse gas emissions.

In-vessel composting uses enormous cylindrical containers to process organic waste in a confined environment and is appropriate for urban settings and densely populated communities with limited space, as they can deal with a variety of organic matter, including yard waste, food scraps, and agricultural waste.

Ultimately, stresses Hossain, collaboration between sectors will be vital for global success. Businesses, local communities, governments, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) all have special assets and capabilities that can be used to develop creative answers to waste management problems. In addition to improving efficiency, these partnerships foster a sense of shared accountability for environmental stewardship. One notable example is the city of San Francisco’s partnership with local businesses to reach zero waste by 2030, a program that has successfully decreased the amount of waste dumped in landfills by about 80 percent by combining stringent restrictions, business incentives, and public awareness programs.

As the globe continues to struggle with the effects of pollution and trash, new technologies are being developed to address this urgent problem directly. Utilizing a clever fusion of various trends to provide solutions that add value is key to achieving success, while striking a balance between innovation and pragmatic operational demands will satisfy increasingly complex regulatory obligations. Businesses that successfully take advantage of advancements will reduce their expenses, increase compliance, obtain a competitive edge in their markets, and position themselves for long-term success.

Smarter waste management systems, using data-driven insights to inform blockchain, IoT, and AI-based technologies, can enhance output while reducing environmental impact, and by adopting these innovations, waste management stakeholders can actively promote a circular economy that prioritizes material reuse and waste reduction, transforming society’s relationship with garbage.

Waste management in the modern world means going beyond just picking up trash: it involves posing insightful queries, developing more intelligent systems, and repurposing existing items to create new value. The way forward lies in altering our relationship with trash, not in completely avoiding it. What we discard today might become the innovation we depend on tomorrow.

The post Revolutionizing Resources Through Technology<p class="company">Waste as a Resource</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.