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Waste industry needs women to meet driver shortage
The latest trucking statistics show that the shortage of over-the-road (OTR) truck drivers in the U.S. is at the highest level it has been in 15 years – a driver shortage mirrored in the waste collection industry. According to a…
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SWANA/SWRC Reforum 2014- Behaviour Change Through Compassionate Systems
Friday morning’s keynote speaker Rubin Anderson gave a spirited talk on using compassionate systems to change behaviour. A thrust of his talk involved debunking what he considered the top ten human behavior myths on why they can’t/won’t change their behaviours.…
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Mullinder on EPR and Blue Box funding
I very much enjoyed a recent online column (blog) by John Mullinder, Executive Director of the Paper & Paperboard Packaging Environmental Council (PPEC) in Brampton, Ontario (www.ppec-paper.com) that summarizes important concerns industry “stewards” have about new provincial schemes in which producers pay…
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Dispelling the BS about BC
There is great interest in British Columbia these days and it isn’t in anticipation of the upcoming ski season but rather for the controversy around the introduction of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for Printed-Paper and Packaging (PPP). The introduction of…
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Overview of Dutch Waste Management Policy
Follow the Trade Mission on Twitter at @2cg_ Waste Management Themed Trade Mission to Netherlands Day Three Waste Management in the Netherlands Mr. Loek Bergman Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment Directorate for Sustainability The Netherlands is a densely populated…
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Less bad is no good
A recent blog entry from the Athens, Georgia-based Product Policy Institute reminds me why the PPI is one of my favorite organizations taking on the “bleeding edge” of waste and recycling issues, talking — as it does — not so…
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Hypocrite in Chief
Former Vice President and failed Presidential Candidate Al Gore has been a poster boy for the environmental movement especially as it relates to global warming and climate change. He won a Nobel Peace Prize for his effort. He does give…
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The Sharing Economy
I recommend that anyone interested in having a career or a company that’s successful in the coming years read this fascinating article from the magazine Fast Company about the so-called “sharing economy.” It’s one of the most interesting articles I’ve…
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In Search of Answers
The Recycling Council of Alberta conference has come and gone again. The 25th anniversary version took place at the lovely Jasper Park Lodge (which featured a good venue and periodic warnings about rutting elk). About 325 attended this conference which…
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Occupational health and safety (OHS), waste and the 3Rs
Lately, I channel the well-placed “What?” during Taylor Swift’s lyrics to her new hit song, We Are Never, Ever Getting Back Together – song number two on an accidental gift CD left in my Dodge Caliber by my 20-year old daughter Alex. And then my mind goes spinning as I imagine attending some seminar in the late 1980s being run by industry and municipal recycling coordinators trained on conveyor belt operations by Henry Ford.