The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) said its membership reached a record high for its latest fiscal year.

The Silver Spring, Md.-based association said in its newsletter that membership reached 8,200 individual members for its fiscal year ended June 30. The total was slightly more than the previous record set in 2009.

SWANA only has individual memberships, rather than company or organizational memberships.

More than 1,500 new members joined SWANA during the latest year, which represents a new member growth rate of nearly 19 percent, the association said. Its existing membership retention rate was 83 percent.

 About 60 percent of its members are employed by the public sector and 38 percent by the private sector. The remainder are student and retired members.