WASTECON 2001 Numbers Steady Despite Recent Events

Danielle Jackson

Despite the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and at least one other waste industry show postponement, the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA), Silver Spring, Md., held its WASTECON 2001 conference and exhibition in Baltimore from Oct. 15-18, 2001, as scheduled. Judging by the numbers, the move paid off.

Attendance nearly equaled last year's: there were 3,032 attendees at the October event, compared with 3,174 attendees last year, according to John Skinner, SWANA's executive director and CEO.

“Given the uncertain situation that we're in with the economy and the events of Sept. 11, we think it's an outstanding turnout,” Skinner says. “We were down only about 140 people from last year.”

More than 3,400 participants and 220 exhibitors attended the show, with more than 20 technical sessions and 180 training course participants. The four facility tours also drew in more than 150 attendees.

Training courses included topics on managing municipal solid waste (MSW) collection operations; managing MSW transfer station systems; operating and maintaining landfill gas systems; business planning, marketing and communications for the solid waste industry; and paying for an MSW management system through revenue generation and cost accounting.

As part of the show, SWANA joined with the Department of Defense (DoD) Recycling Workshop to provide training sessions with the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Air Force. The DoD also announced the winners of its Closing the Circle awards program, which recognizes federal employees and facilities that have made significant impacts to preserve the environment.

With a healthy WASTECON 2001 under its belt, SWANA now is looking ahead to its 2002 show, which will be held Oct. 28-31, 2002, in Long Beach, Calif. To register, visit www.swana.org.