GWMS 2024: Waste Management is Indisposable and Core to a Sustainable, Cleaner Society

The ninth annual Global Waste Management Symposium opened its doors to attendees on Sunday, Feb. 25 in sunny Indian Wells, Calif.

Following a vibrant welcome reception on Sunday, the conference program kicked off on Monday, Feb. 26 with a keynote from Dave Call, senior vice president of Operations Support, Republic Services.

Throughout the event, more than 100 technical presentations will analyze of future trends and cutting-edge scientific research in the waste industry.

Here are some insights from the first day of GWMS:

On a Circular Economy:

Bryan Staley, President, CEO, EREF: "When it comes to advancing a more circular economy, there is a single common thread woven through our society, and that is waste management. This not only includes looking for better ways to reduce and divert waste but also addressing the challenges that create hurdles to more sustainable materials management, from efficient collection to better recycling and composting, enhancing anaerobic digestion processes, mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, to dealing with elevated temperature landfills, managing PFAS. Solving these challenges all leads to a more sustainable society and a clean environment, and waste management is a core, indispensable part of that equation."

On PFAS:

Dave Call, Senior Vice President, Operations Support, Republic Services: "We don't know a lot about the regulatory future right now. We really need to take a step back. We got the safe drinking water standards. We're all waiting for the effluent standard. It'll be this year next year or the year after. In fact, if we did a poll in the room, we might get 100 different answers on what those regulations will be like."

Debra Reinhart, Professor Emirita, University of Central Florida: "There are significant knowledge gaps preventing completing a mass balance of PFAS entering landfills relative to what is released via landfill gas and leachate."

Arie Kremen, Tetra Tech: "We need to pivot away from linear waste management, but this is a problem. And the problem is greater than the solid waste industry."

On Fleet Electrification:

Dave Call, Republic Services: "Will you see [an electric truck] run in rural Montana that has to run a 250-mile route on a given day? Probably not not anytime soon, or maybe. But in places like California, Oregon, Washington, you're gonna see more electric garbage trucks."

The Global Waste Management Symposium continues until Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. Find the agenda here.