Two SWANA Certification Programs to Launch in 2001

Brook Raflo

The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA), Silver Spring, Md., has announced it will add two new certification programs to its list of manager training courses.

Responding to its members' requests for information on the construction and demolition (C&D) market, SWANA has joined the Construction Materials Recycling Association (CMRA), Lisle, Ill., to develop a C&D waste management certification program, says Lori Scozzafava, SWANA director of technical programs.

Set to launch at SWANA's July 2001 Training Center in Salt Lake City, the three-day C&D training course targets solid waste managers currently handling C&D wastes, as well as managers looking to add C&D waste processing to their existing operations.

"C&D is more hidden, but it's a bigger waste stream than [most]," says William Turley, executive director of the CMRA, who adds that C&D increasingly is becoming an issue for many solid waste managers.

Additionally, SWANA will join the California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB), Sacramento, Calif., to develop a California-specific manager of landfill operations (MOLO) pilot program that targets managers in rural areas.

"It was clear to me and others that if SWANA could tailor its program to meet federal Subtitle D standards, as well as California's standards - which often are more stringent than federal standards - then we wouldn't have to reinvent the wheel," CIWMB member Steve Jones says.

Initially, California's program will be voluntary. However, after studying the program's results during the next four years, CIWMB plans to ask California's governor and legislature to consider making the program mandatory.

SWANA hopes other states eventually will look to California's program as a model. "More states should follow California's lead," SWANA President Steve Viny said in a recent press release.

For both the C&D and California certification programs, SWANA will use instructors who are experts in the field, Scozzafava says.

"Students appreciate our faculty because we choose people who are giving them real-life examples," she adds.

In California, CIWMB members, local enforcement agents and rural landfill operators will come together to learn from each other, Jones says.

Both of SWANA's new training programs will include a training course and a certification exam designed to complement the course, Scozzafava says. However, individuals with previous C&D or landfill manager training can take the exam without attending the course.

After the C&D program's July 2001 launch, additional sessions will be offered at SWANA's WASTECON show in September 2001, and at SWANA members' requests.

The California program will take place at least once during 2001, but Scozzafava says regional SWANA chapters already have expressed interest in additional sessions.

- IESI Corp., Haltom City, Texas, has purchased Omega One Company Inc., Natchitoches, La.

- Structural Group, Hanover, Md., has acquired Pullman Power Products Corp., Kansas City, Mo.

PaperExchange.com, based in Boston, has acquired BoxDirect.com, Chicago.

- AMEC, Phoenix, has acquired Ogden Environmental and Energy Services Co., formerly based in Chantilly, Va.

- Svedala Bulk Materials Handling, Pittsburgh, has acquired the remaining shares of Mumbai, India-based Mukand McNally Wellman. Svedala also has acquired the bulk material handling division of United Kingdom-based Strachan & Henshaw.

- WearGuard Corp., Norwell, Mass., is accepting nominations for its annual "heroes contest" until Feb. 28, 2001. Four individuals will receive a $500 WearGuard gift certificate and a free trip for two to Boston next spring, where winners will be announced. Contact: Cara Koen. Phone: (314) 241-4543.

- Dana Corp., Greenville, S.C., has updated its toll-free distributor locator phone number to include an option for locating a Spicer Life Series driveshaft service specialist. Phone toll-free: (800) 729-3262.

- Los Angeles Western Star Sales, Commerce, Calif., has joined East Manufacturing Corp.'s nationwide distributor network.

- Micro Parts Inc., Eagan, Minn., has paid a $4,265 penalty to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, St. Paul, Minn., for violating environmental law. The company has corrected the violations.

- As of Nov. 1, 2000, the Association Resource Center, Sacramento, Calif., is managing the California Resource Recovery Association (CRRA). Phone: (916) 441-2772. Fax: (916) 447-5194.

- Rumpke Waste Collection and Disposal Systems, Cincinnati, has reached a settlement with Ohio's Colerain Township, regarding expansion of the company's landfill in Colerain.

- Corporations Supporting Recycling (CSR), Toronto, is negotiating to receive rights to the "green dot" recycling identification system, which identifies recycled-content products. CSR in turn, would license Canadian industry to use the green dot on consumer packaging and products.

- Environmental Support Solutions has announced the nationwide launch of a training seminar series that covers federal hazardous waste regulations as well as waste management software. For more information, contact: Robin Suzelis. Phone: (480) 346-5524.

- A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed to block the expansion of Sunshine Canyon landfill, operated by Browning Ferris Industries of California Inc., Los Angeles.

- Solid waste consultant Greshman, Brickner and Bratton (GBB), Fairfax, Va., has assisted the Metro Government of Nashville, Tenn., in developing several long-term solid waste management plans.

- Environmental Control Systems Inc. (ECS), Aiken, S.C., has signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Washington, D.C., making ECS an "industry ally" in EPA's Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP).

- The R'02 Integrated Resources Management 6 superscript th World Congress is soliciting papers for its Feb. 12, 2002 meeting in Palexpo-Geneva, Switzerland. Abstracts are due by March 31, 2001. Use the "call for papers form" on the organization's website: www.R02.org.

- Aurora Project Inc., Broome County, N.Y., has awarded RRT Design & Construction, Melville, N.Y., a contract to provide a turnkey system for processing electronic scrap plastic.

- CallingWatson.com, Boston, has launched an online tool to provide access to government resources and privately developed program management tools.

- Wastebid.com, Fairfax, Va., has announced it will use San Diego-based Bidland Systems' online auction technology to create a one-stop shop for solid waste industry professionals.

- Houston-based Waste Management Inc. and the Alameda County, Calif. Waste Management Authority have announced a partnership to develop a $2.6 million materials recovery facility (MRF) at the Davis Street Transfer Station in San Leandro, Calif.

- Chicago-based Pollution Control Industries has announced the opening of its Rancho Cordova, Calif. treatment, storage and disposal facility.

- Polyjohn Enterprises Corp., Whiting, Ind., has opened a stocked warehouse in Phoenix.

- WasteMasters Inc., El Reno, Okla., has begun constructing its alternative fuel manufacturing plant located near New Lexington, Ohio.

- Material Reclamation LLC, Raleigh, N.C., has opened its reclamation facility designed to recycle 60 percent of construction and demolition (C&D) debris.

- Volvo Construction Equipment North America Inc., Asheville, N.C., has restructured its sales regions. For information, contact: Winston Leonard, communications. Phone: (828) 650-2043.

- Wayne Engineering Corp., Cedar Falls, Iowa, will resume responsibility of sales and service for the Curbtender automated side loader, effective March 3, 2001. This will follow the dissolution of a five-year-old distribution partnership with Leach Co., Oshkosh, Wis.