This Week in Waste: Top Stories August 29 - September 2

1. How Compost Operators Navigate the Organics Business: Part 2 - Cowgirl Compost CO

Stefanie Valentic 

As a community, the people of Springboat Springs, Colorado have had a rocky road with their composting facilities. In 2018, their program for composting at the time shut down, leaving the community without an option to divert their organic waste. Devestated by this, Winn Bowman founded Cowgirl Compost as a means of providing her region a reliable source for composting.

Read the story here.

2. Plastics Packaging Recyclers Attribute Low Recycling Rates to Lacking Collections

Arlene Karidis

With the existing infrastructure in the United States to recycle about 42 percent of the polyethylene terephthalate (PET), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), and/or polypropylene (PP) distributed across the country, why is that fraction not being hit? In their recent report, the Association of Plastic Recyclers believes they have discovered the issue; lack of plastic collection. These plastic resin materials are not widely collected in accessible ways across recycling collection programs, making for less of this material being accepted.

Read more here.

3. How Compost Operators Navigate the Organics Business: Part 3 - Elements Mountain Compost

Stefanie Valentic

In 2014 Elements Mountain Compost was founded by Julie Mach after she noticed a hole in the market. Since its start, the organization has opened up a food waste drop-off allowing the small community of about 5,500 people to divert that waste from their providing landfill. As of 2022, the drop-off has 150 regular users and provides compost to 25 different people local individuals, grocery stores, and commercial composters.

Read the full story here.

4. Sam Killeen's Passion for Trash Collectors Drives H&H Disposal

Jonathan Pierron

While finishing his last year of college and working at the same waste collection company his grandfather worked at, Sam Killeen started his own service called H&H Disposal. Starting in 2012 Killeen launched the company and has since raised it to new levels of prosperity. In this Q&A, he tells us all about the journey has has taken to get the company to where it is now, and what it is like being the president of a company.

Read more here. 

5. Episode 162: Living the 3 Rs (Reduce, Reuse & Recycle)

Liz Bothwell

In this episode of the podcast NothingWasted! we sit down with Amy Uong to talk about her experience as deputy general manager of Sims Municipal Recycling. Providing recycling services to the New York/New Jersey region, Uong expresses some of the challenges she has encountered due within this industry. While she is confident in the capabilities of waste and recycling services, she urges listeners to consider reducing their consumption.

Listen here.