Summer 2008 Newsletter

PRESIDENT'S CORNER

by John Briest

Summer Greetings! I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. The Board is busy preparing for what is shaping up for a great annual conference. The Board is working hard to incorporate as many industry facets into this conference impacting Colorado as we can. If you haven’t seen already, the annual conference is to be held in Golden. This is the first time the conference has been held in the Denver metro area in more than seven years as we have tried to rotate the conference around the State.

The website improvements mentioned in the spring newsletter are nearly complete and we hope to roll the changes out prior to the annual conference. Again the Chapter’s website is www.coloradoswana.org

The Road-E-O took place in July; we had more drivers than the number of those who competed last year. The Chapter’s scholarship program is having great success as the Chapter helped get Jennifer Martinez MOLO certified this past spring. Again, the Board appreciates seeing each of you at the various Chapter functions and welcomes feedback on how the membership is being served. Please if you have suggestions on ways to improve the membership experience, please contact any of the Colorado SWANA Board, we would be glad to help.

ROAD-E-O

by Tom Strickland

The 2008 Colorado SWANA Truck Road-E-O competition was held in Denver on Saturday, July 26th. Participating in this year’s event were 26 drivers from local companies and municipalities, including Allied Waste, City & County of Denver, City of Loveland, City of Thornton and Waste Connections. Drivers were judged on knowledge, accuracy and time. The driving course included several difficult maneuvers including a narrow alley test, parallel parking test and a “serpentine” S-curve in forward and reverse. Drivers were also scored on a written test and on their pre-trip truck inspections skills.

The overall Colorado Chapter Champion for the 2008 Road-E-O was Andrew Stewart from the City of Loveland. Andrew will now have the right to represent our Chapter at the SWANA International Road-E-O in Kentucky in September (pending membership clearance).

Andrew Stewart:
Overall 2008 Road-E-O champion

2008 Winners:

• Rear-loader:
  1. Richard Trinidad, City of Denver
  2. Ray Chavez, City of Denver
  3. Jesus Luevano, Allied Waste.
• Automated Side-loader:
  1. Isaac Jimenez, City of Denver
  2. Anthony Armijo, Jr., City of Denver
  3. Rodney Fresquez, City of Denver.
• Front-loader:
  1. Andrew Stewart, City of Loveland
  2. Joel Mayorga, Waste Connections
  3. Eduardo Gutierrez, Waste Connections
• Roll-off:
  1. Felix Salazar, Allied Waste
  2. Gary Smith, Allied Waste
  3. Javier Villa, Waste Connections.

We would like to acknowledge and thank our sponsors for this year’s Road-E-O, their generous contributions helped make this event successful.

Last but not least, an enormous thank you to all the volunteers that donated their Saturday to help with the Road-E-O and endured the hot summer sun. We can't thank you enough.

Road-E-O Recognition

by Debby Barton

All the Road-e-o winners

At this year’s Colorado Rocky Mountain SWANA Chapter’s annual meeting in Golden, Colorado, the winners of this year’s Road-E-O will be recognized and honored. The difference between first and second place winners is measured in tenths of seconds AND feet. In the past the grand winner has been sent to national competition to represent our state and our operators. This year, the chapter’s Directors felt it would be appropriate to honor all the winners of the various categories during the annual meeting. So circle your calendar for October 2 and 3 and head to the former capitol of Colorado, Golden to join the other state solid waste professionals. You can check out the information on the Road-E-O as well as signing up for the fall conference on the internet by going to www.coloradoswana.org.!

Howdy Folks! Get Ready To Have A Golden Time In October!

by Cathryn Stewart and Tom Strickland

The 2008 Chapter Annual Conference will be held October 2nd & 3rd at The Golden Hotel in beautiful Golden, Colorado and we need you to attend to make this the biggest and best annual conference to date. Don’t delay in registering!

The conference planning committee (Tom Schweitzer, Tom Strickland and Cathryn Stewart) have been busy assembling a variety of informative technical sessions, arranging exciting tours, and planning a superb and entertaining annual banquet. In April, you should have received a colorful “Save the Date” postcard and soon you will receive preliminary program and registration information. Information on the conference will also be available online at www.coloradoswana.org/annual_conference. Be sure to mark your calendars and invite your colleagues to attend this important meeting. Non-SWANA members are encouraged to attend as well. The finalized program of presentations will be available ASAP (end of July).

From the information gathered from last year’s conference surveys, we are trying out concurrent 90 minute sessions with two to three presentations each on related topics. This should allow for longer presentations and more time for questions and answers. The planned sessions will cover landfills and groundwater monitoring, recycling education and recycling, collection and pollution control, special waste and e-waste, energy and climate, and the ever popular State of CDPHE.

The annual meeting will provide attendees opportunities for networking and catching up with colleagues. The keynote speaker for Thursday’s lunch is the current SWANA National president, whose name you will recognize as being a “local” – Laurie Batchelder Adams. Thursday will also include a pair of tours to The Rocky Mountain Bottle Company and the National Renewable Energy Laboratories. Shuttle buses for the tours will leave directly from the conference hotel. Don’t forget your dancing shoes for the Thursday night banquet at the Buffalo Rose in which entertainment will be provided by “A Band Named Sue.”

Sponsors are in need for this year’s annual conference, to help defray costs in exchange for recognition, advertising, and “A Big Thanks” for helping. Sponsorships start at $100 and sponsorships $200 and up include a tabletop display area to share your solid waste-related products and/or services. To become a sponsor and secure space for a tabletop display, please contact Susie Gordon at 970-221-6265.

The 2008 Annual Conference registration is $160 for members ($210 for nonmembers) before September 5. After September 5, registration increases to $190/$250. Registration includes the technical sessions, tours, breakfasts, lunches, and the banquet. Complete registration is available online at www.coloradoswana.org.

Questions about program content and suggestions for future meetings can be sent to any of the planning committee members (Cathryn Stewart, 303-771-9150; Tom Strickland, 720-865-6813; or Tom Schweitzer, 303-486-6045). See you there!

April Technical Training

by Neil Nowak

Demonstrating seaming and non-destructive testing of high density polypropylene (HDPE) liner seam

On April 15, 2008, a SWANA technical meeting was hosted by Colorado Lining International, Inc. (CLI) at their facility in Parker, Colorado. The agenda included a presentation of the available lining technologies and their applications in landfill containments by CLI, and Joe Kaul from Kaul Corporation discussed geosynthetic clay liners (GCL).

Following a lunch, CLI personnel narrated during a plant tour that included observing the fabrication of a custom sized panel of polypropylene (PPE) and then the winding of the folded material on a huge spool for transportation to and deployment at the project site. Also, CLI personnel demonstrated seaming and non-destructive testing of high density polypropylene (HDPE) liner seams in a warehouse (see photograph). All in attendance were supplied with the CLI and the Cetco product manuals.

Eight In Eight

By Susie Gordon

In 2008 the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) organization has grown to over 8,000 – that’s eight thousand members. The intrinsic value of membership is rewarding in that SWANA provides a local, regional, national, and international forum for obtaining information and developing perspectives about the field of solid waste. By recognizing that what we do does make a difference, we are stimulated to higher productivity. Accomplishments are enjoyed when shared with others, and the contacts made through SWANA are valuable throughout your professional career.

SWANA's Mission is to advance the practice of environmentally and economically sound management of municipal solid waste in North America. Becoming a SWANA member keeps you up-to-date on current trends, tools, and practices vital to the industry. Additional benefits include access to two top publications packed with the latest developments in the solid waste and recycling fields, which enable you to enhance your processional development while building your personal library of applicable resources. Achieving certification through SWANA is the internationally recognized standard of excellence. Membership provides leadership opportunities through participation in local chapter activities that can include everything from public speaking, to project management, to strategic planning. SWANA members receive the tools and knowledge necessary to become more effective contributors to the Solid Waste Industry, so join today - we are waiting for YOU!

International Board Update

By Dick Sprague

I attended the midyear SWANA International Board meeting on June 23 – 24, 2008, in Silver Spring, MD. This was my first trip to Silver Spring, and it was interesting to see the SWANA Headquarters.

One of the highlights of the meeting resulted from the Wisconsin Chapter reaching out to small haulers in the western part of the state. Larry Hougom, one of the owners of Hilltopper Refuse and Recycling Service, attended the IB meeting to learn about SWANA, and to teach us about his needs. Hilltopper is a family-owned 30- to 35-truck operation, and he is trying to become more proactive rather than reactive to business and regulatory requirements. Hougom cited dealing with bad debt, methods for passing along fuel cost increases, workman’s comp, OSHA and DOT requirements as areas where small haulers need assistance. He gave an example of a recent informational meeting at which a DOT inspector showed how he evaluates the roadworthiness of a packer truck. Hearing first hand what the inspector looks at was invaluable to Hilltopper. SWANA’s cost structure is not an impediment to being a SWANA member if there is real knowledge gained from the membership.

Another highlight involved outreach to another part of our solid waste community, one which is growing rapidly: native Spanish-speaking service providers. SWANA will be translating the quizzes associated with the Waste Screening Course as soon as the course update is completed sometime this fall or winter. During 2009, SWANA will evaluate the market for these translated quizzes. If they are successful, SWANA plans to translate the quizzes related to MOLO, Transfer Station and C&D Courses as those are updated. These updates and translations will also consider International Units (SI), as well as standard U.S. units to facilitate understanding in the Spanish-speaking community.

The IB took several notable actions during the meeting. We approved the following items:

• The FY 2007 Audit and Management Letter. The audit was clean with a few items for Management to consider. SWANA remains very financially healthy.
• The FY 2009 – 2013 Strategic Management Plan. This Plan describes the future growth of the organization.
• The FY 09 Program Plan, which provides an operations plan and budget for the next fiscal year.

The IB also approved Provisional Chapter status for the Puerto Rico Chapter. If the Puerto Rico Chapter fulfills certain administrative and operational requirements (e.g., development of Chapter Bylaws, and conduct of regular Chapter meetings) in the next year, it will become a full Chapter at Wastecon 2009 – and the first new chapter in more than 10 years!

First Year of Grant Funding Awards 12 Colorado Recycling Projects

by Susie Gordon

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has announced the selection of 12 projects that will receive a total of $1.37 million in funding to help propel new activity in the state’s recycling industry. The grant funding comes from new landfill surcharges being collected by the state, which went into effect in July 2007 as part of HB07-1228, the Colorado Recycling Resources Economic Opportunity Act. The following grants were awarded:

• Alpine Waste and Recycling of Commerce City to expand its processing plant’s capability for recycling commingled materials (paper, cardboard, plastics, bottles and cans) – $281,000
• The City and County of Denver to pilot an organics-composting program for Denver residences (yard waste, food and paper) and commercial operations at Denver International Airport (food, contaminated paper and other wastes) – $215,000
• The City of Greeley to increase community use of the Greeley Green-Cycle Center by providing community outreach support and education – $15,650
• Eco-Cycle of Boulder to buy processing equipment that densifies polystyrene to expand its capacity for recycling Styrofoam© – $50,000
• Elbert County to enhance the existing recycling operations to include a composting operation and year-round household hazardous waste “drop and swap” project – $160,000
• Greater Delores in Southwest Colorado to increase the collection of recyclables in the Four Corners area – $91,000
• Fruita Monument High School to help students purchase bins to collect recyclables and analyze the school’s waste stream – $3,000
• National Recycling of Lucerne to build a comprehensive public drop-off center in Greeley – $244,600
• Phillips County to expand local recycling from just cardboard to include newspaper and help increase current cardboard recycling efforts – $48,000
• New Community Coalition of Telluride to purchase a baler and composter for the Resource Recovery Center located near Telluride – $145,000
• Veltrie Disposal Services of Westcliff to purchase a baler to be used for baling cardboard and plastics – $9,700
• Waste Management of Colorado in Aurora to create an area at the front gate of the Denver Arapahoe Disposal Site where materials such as scrap metal, electronic waste, tires, batteries and other recyclables can be unloaded – $113,000

For more information about the grant program, visit the Department of Public Health and Environment’s Web site.

Waste Composition Studies

by Dick Sprague

The City and County of Denver has just completed two week-long waste composition studies aimed at helping it divert additional wastes from landfilling. Denver International Airport conducted a study in May, and Denver Solid Waste Management conducted its study in June. The results of each study are in draft form and will become available later this year. As part of the 1288 Grant Program described above, Denver Solid Waste Management will conduct a second study later in 2008 to provide a comparison of late spring and mid-fall waste composition. Look for results in upcoming meetings and presentations.

Grant/Scholarship Fund Feeling Unloved – Apply NOW!

by Susie Gordon

SWANA considers it to be an important organizational mission to support academic and professional development. For Colorado members, a dozen or more grants in the $25-$500 range are available annually to help pay for ongoing training and education. Another handsome prize awaits the enterprising student who applies for a scholarship, because at least one award will be made for $1,000 to help pay for educational expenses.

Oddly enough, Colorado SWANA members are either too shy or polite to dip into the fund. This year’s program received only one application (which was awarded!), so the rest of the money is just sitting in the bank account, when really, it should be used for its approved/budgeted purpose. All you have to do is apply using the oh-so-easy registration form that can be found on the Colorado SWANA website, listed below.

What kind of proposal is eligible for the grants? You could think about taking a class to advance your academic or career goals; signing up for training to improve your skills; or, attending a professional conference. And yes, helping defray expenses to go the annual conference in beautiful Golden, Colorado this year would certainly be a good candidate for a grant proposal, as are the regular technical sessions that the Board puts on.

Scholarships are oriented towards college students. While the funds would first be awarded to any SWANA members or relations, qualified applicants can also be “prospective” SWANA members. The idea behind this kind of investment in students’ education is to raise the standards of excellence for the waste management field. More information and the simple, on-line application form is available. For further information, please contact Scholarship and Awards Committee members Susie Gordon at (970) 221-6265, or Roger Doak.

Web Site Update

by Roger Doak

If you registered for either of CO-SWANA’s spring technical training programs on our web site you hopefully noticed the electronic payment option. The process takes only a few minutes. The electronic payment option is the first of many website improvements the board is actively developing. The board’s web master has constructed enough of the changes so that a beta site, with proposed changes, has been set up for board members to test drive. Other web site improvements will include: 1) a viewable calendar; 2) a search engine; 3) a member forum; and 4) enhanced exposure for companies that advertise on our web site. Our plan is to have the upgrades to the web site finished by mid August of this year.

• Calendar – The calendar will have a new look; ok, more of a traditional look in which the year, month or day can be viewed. Dates of local or national solid waste events are scheduled will be highlighted (e.g., SWANA training, annual meetings, stakeholder meetings, board meeting, etc.).
• Search Engine – Currently the CO-SWANA web site does not have a search engine. With the ever-growing number of presentations and information on our site trying to navigate to a subject of interest can be very frustrating. The search engine will be fairly typically, allowing you to locate topics such as landfill design, recycling, legislative update, etc. on our web site.
• Member Forum – Have you ever had a landfill operational issue or a question on sampling procedures and thought, if I could only discuss this with another operator maybe they have experienced this problem and have a solution? That’s the concept for the member forum so that we can share ideas and solutions to common problems. There are a lot of resourceful individuals in our business and creating a format to discuss and exchange ideas will only enhance creative results.
• Advertisements – We will create a new look for how advertisements are viewed on the web site. Survey results from the annual meeting suggest members are ok with ads displayed on the boarders of a web page so long as they are not intrusive or distracting. One idea would be to bring the advertisers to you when researching a subject. For example, when you are using the new search engine feature to study GCL installation, advertises who install GCLs would be displayed on that web page. If your company is interested in advertising on the Colorado SWANA web site you can contact Roger Doak for more information.

As the board adds new content or updates current features to the web site we will let members know. Take the opportunity today and frequently thereafter, and do some surfing on our web site.

Wastecon 2008

by Debby Barton

Come October we in Colorado will be hunkering down to face another winter season only this year will have record highs for energy costs and impacts on the environment and on our operations in the solid waste industry from transportation, recycling, composting and burial. Join the solid waste professionals from across the world October 21-23, 2008 in Tampa, Florida as discussions are held on energy, climate impacts, operations, marketing, and regulatory oversight in the solid waste arena. This year SWANA is also taking a giant step towards responsibility in offsetting not only monetary costs but also carbon impacts for the event. And if you have been holding off getting that certification training on management for construction demolition debris, compost operations, landfill, transfer stations, household hazardous waste collection operations, collection operations, landfill gas, or bioreactor landfills, the opportunity is open to get the training in balmy weather. Log onto SWANA for more information, and to sign up to attend.

Treasurer’s Report

by Stephen W. Gillette

Not much has changed from the first of the year, but this is an opportunity to let all of our members know the financial condition of our Chapter. The Road-E-O event this summer and our annual meeting in Golden will be reflected in the winter 2008-9 newsletter Treasurer's Report. If you have any questions concerning our financial information please let me know.

Balance Sheet (As of June 1, 2008)
ASSETS
Cash and Bank Accounts
Checking	$10,494.89
Savings	$18,873.38
TOTAL	$29,368.27
OTHER ASSETS
E-Business Loan	$16,153.25
TOTAL ASSETS	$45,521.52
LIABILITIES & EQUITY
Liabilities	$0.00
Equity	$45,521.52
TOTAL Liabilities & Equity	$45,521.52

Send Your News Items to:

Dick Sprague
HDR Engineering, Inc.
103 East 17th Avenue, Suite 700
Denver, CO 80203

(303) 764-1520
(303) 860-7139 fax
Email