Volume 18 | June 2023

SWANA Old Dominion News

President's Message

I hope this message finds everyone well and I hope everyone is excited for summer! I want to take a second to thank everyone for the tireless work they do for our industry and remind everyone to take some time over the next several months to spend time with family and friends. I think we, as an industry, forget to do this with our hectic schedules. Our chapter has lots of exciting things planned for this year and I hope to see everyone at upcoming events. If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions of something you would like to see or do, please feel free to reach out to me directly. Again, thanks for your hard work and dedication and I look forward to seeing each of you soon!

Thanks,

Jon Clary

SWANA Old Dominion Chapter President

Nominate Your Program for a SWANA Award

Deadline to apply is June 30

The SWANA Old Dominion Awards recognize individuals and programs that enhance the management of solid waste in Virginia and/or increase public understanding of solid waste management challenges and success stories in three categories.

Professional Achievement

Program Achievement

Student Paper Award

More Information on SWANA Old Dominion Awards

Save the Date

Region 6 Conference Abstracts

The Old Dominion chapter will have a combined conference with the Region 6 states (North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky).

August 29 – September 1, 2023

Hyatt Regency Greenville, SC

Registration will open in June. Call for Abstracts are due by June 15

Submit an Abstract

Upcoming Training Events

Hot Topics in Solid Waste Training

PFAS Analytical Considerations
Solar on Landfills and Dominion’s Distributed Solar Solution.
Organics Changing Landscape in Virginia/Key issues for Solid Waste Managers
Residential Recycling Post Covid –what’s the status?

July 25

8:30 AM - 1:00 PM

Henrico County - 10401 Woodman Road

Registration: $30 (includes training and lunch)

YP MentorMatch

SWANA’s MentorMatch program offers both long-term and short-term opportunities for experienced solid waste professionals willing to share their expertise (Mentors) to connect with colleagues, young professionals, and students (Mentees) looking for career guidance in the solid waste management and recycling industry.

For more information on becoming a mentor or mentee: SWANA's MentorMatch

Call for Open YP Steering Committee Positions

SWANA is now accepting applications for open Young Professionals Steering Committee positions. The positions will represent the entire Young Professionals (YPs) group on the YP governance committee. The positions would begin immediately following this election process. All Steering Committee members must be a SWANA member in good standing and able to serve a minimum of a two-year term.

Additionally, all Steering Committee Members must be 35 years of age or younger at the start of his or her term.

More information about open YP positions: Open Positions (swana.org)

Webinars

SWANA Webinars

The Old Dominion Chapter has pre-paid for our members to view SWANA National webinars.

Register for webinars online at SWANA.org. Enter the Chapter’s Debit Card Code at the time of registration. Code: VIRGINIA

Recorded Chapter Webinars

Check out the recorded SWANA Old Dominion webinars on our Past Trainings page. After viewing a webinar, email [email protected] to request a CEU.

2023 SWANA Scholarship Recipients

SWANA Old Dominion Chapter awarded four scholarships to graduating seniors in 2023.

Olivia Esposito will be attending Radford University

James Benedetto will be attending Christopher Newport University

Aaron White will be attending Regent University

Evan Rupe will be attending Radford University

Freestate Balls Ford Composing Facility Tour

Twenty five chapter representatives attended a tour and lunch at the Freestate Farms Balls Ford Road Compost Facility in Manassas, a public-private partnership with Prince William County. The facility receives organic material from around Northern Virginia and includes a sorting line, mulching/grinding, biofilter, and bagging operation in addition to processing via source separated yard and food waste aerated static pile composting. The tour was a joint event with SWANA Old Dominion Chapter and the Virginia Composting Council and participants earned two CEUs.

Welcome New Members

Edward Gauldin, Franklin County (VA)

Jason Dirks, Fairfax County Dept of Public Works and Environmental Services (DPWES)

Victoria Norcini, TFC Recycling

Sarah Morley, Johns Hopkins University

Frank Foti

Jared Johnstone, Republic Services

Rachel Schmidt-Greene

Tymber Minnick, Loudoun County

Dennis Slade, Dominion Energy - Richmond

Kenny Overstreet, Roanoke Valley Resource Authority

Matt Driscoll, LaBella Associates

Yash Mansharamani, Virginia Tech

Raymond McGowan, HDR

Marianna Denny, Fauquier County

Jay Walton, Monster Waste, LLC

Jake White, LaBella Associates DPC

Matthew Adams, Fairfax County

Russell Filtz, Fairfax County Solid Waste Management Program

Elizabeth Coleman, Rivanna Solid Waste Authority

John Paul Ligush, TRC Companies, Inc.

Robert Dittman, James City County

David Wilcox, Loudoun County Solid Waste Management Facility

Lauren Cutlip

June is National Safety Month

Worker safety is important every day. It’s the stuff safety professionals and managers worry about constantly. We train and we develop policies and procedures and we re-engineer and we invest in better equipment and PPE—all to keep workers safe and get them home each day. The National Safety Council helps lead the way with programs and messaging year-round, but June is the big month for them and for safety managers everywhere. June is National Safety Month—a month-long campaign directed at your safety and well-being—focusing on reducing the leading causes of injury at work, on the road, and in our homes and communities. This year’s overall National Safety Month theme is “Stay Safe at Home and Work” and the four week-long safety topics are:

If you are a National Safety Council member, check out all the great outreach resources available on their website. If not, sign up for access to their publicly available materials and use them to develop your own posters, trainings, tailgate talks, social media posts, etc. Make it work for your organization but, most important, take the opportunity to show your staff how important their safety is to you. Hope you all have a great summer and remember as always—safety is a team sport, and we are all in this together!

2023 - 2024 Directors

Visit the website to meet our full Board of Directors and Officers.