Industry News

Conferences & Events, Associations

NWRA honors award recipients

The National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA), Arlington, Virginia, honored its 2024 Driver of the Year, Operator of the Year honorees and Hall of Fame inductees at its annual awards breakfast at WasteExpo in Las Vegas. The 2024-25 recipients of the NWRA Women’s Council scholarships and the 2024 recipients of the NWRA Future Industry Leaders Alliance Leadership Certificate Program also were recognized.

During the awards breakfast, Don Ross, NWRA board of trustees chairman and New Way Trucks chief sales officer, joined Michael E. Hoffman, NWRA incoming president and CEO, in acknowledging the award recipients’ outstanding safety and leadership efforts.

“The NWRA awards breakfast is one of the association’s highlights each year,” Ross said. “It is not only a moment to look back and reward our members for their lifelong commitments to the association and the waste and recycling industry but to come together as one to celebrate the collaborative milestones we’ve made thus far. Congratulations once again to this year’s recipients.”

According to the NWRA, Hall of Fame inductees are selected based on scores in five categories, including recognition in the industry as a founder, pioneer, visionary or icon; enduring legacy and impact of contributions to the industry for a minimum of 25 years; steadfast values such as integrity, respect, courage, mentorship, volunteerism and inclusiveness; inspirational leadership as an NWRA service provider or supplier and on issues important to the NWRA at the national, state and/or local level; and active association engagement and service as an ambassador of the industry.

The association’s 2024 Hall of Fame inductees were Tod Holmes, independent director of WIN Waste Innovations; William Rumpke Jr., president and CEO of Rumpke Waste & Recycling; and Mike Schwalbach, president and founder of Sierra Container Group.

“We safely put vehicles on the road every day, and the real heroes are the people on the front lines,” Holmes said. “I’m fortunate enough to play a small part in this story.”

Those front-line workers were honored during the ceremony as well. With its Operator of the Year awards, NWRA honored heavy equipment operators as the unsung heroes of the industry. This year, four nominees tied for Operator of the Year—a first in the association’s history.

In an emotional speech, Nivardo Gonzalez of WM accepted one of the four joint Operator of the Year awards.

“I’m proud of this company, this work,” said Gonzalez, a WM operator since 1992. “They’ve offered me other jobs with other companies, but I’ll never change from Waste Management. It’s my company.”

Joining Gonzalez as Operator of the Year were Sergio Padilla and Stanley Watts from WM and Rob Hamil from Republic Services Inc.

For the full list of award winners and honorable mentions, visit https://bit.ly/3V0c07q.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Delos and Silverfern Group complete sale of Pioneer Recycling Services

Delos Capital and the Silverfern Group have completed the sale of Tacoma, Washington-based Pioneer Recycling Services LLC to a subsidiary of Waste Connections Inc.

“My team and I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to build a leading recycling platform alongside great partners,” Pioneer CEO Tommy Crenshaw says. “Teaming up with Waste Connections is a natural next step for the company.”  

Pioneer Recycling Services provides commingled residential recycling services in the Pacific Northwest, with material recovery facilities serving commercial, industrial, municipal and residential customers.

“Tommy and the Pioneer team fostered a culture of operational excellence,” says Jordan Mondshine, principal at Delos. “Over the course of our investment, we executed our value creation strategy by investing in state-of-the-art equipment and creating best-in-class material recovery facilities. We wish Pioneer continued success as it embarks on its next chapter with Waste Connections.”

Facilities

Kent County, Michigan, opens new transfer station

The Kent County, Michigan, Department of Public Works (DPW) has opened its newest transfer station.

DPW leaders, county officials and community members gathered May 9 to open the new Rockford, Michigan-based North Kent Transfer Station, which replaces the former transfer station at the same site to meet increased recycling and disposal needs. The new facility will be fully operational in June.

As previously reported by Waste Today, DPW approved a $15.5 million budget in 2022 to construct the new transfer station. According to DPW Director Dar Baas, the organization used the remaining funds to reroof the existing facility, add a new scale house, replace an aging scale and pave areas that were initially intended to be gravel.

“There were no major issues during the construction,” Baas says. “The biggest challenge was finding a good location on the site and working with the grades and site constraints that we had. We were able to find room and orient the building, provide adequate staging areas and provide stormwater control features.”

He adds, “We were blessed with a mild winter, which allowed the construction season to extend longer than normal.”

The site’s previous transfer station opened in 1992 and needed to be replaced because of population and business growth in northern Kent County.

DPW says a larger facility will allow residents and commercial haulers to more easily segregate demolition and construction waste, bulky items and recycling from municipal waste. The new facility also features a Center for Hard to Recycle Materials area to help improve recycling rates.

At 35,000 square feet, the new transfer station boasts a 22,000-square-foot tipping area. Baas says the additional space will allow for approximately three times the working capacity of the existing transfer station, which is 11,900 square feet.

“Sanitation and the proper handling of municipal solid waste are critical for maintaining a healthy community, and the transfer station plays a large role in ensuring efficient handling of refuse,” Baas says.

Landfills

Qnergy expands methane abatement project at closed Utah landfill

Weber County, Utah, has partnered with Qnergy, an Ogden, Utah-based conversion technology provider, to install a methane destruction system at the closed county landfill located next to the Weber County Archery Park.

The methane harvested will be utilized for carbon credits that will fund the project and generate revenue, and, in turn, help protect the environment from potent greenhouse gas. In August 2023, the county and Qnergy kicked off a pilot program to convert methane emitted from the closed landfill into on-site electricity. Because of the pilot program’s success, the county and Qnergy have expanded the project to abate more than 95 percent of methane emissions from the closed landfill.

“We’re taking a closed landfill that emits greenhouse gas and repurposing it,” Weber County Economic Development Director Stephanie Russell says. “Methane is very harmful to the environment, and we’re not only abating it but harvesting it into renewable energy. Weber County is the first county in Utah to do this.”

The methane destruction system comprises a Qnergy PowerGen that powers an enclosed flare system. The PowerGen is Qnergy’s proprietary technology based on a free-piston Stirling engine that converts methane into reliable, utility-grade electricity. Meanwhile, the flare enables complete methane destruction. Together, the unit generates carbon credits that will bring in a revenue stream while eliminating emissions from the site.

“Qnergy is proud to partner with our home county to eliminate methane emissions from the landfill neighboring a public park. This installation is in line with our strategy to turn closed landfills from liabilities into assets,” Qnergy CEO Ory Zik says. “We’re eager to deploy additional units throughout Utah and beyond.”

The county is working with cities to expand the project to other closed landfills and is looking to possibly install solar panels on the county’s closed landfill. A news conference will be held in August to officially announce the expansion and share results, progress and future plans.

Municipal

Pellitteri Waste Systems expands in Wisconsin with new contracts

Pellitteri Waste Systems, a Madison, Wisconsin-based waste and recycling services provider, was awarded three new municipal contracts in its home state, bringing the total local communities served by the company to 42, with more than 76,000 homes serviced weekly.

The new contracts include the city of Monona, the village of Mount Horeb and the village of Poynette, adding more than 8,100 new homes for curbside waste and recycling pickup.

“As a local, family-owned and -operated company, we earn our customers one at a time and are honored to be serving these new communities for their curbside waste removal,” Pellitteri Waste Systems Vice President Danielle Pellitteri says.

Pellitteri recently expanded its recycling list to include hot and cold paper cups, paper milk and juice cartons, metal pots and pans, shredded paper prepared in clear plastic bags, small metal appliances, small metal plumbing fixtures and empty aerosol cans.

“We continue to invest in our infrastructure to provide a high level of recycling for the community as evidenced by our material recovery facility at Kipp Street Station in Madison,” company President David Pellitteri says. “We make sure that your recycling is actually being recycled. We have greater control over how your recyclables are used in addition to exceeding what is required to be recycled by the DNR [Department of Natural Resources].”

Along with the new contracts, Pellitteri also began servicing the village of West Baraboo and the town of Oregon in 2023 and secured contract extensions for the city of Middleton, the town of Middleton, the town of Verona, the village of Fall River and the village of McFarland.

Pellitteri customers now have a new mobile app that allows users to set up collection day reminders and receive weather-related alerts. The Recycle Right Search Tool provides tips on how to dispose of specific items correctly.