Striving for efficiency

Transportation and logistics are ongoing challenges for the environmental services industry and the economy at large.

Although Congress passed a bill imposing a rail deal on unions to avert a strike, rail workers apparently will not receive the paid sick leave they sought in rejecting the original contract because the Senate did not pass a companion bill requiring it.

The bill’s passage ensures the continued operation of Class I railroads, avoiding what otherwise would have been a strike that could have had devastating macroeconomic results.

On a more localized scale, managing logistics at landfills is a time-consuming occupation for many. In the article “Managing an evolving maze,” Neal Bolton, president of Blue Ridge Services Inc., Victor, Montana, discusses the ongoing challenges landfill operators face in balancing efficiency and speed with safety during unloading. He also emphasizes the importance of long-term planning as landfill cells close and new roads are built throughout a site’s life.

Efficiency is a shared ideal between operators of landfills and material recovery facilities (MRFs). In MRFs, choosing the right equipment for the job is key to ensuring efficient operations, and Waste Today Associate Editor Haley Rischar had the chance to hear from several industry leaders about the strengths of optical sorters at Recycling Today Media Group’s MRF Operations Forum in Chicago earlier this fall. In “Taking a look at opticals,” Rischar shares MRF operators’ views on optical sorters and how the technology can coexist with robotics and screens.

While striving for safety and efficiency is a motif of the environmental services industry, another important ingredient for success is relationships, as we learn in this month’s cover story, “Rising star of New England.” In this article, we follow the journey of Star Waste Systems CEO and President Patsy Sperduto, who has established in four years a fast-growing juggernaut serving New England.

Doing business as Boston Carting and several other brands, Star Waste has expanded quickly from Sperduto’s 2018 purchase of Jet-A-Way, a Boston hauling company.

Sperduto’s experience includes nearly 10 years as a regional sales manager for Houston-based WM and 10 years running Waste Haulers prior to selling the Rhode Island-based company to WM in 2015. During that time, he established important relationships with banks and private equity leaders that have borne fruit more recently as he has expanded Star Waste.