THE FALL ITINERARY

Our time at WasteCon was quite fruitful and you can expect even more stories in the coming weeks. Aside from facility tours, and the occasional government meeting, industry events are our best chance to get out in the wild. Here's what our dance card looks like (so far) this fall.

• Global Dialogue on Waste (9/4-9/5): The sixth edition of be Waste Wise's free virtual event has one of its best line-ups yet. Waste Dive's Cole Rosengren will interview industry veteran Chaz Miller on the first day.
• Connecticut Recyclers Coalition Annual Meeting (9/14 Branford, CT): EPA Region 1 Administrator Alexandra Dapolito Dunn headlines the day at a transitional time for recyclers in the state. Cole and Waste360's Mallory Szczepanski are also on the docket.
• SPC Advance 2018 (9/26-9/28 Boston, MA): The Sustainable Packaging Coalition's members-only annual event features a stacked list of speakers from throughout the material supply chain.
• Earth Engineering Center/WTERT Conference (10/4-10/5 New York, NY): This bi-annual international gathering features some of the preeminent professionals and academics working on WTE and circular economy concepts. Cole will deliver a short presentation about the latest U.S. trends.
• Northeast Recycling Council: The Future of MRFs (10/30-10/31 Rocky Hill, CT): NERC's fall conference is all about recycling, with a who's who list of corporate and government speakers. Students interested in one of two attendance scholarships should contact Executive Director Lynn Rubinstein.

We know the waste world is vast and plenty more is happening. What are you looking forward to this fall? Send us an email. Even if we can't make it, we'll be glad to include details in our events calendar or future Daily Digest agendas.

​New Jersey governor plans to veto single-use bag fee bill — New Jersey League of Conservation Voters

Gov. Phil Murphy announced yesterday his intention to veto a bill (A.3267/S.2600) meant to tack on 5 cents to each single-use plastic bag at retail locations. Back in July, Murphy removed any mention of a bag fee from the state budget. If passed, 1 cent of the fee would have gone to the retailer and the remaining 4 cents to a lead abatement fund. 

Illinois governor signs new compost law — BioCycle

The law will require state agencies undertaking landscaping projects using offsite soil to take bids for a compost contract as long as the cost is the same or less than using conventional soil. The state Department of Transportation must also lead two pilot compost projects and report any findings to the General Assembly within a year of completion.

Tennessee considers bottle deposit return program — Times Free Press

Next year, the Tennessee Bottle Bill Project — known as TennCan — will propose a new program in the state Legislature. The program would add a 5 cent deposit to plastic, glass and aluminum beverage containers, and consumers would get the refund back after dropping off containers at a recycling facility. Tennessee currently has a 10% recycling rate, which program supporters hope will go up to 80% after implementation. Efforts to alter bottle bills, let alone approve new ones, have a history of being very politically contentious so this one bears watching.

City of Summerville, South Carolina will collect leftover Waste Pro bins — The Post and Courier

After finding the company in breach of contract in March and hiring Carolina Waste and Recycling instead, the city will pick up the remaining 500 bins left at customer residences. Waste Pro has already picked up about 97% of its 15,000 bins. Many residents have complained about Waste Pro's collection service, saying the company missed pickups and didn't deliver recycling bins on time. 

A new idea for recycling flowers — Recycling International

A student has come up with an idea to use the leftover flowers at religious centers in India for essential oils and composting. Parimala Shivaprasad, a postgraduate at the University of Bath in England, wants to start a social enterprise that extracts oils from the flowers, then turns over the remains to composters for organic farming purposes. 

Thank you to ⁦@GaylordOpryland⁩ for hosting a great #WASTECON in ⁦@visitmusiccity⁩. #SWANA thanks exhibitors, sponsors partners & attendees for participating. Lots of work on #safety & #recycling still to be done. See you in ⁦@CityofPhoenixAZ⁩ in 2019! pic.twitter.com/XswLlNa9ba

— David Biderman (@biderman) August 24, 2018

Do you have events or webinars that should be on our agenda this week? Email waste.dive.editors@industrydive.com.