Name: Brooks Stayer
Previous title: Project manager, Blue Ridge Services Montana
New title: CEO of the Delaware County Solid Waste Authority
Stayer has public and private sector experience in Georgia, California and elsewhere. He joins the Pennsylvania county shortly after the release of its first sustainability plan, which calls for its trash diversion rate to reach 50% in the next five years.
The county is also navigating continued opposition to the Covanta-run incineration facility in Chester, which handles waste from both Delaware County and neighboring Philadelphia. In an interview following the plan’s release last week, a Delaware County official told WHYY that “the county would like to move away from incineration in the near future.”
The authority, which serves Pennsylvania’s second most densely populated county, touted Stayer's experience in diversion, recycling, waste-to-energy, capital improvement projects and more in a release on Friday.
"After a rigorous search, we’re pleased to have found an individual with a proven record of accomplishment in driving operational excellence, fostering sustainability, and implementing innovative waste management solutions that align well with our mission," Jim McLaughlin, chair of the authority's board, said in a statement.
Stayer most recently worked for Blue Ridge Services in its Augusta, Georgia, outpost. Prior to that, he spent seven months as director of the Augusta-Richmond County Environmental Services Department before resigning without a public explanation from the department.
He also has experience operating waste authorities in California. From 2013 to 2019, Stayer was director of the Merced County Regional Waste Authority, according to his LinkedIn profile. He was also executive director of the San Luis Obispo County Integrated Waste Management Authority for two years before leaving for Georgia.
According to the county’s zero waste targets, 63% of its waste is currently disposed of rather than recycled, composted or reclaimed. The authority owns two transfer stations, through which two-thirds of the county’s MSW is routed to the Covanta facility. Ash is disposed of at the authority’s Rolling Hills Landfill, which was expanded last year.
Currently, 41 municipalities in the county have recycling services, and the county collectively diverted about 239,800 tons of waste for recycling or composting. The county presently has one composting site accepting food waste, but applied for an EPA grant to open a second facility, according to its plan.
