SWEEP Newsletter #15: Theory vs. Practice, Redux
Partial realization of theories around EPR, PFAS mitigation, and food waste recovery are in the news this week. The twin theories of EPR are that ...
SWEEP Newsletter
SWEEP Newsletter #14: Policy and Behavior Set the Pace, Can Infrastructure Keep Up?
Policy and consumer demands are moving forward on multiple fronts, from staggered state EPR and right-to-repair deadlines to renewed consumer interest in textile reuse. But ...
SWEEP Newsletter #13: Consolidation, and (Maybe) Coordination and Standardization Grow
Roll-ups and investor portfolio acquisitions continue across the country, which could make it easier to coordinate on — or block — issues of industry-wide concern ...
SWEEP Newsletter #12: Global Issues, Local Impact
Materials management is no longer just a local operations issue. Scrap trade policy, landfill siting, and recycling contamination all reveal a system under strain from ...
SWEEP Newsletter #11: An Industry Approaching a Policy Inflection Point
With the legal and regulatory frameworks governing recycling and disposal being rewritten in real time, this week’s newsletter captures an industry approaching a policy inflection ...
SWEEP Newsletter #10: Modern Challenges in Waste Management Start to Be Addressed
While the basic structure of the waste management industry has not changed much in the last 50 years, within the last decade new challenges — ...
SWEEP Newsletter #9: Rocky Mountain High: How Colorado Is Setting the Standard
Waste industry performance targets tend to be more aspirational than operational. Colorado is changing that. From first-in-the-nation EV battery EPR with specific mineral recovery rates, ...
SWEEP Newsletter #8: In Theory, There Should Be No Difference Between Theory and Practice…
…but in practice, there usually is. This week’s newsletter arrives at a moment of structural tensions in waste and recycling policy. Courts and legislatures in ...
SWEEP Newsletter #7: We Have Met the Enemy; It’s the System
Many of the performance shortfalls in waste management trace back to structural problems, not effort or intention. Systems largely designed in the 1980s and ’90s ...
SWEEP Newsletter #6: For Want of a Nail
The deep wisdom of the “for want of a nail” proverb reminds us that seemingly unimportant acts or omissions can potentially lead to grave and ...
SWEEP Newsletter #5: The Story Beneath the Story
There is a common theme hidden beneath this week’s seemingly disparate stories and that is: separation is the key to unlocking value in the waste ...
SWEEP Newsletter #4: The Waste Industry Is “Living in Interesting Times”
Global trends and a shifting landscape are forcing old dogs to consider new tricks. Organics processing capacity is scaling up fast through private investment and ...