SWEEP—The Solid Waste Environmental Excellence Protocol—Announces Co-Chairs of the National Steering Committee

The Solid Waste Management Environmental Excellent Protocol (SWEEP) is pleased to announce that Susan Robinson, Senior Public Affairs Director for Waste Management, and Rob Watson, Principal, Upland Road LLC. Founder and the Founder of the LEED Green Building Rating System have been selected as Co-Chairs of the National Steering Committee.

Ms. Robinson has been with Waste Management since 1999 and she has worked in the environmental industry for 30 years in roles that span the public sector, non-profit, consultancy, and over twenty years in the private sector.   Susan’s experience includes global commodity marketing, research and analysis of industry trends, and twenty years managing municipal solid waste and recycling contracts.

Mr. Watson is an international leader in market transformation and green buildings, whose 30+ year career in environmental advocacy and business stretches across 5 continents, including 21 years as a Senior Scientist for the Natural Resources Defense Council. Rob has been involved with solid waste management issues since volunteering at a drop-off recycling center as a sixth grader in 1972.

SWEEP is a standard that will identify and reward leaders in sustainable materials management, while outlining the best and leading practices for municipal and private sector leaders. Brainchild of LEED founder, Rob Watson, SWEEP will be designed to help move the industry toward sustainability.

Modeled after the highly successful LEED standard for green buildings, SWEEP will provide benchmarks across four performance categories: 1) Sustainable Materials Management Policies; 2) Waste Generation and Prevention; 3) Solid Waste Collection and, 4) Post-Collection Processing and Disposal. Within each of these performance categories, SWEEP will have credits based on the following key performance indicators (KPI): 1) Efficiency & Effectiveness; 2) Environmental Performance; 3) Economic Performance and 4) Working Conditions & Social Impact. There will be technical committees organized around these KPIs that will do the drafting of the credit language.

SWEEP is in the process of creating expert working groups who will develop the actual rating systems for the protocol. At the highest level, Municipal and Industry Standard Committees will guide the development of the standards and ensure that, as a whole, the SWEEP Standard contains all of the necessary elements to ignite transformation in Municipal programs and Industry practices.

The Municipal and Industry Standard Committees will be supported by the Performance Category Committees that will develop the technical specifications and ensure that the standards maintain the appropriate balance between innovation and achievement. As the SWEEP credits are developed by the KPI committees, they will be released on the SWEEP website (https://sweepstandard.org) for wiki-style input to the proposed draft language. Public input will be reviewed and approved by SWEEP committees prior to publication.