EPA official to serve as keynote speaker for annual SWANA event

The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA), Silver Spring, Maryland, has announced Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator of the Office of Land and Emergency Management for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), will serve as keynote speaker for the association’s annual conference, SWANApalooza. This year’s event will be April 4-7, 2016, in Charleston, South Carolina.

SWANA says in September 2015 the EPA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced “an ambitious goal” to reduce food waste by 50 percent by 2030. At SWANApalooza, Stanislaus will discuss EPA’s efforts to attain that goal.

“SWANA is thrilled that Assistant Administrator Stanislaus will be speaking at SWANApalooza in April,” says SWANA Executive Director and CEO David Biderman. “This will be the first waste industry event of 2016 at which EPA and USDA will discuss the federal government’s 50 percent food waste reduction goal.”

More than 1,000 attendees are expected at SWANApalooza to hear presentations by other EPA officials, food managers and waste industry leaders discussing how the food waste goal will affect their work. The redirection of food waste currently going to landfills will impact not only waste collection and processing practices, landfill capacity and gas production, but also will provide needed resources to feed local communities, SWANA says.

Biderman adds, “We are excited that other EPA officials will also join us to speak about a variety of timely topics to industry participants. We invite local governments, haulers, composters, landfill operators and others to attend.”

SWANApalooza features four SWANA events: The Road to Zero Waste Conference, 20th Annual Landfill Symposium, 39th Annual Landfill Gas & Biogas Symposium and the Spring Training Center. SWANA also will host the EPA’s annual Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP) workshop and the 2016 Fleet Management Expo at this major waste industry event.

For more information on SWANApalooza, visit www.SWANApalooza.org.

SWANA is an organization of more than 8,300 public and private sector professionals committed to advancing from solid waste management to resource management through their shared emphasis on education, advocacy and research. For more than 50 years, SWANA has been a leading association in the solid waste management field. SWANA serves industry professionals through technical conferences, certifications, publications and a large offering of technical training courses.