Opening Reception

Welcome to Beantown! First, I would love to say that I had a wonderful time at the Opening Reception WASTECON 2010. It feels great reconnecting with old friends and making new friends in the waste, recycling and sustainability industry!

I engaged in a great conversation during the opening reception with Richard Ludt, a charimatic interior demolition destruction waste management administrator with Interior Removal Specialist, In. (IRS) in South Gate, CA - which is located approximately 10 miles from Los Angeles.

When asked what Richard planned to accomplish during the conference, he wanted to share his companies unique process of interior demolition that specializes in complete recycling opportunities. Not only did I talk with folks from the United States, I spoke with an attendee from Canada. It makes me believe that we're all in this together.

First-time attendee, Todd Smith in sales/engineering with Xebec Adsorption, Inc. - a biogas upgrading and gas drying company from Vancouver is looking forward to meeting established natural gas professionals. He was excited to attend one of the first conference's providing biogas information.

The highlight of the evening was talking to the incoming president Sara Bixby. Sara works for the South Central Iowa Solid Waste Agency in Tracy, Iowa. Sara feels she has big shoes to fill with the previous presidents' contributions to the organization.

Already working on ideas with the SWANA board, Sara wishes to revisit services SWANA provides to its members and evaluate the services to ensure they meet the needs of the next generation. Sara discussed the need to meet the needs of upcoming technology-based generation.

She knows it will take a longer committment that the one year she will hold the title as president, but is confident great changes are on the horizon! Sara's energy and enthusiam will definitely bring a lot of great ideas this coming year.

Enjoy the conference and please come back to read more of our conference coverage!