In case you missed it: Thoughtful, newsworthy comments from the industry.

"We have very large commitments over the next decade as a result of this settlement. I realize we are not going to eat the elephant all in one bite, but a proposed program over the next 10 years would be helpful."

— San Jose City Mayor Sam Liccardo on agreeing to pay $100 million to cleanup waste flowing into major waterways.

"The bigger the city the more pushback they're going to get and the industry has really good talking points."

— Jennie Romer, an attorney who has been involved with plastic bag legislation since San Francisco passed its first-in-the-nation ban in 2007.

“Think of the energy a loaded refuse truck uses going from a stop, up to speed and then hard stopping again 200 feet later, and multiply that by 1000.”

—Bill Van Amburg, Calstart senior vice president.

“Although irregularities in the process did occur, the issues did not unduly hinder the proposal or evaluation process,” reads a line from the report’s conclusion. “Each vendor was provided ample opportunity to clarify the RFP (request for proposals) process and any further questions regarding the individual proposal.”

— The PFM Group's report upon investigation of the Long Beach Public Works Department's process to award a contract for a recycling vendor. 

“This plant has all the ingredients of a pilot project that will surely inspire other initiatives.” 

— Nestlé Waters CEO Marco Settembri on the opening of an agricultural waste to biogas plant.

"Getting two good size hazardous waste permits in two different states is really strategic." 

— Pauli Overdorff, managing director of Acquest on CleanEarth's expansion in the South.