In case you missed it: Thoughtful, newsworthy comments from industry professionals, consumers and policymakers.

"Now, when you talk about spraying garbage juice into the air, I certainly wouldn’t want to be in the path, and I don’t know anybody in this room that would want to be in the path of garbage juice being spread about the community."

— North Carolina Senator Paul Lowe on a state bill that would allow leachate spraying at landfills, as reported in The News & Observer. North Carolina's legislature has sent the bill to Gov. Roy Cooper for approval. If Cooper signs, lined landfill wills be permitted to spray leachate into the air instead of paying to have it treated.

"While we do not comment on pending litigation, we will continue to vigorously defend the allegations in court. Like so many of our team members, Jonathan wants to be a part of the evolution of our industry — a process built on a combination of industry expertise, new technology and data analytics."

— A spokesman for Rubicon, via email, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Waste Connections recently sued Rubicon alleging a misappropriation of trade secrets, claiming that Rubicon's newly-hired Jonathan Dewitt downloaded "thousands" of pages of documents from Waste Connections and took them to Rubicon. A judge granted a temporary restraining order while the case is tried.

"I just want the people in the industry to be looked upon as heroes, instead of just lowlifes." 

— John Arwood, CEO of Arwood Waste and founder of Garbage Man Day, in an interview with Waste Dive. Supporters want the weeklong celebration of Garbage Man Day to go national, claiming waste haulers deserve more recognition.

"However, no matter the good intentions of Global Garbage Man Day and its related efforts, it is missing the mark by maintaining a stereotype that only men can be a part of this honorable occupation. I appreciate the new logo with its stylized female and male figure, but the headlines are still emblazoned with the male stereotype. What will the world first see? The logo and its attempt to equalize or the big fat headlines?"

— Meleesa Johnson, director of Marathon County Solid Waste Department in Wisconsin & president of the Associated Recyclers of Wisconsin, in an op-ed. Johnson told Waste Dive that she couldn't agree more about elevating the status of sanitation workers with Garbage Man Day, but gets offended when the focus is solidly on "men" and not men and women.

"I wasn't expecting this but it's what's emerging naturally and I think part of it is that plastic waste affects people regardless of their income level or demographic indicators. So you have people at the same table who again are from such different local worlds, but all sharing this same space."

— Brad Verter, director of Mass Green Network, on bringing different groups of people together to regulate plastic bags in Massachusetts. Massachusetts has over 50 local ordinance regulating plastic bags at a time when some states — like Iowa and Minnesota — are passing laws that prevent municipalities from banning plastic bags. 

"​I believe that we ought to be allowing local officials to make decisions that they in their estimation and their constituents — local constituents — feel are in their best interests."

— Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf on vetoing a preemmptive plastic bag bill in his state, as reported by CBS Philly. The bill passed on thin margins in the state legislature, so it's not likely that there would be a veto override. There aren't any cities in Pennsylvania that have bag ordinances right now, but city officials from Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, York and Erie had expressed concerns about plastic bag ordinances — a sign that city-level bag ordinances may be on the horizon.