In case you missed it: Thoughtful, newsworthy comments from industry professionals, consumers and policymakers.
"It's easy for the executive branch to say, 'this is what we think,' but that’s not how democracy works."
— Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta at the American Bar Association's Labor and Employment Law Conference. Acosta confirmed that the Department of Labor, under his leadership, was pursuing an agenda of deregulation in favor of "unleashing jobs" and repealing rulemaking that "impinges liberty."
"By educating and engaging those individuals to recycle more of the right things the right way, we can then help make the recycling more economically viable."
— Jeanette Eigelsbach, director of Scenic Cities Beautiful, in a conversation with Waste Dive. Eigelsbach discussed how improving curbside recycling education can help cities strengthen their municipal programs.
"The immediate success of California’s plastic bag ban has demonstrated to policy makers and the public that we don’t have to accept plastic pollution as inevitable."
— Dan Jacobson, state director of Environment California, in a press release. Preliminary data from California's annual Coastal Cleanup Day showed a steep drop in plastic bag litter one year after votes approved a ballot referendum to enact a statewide ban on the single-use items.
"It's still too high and we need to continue to work to reduce injuries and illnesses."
— Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) CEO David Biderman, reacting to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistic injury data for waste industry workers. Biderman said that SWANA was particularly concerned about small haulers that don't have robust safety programs.
"We urge the Senate to take up this legislation and pass it quickly. It is a critical piece of legislation that removes uncertainties hindering business growth.”
—National Waste & Recycling Association President and CEO Darrell Smith on H.R. 3441's passage in the House. The bill would reverse joint employer standards established by the National Labor Relations Board in 2015. Labor groups have expressed strong opposition to the bill.
"As part of the conspiracy, (Chuck Rizzo) caused fraudulently inflated invoices to be submitted to Rizzo Environmental Services so that the conspirators would then receive cash kickbacks from the money paid by the company."
— An allegation from prosecutors in the fraud case involving Rizzo Environmental Services. Former CEO Charles Rizzo Jr. pleaded guilty Thursday and faces up to 10 years in prison.
"Our understanding from talking to several industry contacts is that these guidelines are intended to crack down on the widespread practice by Chinese companies to share import licenses and quotas, including to require that only companies that process scrap may hold licenses. The effort to curb such practice was already underway, and these announcements provide official guidance."
— An update from the Institute of Scrap and Recycling Industries (ISRI) concerning the latest developments in China's shifting import policies.
