In the first quarter of 2017, cities and counties in 16 states talked about issues related to solid waste and recycling at 26% of meetings. That鈥檚 up from 19% in all of 2016 and a 37% increase in frequency of local governments discussing solid waste overall, according to a new report from Waste Alert, a local government monitoring service focused on the solid waste and recycling industry.
Although industry headlines have focused strongly on zero waste, organics and food waste, plastic bags, and landfill leachate, the Waste Alert report found that local governments themselves are far more concerned about the nuts and bolts of solid waste and recycling鈥攁nd, increasingly, the logistics of marijuana waste.
鈥淭o our knowledge, the 2016 Waste Alert Report was the first comprehensive report of local government solid waste and recycling activity of its kind. We were curious to see how the first quarter of 2017 shaped up,鈥� stated Waste Alert founder Jeff Eager. 鈥淥ur biggest takeaway was that local governments are talking less about hot-button waste industry issues and more about the real-world logistics of providing solid waste services to residents and the solid waste considerations of the emerging cannabis industry.鈥�
Waste Alert analyzed 1,699 city council, county commission, borough assembly, and solid waste committee agendas and minutes throughout 16 states on behalf of clients and potential clients during the first quarter of 2017. The sample, primarily in the American West, ranged from a small town with a population of 1,000 to a large metropolitan area with a population of over 1,000,000, providing a unique snapshot of local government activity.
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