WASTECON, held by SWANA, will be held January 26-28, 2021 as a virtual event. Each keynote session will include high impact speakers discussing the issues that matter the most to private and public sector solid waste and recycling leaders in the United States and Canada.
"Although we'd prefer to meet in person, we are excited that a virtual event will allow a larger number of solid waste professionals to participate and be inspired by our speakers," stated David Biderman, SWANA's Executive Director and CEO. "WASTECON will be the first major waste conference of 2021, and we believe will provide terrific value, information, and networking opportunities to participants."
Embracing Disruption. Not just the conference theme, embracing disruption is the future of the industry. The solid waste and recycling industry is being reshaped by powerful forces - fiscal uncertainty, a critical need for infrastructure investment, local governments pushed to engage in creative city-to-city and public/private partnerships in the absence of federal and state leadership, and the need to leverage technology to connect to communities and customers.
"When we embrace disruptions, we can lean in and make decisions that help accelerate needed solutions and sunset legacy practices that can stand in the way of progress," said SWANA Deputy Executive Director, Meri Beth Wojtaszek. "This has some leaders replacing the phrase ‘before and after' to ‘before and faster.'"
SWANA is curating a dynamic lineup for this event that includes high-level speakers and panelists that will discuss the lessons learned and organizational changes that have been made during the COVID-19 recovery phases; the resurgence of interest in recycling as the new national recycling strategy and goals are announced in the US.