NYS SWANA Chapter - Photo Highlights of the 2010 Federation Conference and the NYS Chapter Technical Seminar

Technical Seminars-(November and June) - What you need to know to keep current and receive professional training & development credits.
NY Federation Conference (May) - Meet colleagues from all northeast states, other local organizations and attend technical programs.
Scholarships - Provide assistance to students
Committees - Join with members to bring programs of interest to New York
Newsletter - Provide current information on current topics. Share your experience with others.
Training - Receive invitations to FREE SWANA E-Sessions

A Message from our President

Welcome to the NYS Chapter website!

For over 40 years, SWANA, The Solid Waste Association of North America, has been the leading professional association in the solid waste management field. SWANA's mission is "to advance the practice of environmentally and economically sound management of municipal solid waste." SWANA serves over 8,100 members and thousands of industry professionals by offering technical conferences, certifications, publications and a wide variety of technical training courses.

The New York SWANA Chapter's goal is to serve our members and the solid waste community by providing programs and information to enhance solid waste management.

Take the time to explore this website to see the upgrades we’ve made and information that is updated periodically.

Help our organization grow by getting a friend to join NY SWANA.

-Martin Bellew

On a quarterly basis the New York State Chapter will "spotlight" one New York State facility. Each spotlight feature will provide information, facility photos and contact information. This will provide fellow members with an opportunity to learn more about the various facilities throughout the state and to make new contacts. To have your facility featured contact Debra Smith at debsmith@co.broome.ny.us

The Westchester County Material Recovery Facility

With the proliferation of plastics packaging and the number of end markets for recyclable plastics growing rapidly, the Westchester County Board of Legislators expanded the county’s recycling law on June 1, 2011 to include plastics coded #3 through #7 in addition to plastics coded #1 and #2 that were already included in the county’s curbside recycling program . And in conjunction with this expansion, the Westchester County Material Recovery Facility (“MRF”) underwent a five-month retrofit to install a state-of-the-art optical sorting system all of which was designed and built in the U.S. by the CP Group of National City, CA in San Diego and Nashville. The new system processes the plastics by shooting over a thousand laser beams per second through each plastic container to identify the resin type.

The new equipment has not only allowed for an increase in the number of recyclables processed, but has doubled the maximum throughput capacity at the facility from 10 tons per hour to 20 tons per hour. During the past three months, the new equipment has been tested in a trial period. During this time, the county has seen a 16% increase in material recovered and marketed through the MRF. This involves not only an increase in materials brought to the MRF by including additional types of resins but also a reduction in materials that were previously rejected by the old processing system and would have been disposed of as garbage. This additional material translates into added revenue for the county’s Refuse Disposal District. While the MRF was never envisioned as a profit center, it nevertheless has benefited municipalities by lowering their disposal costs since they are not charged a tipping fee when delivering recyclables to the MRF. This is in contrast to the $26.26 per ton tipping fee for MSW brought to the transfer station.

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