Waste Age

Smooth Operators 

By Kim O'Connell

ON A LONELY ROAD in central Ohio, a driver for Rumpke Consolidated Cos. Inc. was going about his daily route when a tire edged off the pavement, throwing...

Beyond the Call 

Eric Gernath

IT'S NOT OFTEN that a company in a highly regulated industry looks forward to more rules, but Teris North America, Dallas, used newly imposed federal...

Hi-Tech Blueprints 

Peter J. Hutchinson and Laura S. Barta

LANDFILL CLOSURE IS AN EXPENSIVE process for landfill operators, so cost controls are always welcome. One way to minimize expenses is to use frequency-domain...

Technology Brake-Through 

Bill D. Siuru Jr. Contributing Editor Temecula, Calif.

PEOPLE ARE LINING UP to buy hybrid cars and sport utility vehicles. In the future, refuse fleets could be lining up for hybrid garbage trucks. A couple...

TONS of Time 

By Michael Fickes

SCALES ARE AN UNASSUMING yet necessary part of the waste business. In addition to telling transfer station and landfill operators how much trash is coming...

Putting Productivity on the Map 

By Michael Fickes

FROM HAULING TO LANDFILL OPERATIONS, many waste management businesses are wasting time and money because they don't know where their equipment is or where...

Garbage Sale 

Al Tebaldi Solid Waste Management Division Manager Tacoma, Wash.

LIKE UNWANTED GUESTS, old computers, tools and scrap from home remodeling projects often linger on homeowners' property. But a growing movement of online...

Virtual Reduction 

Michael Fickes Business Editor Cockeysville, Md.

EACH OF NEW YORK CITY's 8 million men, women and children produces and tosses out 4.5 pounds of trash per day. That adds up to 18,000 tons of waste per...

Crossed Wires 

John Gerah Jr. Siemens Business Services Norwalk, Conn.

SHOVING TOO MANY PLUGS INTO A SOCKET could result in gadgets that glitch. Similarly, when too many software systems are installed at one company, wires...

CONTROLLING COSTS 

By Michael Fickes

IT'S NO SECRET THAT the success of waste management hinges on the business of transportation and disposal. But business success also depends on pricing...

Fleet Finders 

By Michael Fickes

THE OLD DAYS OF SENDING drivers out on collection routes with an off-the-shelf map, a handful of handwritten index cards and orders to return by 3 p.m....

Being Big Brother 

Barry Shanoff Legal Editor Rockville, Md.

CELL PHONES, WIRELESS PAGERS, e-mail, the Internet and personal data organizers are a blessing and a curse. On one hand, these electronic aids can boost...

Taming Technology 

By Laird Greenshields

GAUDREAU, A HAULER in Victoriaville, Quebec, about 100 miles east of Montreal, has proven that agility not necessarily size matters when it comes to managing...

Computing Landfill Data 

Chris G. Bratsch, URS Corp. Minneapolis, Minn., and Ingrid Verhagen Minnesota Pollution Control Agen

MAINTAINING UP-TO-DATE INVENTORIES, response-action monitoring and data quality for 108 closed landfills posed a challenge for the Minnesota Pollution...

Time for Technology 

Michael Fickes

Waste industry vendors and observers have been promoting the operational efficiencies available from technology while bemoaning its slow pace of adoption...

Picture Perfect 

Michael Fickes

For waste management executives, a mapped picture of a trading area may be worth tens of thousands of dollars. Modern map technology, called geographic...

COLLECTION: Tracking Your Trucks 

Lynn Merrill

Haulers that want to ensure their operations are lean and mean should consider integrating global positioning, computer-assisted routing and performance...

TECHNOLOGY: Packing a Diesel-Like Punch 

Bill Siuru

Like many waste management companies in California, Norcal Waste Systems, San Francisco, faces community pressure to reduce its truck emissions. Doing...

Software & Scales 2002: Back on Board 

Michael Fickes

Nearly a decade ago, the waste industry began weighing trash and auditing accounts. Onboard scale meters connected to onboard computers flowed like liquid...

TECHNOLOGY: Visual Simulations Allay NIMBY Concerns 

Michael McCullar

No one wants a landfill for a neighbor. So in 1997, when Houston-based Waste Management Inc. (WMI) needed to expand its DFW Recycling and Disposal Facility...

Keeping It Cool 

By Jan Canterbury

New software and management techniques can help reduce methane and minimize greenhouse gases. Managing landfill gas can be an expensive item on the balance...

TECHNOLOGY: Penn State Palm Sizes Hazwaste Program 

Kate Lumley-Sapanski

A national leader in several collegiate sports, Pennsylvania State, University Park, Pa., can now claim to be innovative in another arena: hazwaste collection....

Clicks and Mortar 

By Kim A. O'Connell

With the dust settling on the dot-com shakedown, the waste industry can take careful steps forward to embrace e-commerce.

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Century of Growth, A 

By Michael Fickes

Not all technology companies are struggling. Innovative technology has fueled Heil's growth for the past 100 years.

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Beat Goes On, The 

By Pete Truch

A designer from the solid waste business unit sits down at a computer terminal displaying an overview map of the city. With built-in zoom capabilities,...