Page 15 - July-Aug 2021 Vol 39 No 2

experiences during their school careers. currently increasing, and
One recent experience includes the we see an upward trend in
2020/21 Recycled Sculpture Project commodity prices. Some
held with local high school welding counties and municipalities
technology students to create a are in a slow recovery period
community guitar sculpture from with their recycling program
residents’ recycled/reclaimed metal and working towards getting
items. The students completed two metal back to pre-pandemic
sculptures, each weighing in at over a operations.” She said she felt
ton, and standing over eight feet tall. One this situation is reflective of
sculpture was installed in a city park, “the U.S. in general, from what
while the other was donated to the local I have read and the people I
Imagination Library to be auctioned off talk to in this industry.”
to fund books for area children. Indeed, this assessment
These efforts are educating the new, was echoed in the Waste Today panel
upcoming generation of recycling by David Biderman, SWANA’s executive
residents and business owners about director and CEO, who said “as more
the importance of “doing it the right Americans get vaccinated, schools and
way” and the impact that environmental offices will reopen, people will feel
conservation can make on our lives. more comfortable traveling again, and
The Hub also works in litter prevention waste levels in both the residential and
and beautification with Keep Chester commercial sides of the industry will
County Beautiful, Keep TN Beautiful, normalize even further.”
and Tennessee Department of Biderman also noted that while some
Transportation’s Beautification Office to U.S. solid waste companies “have been
organize clean ups, litter prevention and hurt by the decline in commercial
beautification projects and events. volume…there may be acquisition
Normalization on the Horizon opportunities for well-financed
companies to acquire some of these
Greene said that in Tennessee, the
post-COVID recycling market “is smaller haulers.”

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