The “Getting Credit for Green Initiatives” session on Monday afternoon featured three speakers from Georgia-based waste companies that had real-world experience in helping companies “green” their image or had earned their own reputation as green firms. The session kicked off with William “Dolph” Winders of Atlanta-based Balch & Bingham, a legal firm specializing in environmental issues. Winders set the tone, pointing out that “going green” improves public perception and is just good business. Citing Dupont, WalMart, and Hewlett-Packard as part of the 10 percent of Fortune 500 companies that understand this metric, he emphasized that green is not a color that is going to go out of style.

“He who controls the youth controls the future,” said Winders, pointing out that schools and universities are the greenest places in the United States. “Green is cool in school. And in 10 to 15 years, those students are going to be your customers.”

Among the ways Winders suggested waste companies could go green were:

• creating conservation easements and wetlands

• earning LEED certification for buildings

• converting fleets to biodiesel

• pursuing landfill-gas-to-energy projects

• redeveloping brown fields

• food waste composting

• purchasing carbon offsets

Winders also added that “new ideas get the most green press,” citing as examples bioreactors, plasma arc technology and the Valero project, which will produce gasoline from municipal solid waste (MSW).

Timothy Lesko of Greenco, Norcross, Ga., the leading organic recycling company in the Southeast, talked about sustainability and the challenges of establishing organics recycling programs. After pointing out that organics are far and away the biggest component of MSW, he said successful composting programs will handle not only traditional organics (paper, cardboard) but also nontraditional organics, like yard waste and food waste (food waste being the largest portion of MSW entering landfills).

Lesko said composting is a compelling green initiative because it fits “the three ‘R’s.” It REDUCES the amount of waste going to landfills, REUSES organic waste as compost and RECYCLES waste into new products.

Speaking more broadly, he advised waste companies to adhere to “the three ‘C’s” for getting credit:

• CLARITY in advertising green efforts.

• CREDIBILITY when making claims of green initiatives.

• CONSISTENCY in building a story with facts and stimulating repetitions to make them memorable.

The final speaker, Ernest Kaufman of Greenfirst, Canton, Ga., detailed the ongoing development of the Turkey Run Landfill, which will be the closest landfill to downtown Atlanta. It’s the first landfill project to be permitted in Georgia in almost 10 years. Understandably, the project features several innovative green aspects, including substantial mitigation of the Blue Creek Basin, which involves restoring and relocating large sections of a stream that runs through the site and supplies a nearby town with water. Additionally, half-mile green buffer zones and an on-site industrial park will ensure that no residential development occurs adjacent to the landfill.

The completed facility will accept 3,000 tons per day and total permitted volume is 31,189,847 cubic yards. Notably, the site will accept no out-of-state waste (a first in Georgia), nor will it accept sewage sludge.

“Green development of landfills is NOT a ‘dead cost,’” concluded Kaufman.

In today’s troubled economy, companies are holding onto equipment longer and delaying the purchase of new devices. However, keeping equipment too long is an almost surefire to spend too much money, Dave Dawson, CEO of Houston-based AssetNation, told attendees of a WasteExpo conference session on Monday.

Dawson’s remarks came during the “Leveraging End-of-Life Assets to Improve Cash Flow in a Struggling Economy” session. His company has sold more than $1 billion in assets on behalf of Fortune 1000 companies.

Noting the intention of some waste haulers to drive their trucks “until the wheels fall off,” Dawson said such an ownership strategy can be financially harmful as maintenance costs soar and the re-sale value of the equipment plummets.

“There is really a better way to manage the end-of-life asset,” Dawson said. “At some point, it costs more to maintain than the monthly cost of new equipment.”

Larger fleets often go about answering the question “When is it time to trade out my equipment?” in a “very programmatic way,” Dawson added.

These larger companies keep an eagle eye on life cycle costs - carefully keeping track of acquisition costs, maintenance expenses, the costs of idle equipment, risk-management expenses and disposal/exit costs - to best calculate the right time to get rid of a piece of equipment.

For an asset management program that seeks to get rid of equipment at the right time to be successful, the following dynamics need to be in place, according to Dawson:

* The program must be a strategic priority.

* The program must have an executive sponsor.

* It needs to be rolled out uniformly across a company.

* It requires ongoing management and reinforcement.

* The program must have the ability to measure progress toward financial goals.

* And, it requires frequent communication across multiple levels of a company.

However, even if you do drive your truck “until the wheels fall off,” you will still likely find a buyer of some sort, Dawson added.

The Waste Age team is on the ground in Las Vegas, seeing all there is to see at Waste Expo 2009. As attendees file in from all corners of the country (and beyond), the show is already running apace. Though the show floor does not open until tomorrow, today was filled with a slate of informative sessions that seemed to generate a lot of excitement.

Everyone’s getting ready for the welcome reception at the Paris Las Vegas this evening. We’ll be updating the blog as often as we can. Tell us what you’d like to see and we’ll do our best to bring it to you!