Join SCS Engineers at the Tennessee Environmental Network Show of the South (TENSOS), hosted at the Chattanooga Convention Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee, May 15-17. Over 150 speakers will focus on exchanging fresh, high-value, and diverse ideas that will positively impact current and future practitioners and the environment of Tennessee and the Southeast region.
SCS is proud to be a gold sponsor and exhibitor for an event dedicated to bringing together leaders and organizations from across the solid waste and recycling industries for a two-day opportunity to share information, discuss current challenges, and spur ideas for the future. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet with industry peers and learn important updates on issues affecting the solid waste industry.
Stop by and catch up with SCS experts Brian Gant and Tony Cartee!
This week the solid waste industry is celebrating 25 years of valuable research, inspiration, and support of solid waste professionals provided by the Environmental Research & Education Foundation. On Tuesday, industry leaders met to recognize EREF’s impact on the solid waste industry and acknowledge the role stakeholders play supporting the Foundation and sharing the resulting research.
EREF is a trusted source of data-driven, empirical science for the betterment of solid waste management and policy informing industry, federal and state agencies, academics, and the public. The foundation is also a resource for students and young professionals in the solid waste industry, by providing scholarships, internships, and MSW eTextbook programs. These programs inspire young professionals and ultimately add to EREF’s research and the industry as a whole.
EREF receives funding and participation from companies such as SCS Engineers to continue new research and scholarship programs such as the Robert P. Stearns Master’s Scholarship. The foundation is remarkably successful in producing unbiased reports, which translate ideas and data into action for sustainable waste management practices.
Thank you and congratulations from your colleagues at SCS Engineers for 25 years of scientific research and educational initiatives for the benefit of our industry and the communities we serve.
This year, the South Tampa Chamber partnered with five South Tampa schools to sponsor The Great American Teach-In (GATI). On November 17, volunteers from SCS Engineers attended several schools County-wide to explain what their profession is and what they do on the job. GATI gives elementary and middle school students’ exposure to the different careers that make our world run.
Carlo Lebron, PE, chatted with second graders at Ballast Point Elementary about how as an engineer he can help businesses and citizens protect the environment. Afterward, Carlo said, “The class was wonderful and full of inquisitive kids!”
Brooke Fait, MPH, PG, discussed the health and safety aspects of environmental engineering with sixth graders at Madison Middle School. Brooke stayed for an encore session when one of the kids came in and said, “Yeah! This is the first one [GATI] I’ve had all day.” Who could resist?
Bruce Clark, PE, BCES, LEED AP® and Maria Bajrami, Associate Professional went to Crestwood Elementary. They explained what a civil engineer and environmental professional does every day. The two brought a landfill biogas energy use model with them and explained the role landfills play in a community; from having a safe place for our trash, to recycling, to creating energy, to using nature to help turn trash back into natural by-products.
Bruce describes a portion of the day, “When we mentioned in the presentation about how a special type of bug in the landfill eats garbage and makes a gas, that precipitated a landslide of questions for a good 45 minutes! How big are they? Do they have babies? How do they grow? Do they come out of the landfill? Why do they like the landfill? How can they live with no oxygen?”
He went on to say, “If you want to know the answers, just ask the students. These kids are very perceptive, engaged, sharp and well behaved. I did not know half of what these kids know at seven years old.”
Maria put the day in perspective by saying, “As adults, often times, we lose sight of important lessons we learn as children… We forget that we don’t need as much as we think we do to be happy. We forget to ask questions, in fear that they are not relevant or stupid. We forget to brush things off and keep moving, should life knock you down. Standing in front of 36-second graders during ‘The Great American Teach-In’ served as a reminder of the simplicity, curiosity, and resilience of a child, and how those lessons should be captured and never forgotten.”
Thank you to the students, teachers, and administrators for making this wonderful day possible.
SCS Engineers is proud to participate and support our communities across the nation.
