The North Carolina Chapter of SWANA (NCSWANA) is hosting its 2023 Fall Conference at The Cherokee Convention Center in Cherokee, NC, October 16-19.
The 1st Annual Garbie Awards will be presented to honor those individuals and organizations who have excelled and enhanced the field of Solid Waste Management in North Carolina.
The planning committee is preparing an engaging agenda of technical sessions, excellent networking opportunities, and a bowling tournament.
Click for more conference details and registration information
We hope to see you there!
Meet Catelyn Scholwinski, SMM Director, and Stephanie Watson, SMM Vice Director, during an hour-long webinar where we’ll chat about how they got to where they’re at today, their advice for young professionals, and their predictions for our industry. Come ready to ask questions and get to know who is leading the SWANA SMM Technical Division!
SWANA has Technical Divisions that focus on specific solutions for the waste industry. Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) is a very important one. The Division has an upcoming event that is a great opportunity for young professionals interested in more sustainable reuse, recycling, and resource management.
SCS’s own Kelli Farmer is SWANA’s SMM Young Professional Representative. If you want to speak with the men and women on SCS’s Sustainable Materials Management teams, please get in touch with us at .
SCS Engineers is leading the charge to sustainable materials management through innovative policies, programs, and infrastructure that increase diversion, reduce contamination, recycle more materials, and manage costs. SCS offers comprehensive services to assist in achieving your SMM goals and reducing your carbon footprint. We offer technical expertise and the financial, regulatory, and educational skills to develop cost-effective and sustainable programs.
Meet Catelyn Scholwinski, SMM Director, and Stephanie Watson, SMM Vice Director, during an hour-long webinar where we’ll chat about how they got to where they’re at today, their advice for YPs, and their predictions for our industry. Come ready to ask questions and get to know who is leading the SWANA SMM Technical Division!
SWANA has Technical Divisions that focus on specific solutions for the waste industry. Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) is a very important one. The Division has an upcoming event that is a great opportunity for young professionals interested in more sustainable reuse, recycling, and resource management.
SCS Engineers is leading the charge to sustainable materials management through innovative policies, programs, and infrastructure that increase diversion, reduce contamination, recycle more materials, and manage costs. SCS offers comprehensive services to assist in achieving your SMM goals and reducing your carbon footprint. We offer technical expertise and the financial, regulatory, and educational skills to develop cost-effective and sustainable programs. SCS’s own Kelli Farmer is SWANA’s SMM Young Professional Representative.
If you are interested in an environmental career that can impact climate change for the good – this is it! Many types of positions are open now.
Engaging With Your Stakeholders and Public Outreach is Part II of our four part video series.
Geologic sequestration can be seen as an incredible public good that reduces greenhouse gas and protects the health and wellness of generations to come, or a local risk. It’s likely you will receive questions and concerns from the public and other stakeholders during your project’s lifecycle. You can use an effective stakeholder engagement plan to help you anticipate and respond to those questions and concerns.
Watch the Geologic Sequestration webinar to learn how to engage your key stakeholders in a supportive, consistent way that demonstrates your commitment to the community and builds trust. Geologic sequestration is an EPA-approved technology companies are exploring to help them reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. In this chapter you’ll learn:
If you’re ready to explore the benefits of geologic sequestration and want to educate the public and stakeholders about the safety and sustainability of Class VI underground injection control wells, watch Richard Southorn’s video to learn more, or contact your local SCS office for a consultation.
Richard Southorn, PE, PG, serves as Project Director in our Chicagoland office. He manages coal combustion residual (CCR) and municipal solid waste projects, ranging from construction plan development to full-scale design services. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Alabama, South Carolina, Kansas, Michigan, Indiana, Hawaii, Oregon, and Georgia; and a licensed Professional Geologist in Illinois and Delaware.
Additional Resources:
Meet Carlisle Carroll, a passionate young professional (YP) who joined SCS Engineers as a summer intern in June 2022. Carlisle worked as a part-time intern during her senior year at North Carolina State University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering in May 2023. After graduation, she joined the Raleigh, NC, team as a full-time Associate Professional. Jasmyn Oliver of SCS’s Mid-Atlantic Team met with Carlisle one-on-one to hear about her experiences with SCS’s Internship Program and the start of her environmental career.
Congratulations, Carlisle, on your first anniversary with SCS! You started with SCS in June 2022 as a summer intern. How did you learn about the SCS’s internship program?
Thank you! My family owns a construction company, and I worked on a few projects during the summer of my junior year. They were the contractors for a county landfill expansion project in North Carolina. One day that summer, I went to a progress meeting with my mom, who is a general contractor, and met two SCSers from the Raleigh office. They said, “You should apply to our internship program. We’d love to have you in Raleigh.” So, I took their advice and applied. I came in and met everybody, and it worked out nicely.
What was your favorite part about being an SCS intern?
My favorite aspect of my internship was learning more about landfill design. I loved transferring my work on the plan sets and details on CAD into the field and seeing the construction happening in real time. So, it was really nice to be a part of something I was specifically interested in within civil engineering that I couldn’t get a lot of knowledge or experience in throughout college.
Now that you are full-time, can you talk about your responsibilities?
As an Associate Professional, I assist the Raleigh, NC, office with landfill engineering and design projects. I conduct site visits, provide project assistance, and design work in Civil3D. Most of my work involves acting as the county’s inspector, providing Construction Quality Assurance (CQA) to ensure everything’s going smoothly from the start of a project. I think it’s easy for people starting their careers to get comfortable behind their desk and their CAD work. As a young engineer, I believe that going beyond the screen and gaining on-site experience is especially important.
What inspired you to pursue an environmental career in civil engineering, specifically solid waste and landfill design?
My family started their construction company in 1965. And back then, there were hardly any women working in construction. I grew up watching my Nana and my mom, a general contractor, growing in the field. They’re definitely the reason I got into civil engineering and are my biggest role models. My interest in the solid waste industry and landfill design stems from my experience working with them on landfill projects at their construction company.
How would you describe SCS’s culture in three words?
Inclusive – I think working at a company with a strong female presence is awesome. I am very interested in promoting opportunities for females to enter STEM careers, which I’m incredibly passionate about. At SCS, I’ve interacted with many different types of people from different backgrounds and careers, and I appreciate that.
Supportive – Everyone here cares about your success and will give you the support to help you achieve your individual goals and how you picture your perfect career. As a young professional, SCS has a lot of resources and tools to help you grow exponentially from the start of your career.
Versatile – I get the feel of being in a small office where I have those personal connections with everyone and get one-on-one guidance and mentorship. At the same time, I get the advantage of working on a variety of large projects because SCS is a large company.
Do you feel that your work at SCS has made a difference to our environment?
I play a crucial role in assisting our engineers, who positively impact the environment. Time under tension is what makes an impact. Now that I am full-time, I am going to have more opportunities to continue making a positive impact on the environment.
What is the coolest project you’ve worked on?
I am providing CQA for one of our landfill clients on an exposed geomembrane cover project. The landfill will eventually reopen this area and remove the exposed geomembrane cover. They chose to do this project based on an odor study and to address community concerns. I think it’s great that a project like this gives the community what they need and want.
What advice would you give to future interns and YPs at SCS?
This sounds so cliché, but I’d tell them to ask all the questions. It’s been the most important thing. As an intern, it lets them know you’re passionate and want to be involved. You want to use the internship to do what its purpose is, which is to learn and grow.
What are you looking forward to while at SCS?
Once I get settled in, I want to get more involved in things like our young professionals’ group and take up outreach opportunities to get more females involved in the industry. But I’m also geared up to work on big projects!
Our clients and SCSers are excited to have Carlisle, another amazing YP, join SCS Engineers as an Associate Professional!
SCS Project Director, Kenton Yang, PE, shared his enthusiasm for Carlisle joining the Raleigh team,
“We were excited that Carlisle joined us as an intern and felt the program was a success for her and SCS Engineers. Her proactive interest in joining us part-time and now full-time was impressive, and we are fortunate to have her at SCS. I hope it’s the beginning of recruiting the best and brightest from NC State!”
Join SCS Engineers
If you are interested in the internship program for the 2024 summer, please visit SCS’s Careers page from September 2023 through January 2024 to apply.
Please check our open positions for those interested in a rewarding environmental career as an employee-owner.
Meet SCS Engineers professionals at our BOOTH at the Illinois Public Airports Association’s 2023 Annual Fall Conference, September 24-26, in Galena, Illinois.
The IPAA conference will feature a wide array of informative speakers, and plenty of networking opportunities and chances to speak with stakeholders and decision makers in the airport industry.
For more conference details and registration information, click here
We hope you can join SCS Engineers and Dr. Craig Benson, who studies the phenomenon, to our free, non-commercial webinar entitled “Identifying and Managing Elevated Temperature Landfills.”
At this session, you’ll get an update on the knowns and unknowns of ETLF conditions.
Our ETLF session is for landfill owners, operators, technicians, field personnel, engineers, and regulators interested in learning about the latest research and mitigation strategies from the foremost experts in the field.
We encourage audience engagement with our panelists. We provide the ability to ask questions anonymously. We respect and understand your time constraints; those unable to stay on the live session will automatically receive a link to a recording.
ETLF Field Tips:
SCS OM&M teams look for these signs in the field data collected:
By preparing site life calculations with knowledge of multiple approaches, we can proactively position solid waste systems to meet future needs. However, the simplest approach is often the most prudent when every variable is unknown.
The growing Florida population has greatly pressured all public infrastructure, including waste disposal services. Planning for these adjusted growth trends is paramount to a successful system that provides the community with essential services. By preparing site life calculations with knowledge of multiple approaches, we can proactively position solid waste systems to meet future needs. Don’t overlook having a thorough understanding of current disposal trends and airspace utilization as the starting point for planning the future success of a solid waste system.
In their Florida SWANA presentation, Kollan Spradlin and Fauve Herron focus on using three different landfill site life calculation methods that they have previously used to assess the remaining life of Florida landfills.
Two of the three calculation methods will use service area population projections to model future waste disposal. They will also discuss a third model that does not utilize population projections — The Remaining Capacity Method. Originally developed by SCS Engineers’ founder Bob Stearns, The Remaining Capacity Method relies on past tonnage and volume utilization data to forecast the future date at which available remaining volume will be depleted.
Their Site Life Calculations presentation will cover data requirements, the drawbacks and advantages of each method, the identification of errors, and model implications.
Presenters from the ENR-Ranked No.1 Firm for Solid Waste Management:
Kollan Spradlin, PE, CHMM and Fauve Herron, EIT
To a wastewater treatment engineer, at least during workdays, it seems like everyone is talking about forever chemicals, all of the time. There’s a good reason for that, because the huge group of man-made chemicals has climbed in priority to be at the top of most wastewater treatment regulatory considerations. Forever chemicals are also known as per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and have rapidly become the latest of the emerging contaminants in drinking water to be treated. So, while there is still a lot of toxicology research to do, PFAS destruction and even which PFAS actually needs to be addressed, there is very little doubt regarding the future need to treat PFAS in landfill leachate and other wastewaters. Everyone is in agreement, the environment needs to be protected from forever chemicals.
PFAS chemicals can withstand high heat without becoming unstable as well as repelling oil and water, making them ideal for inclusion in fire-fighting foam, lining non-stick pans, or water resistant clothing. But unfortunately, PFAS can persist in the environment – water, fish, humans, etc. – for a long time. So, having efficient and cost-effective methods of treating wastewater, drinking water, bio-solids, etc., to reduce/remove PFAS is becoming increasingly important. Luckily, some traditional and very available treatment methods are effective at treating PFAS as well as some newer, non-traditional treatment methods that appear to be promising.
One effective management technology is using deep injection wells to store the PFAS contaminated wastewater deep, far below drinking water sources and within high total dissolved solids groundwater. Deep injection wells are only allowed where the deep geology and subsurface conditions can allow for the PFAS wastewater to be contained where it is injected.
Additional management options are granular activated carbon (GAC) or ion exchange (IX), which are adsorption treatment methods that use a media, through which the PFAS contaminated wastewater can pass, and the charged PFAS molecules become bound up in the opposite charged GAC or IX media.
Reverse osmosis (RO) and foam fractionation (FF) treatment methods use separation, either through very small pores in a membrane (RO) or applying aeration to create a PFAS concentrated foam (FF), to allow the treated, cleaner water to discharge the treatment process and the concentrate (RO) or foamate (FF) is left and can be dealt with more efficiently, because after treatment the concentrate/foamate is a much smaller volume than the original wastewater flow.
These PFAS management methods simply move the PFAS chemicals out of the way and don’t actually destroy the PFAS. PFAS destruction generally requires more effort and cost because high pressure and/or high heat are required to break the carbon – fluorine (C-F) bonds. A regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO) or supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) are PFAS destruction methods that can be employed. An RTO typically operates at high temperature (e.g., 1,800 F) and SCWO utilizes both high temperature (>705 F) and high pressure (>3,210 psi) within a process to, again, break the C-F bonds. Electrocoagulation, advanced oxidation processes and plasma are also treatment methods that could be employed to destroy PFAS.
These are just a few of the many PFAS management and destruction options. It can be hard to decide what’s right for your project. That’s where SCS can help. We’re technology agnostic – so you can trust our recommendations are appropriate for your project and goals. Contact us today to learn more about what’s possible.
About the Author: Sam Cooke, PE, CEM, MBA, is a Vice President and our expert on Industrial Wastewater Pretreatment. He has nearly three decades of professional and project management experience in engineering with a concentration in environmental and energy engineering. Mr. Cooke works within SCS’s Liquids Management initiative to provide services to our clients nationwide.
Additional PFAS Management and Treatment Resources:
Meet SCS Engineers professionals at the Partners for Environmental Progress’s 23rd Industrial Reverse Trade Show and Education Seminar, October 19, at Fort Whiting, Alabama.
Decision-makers from manufacturing, health care, multi-disciplined engineering, and contractor firms come together. Get face-to-face with decision-makers and buyers from more than 45 major manufacturers, shipbuilders, health, construction, and engineering businesses, and government agencies. No other event puts you in front of this many of your industry targets at one time.
