In the latest episode of our NothingWasted! Podcast, we’ve compiled a mashup that lets you hear advice and thoughts on “what’s next” for the industry from some of our top guests.

You’ll hear what these brilliant minds and savvy leaders are paying attention to; where they think the waste, recycling and organics industry is headed; and why you should care.

Here’s a sneak peek:

Susan Robinson from Waste Management: We need to be paying attention to demand for material, and that applies to not only recyclables but also organics. I worry that we don’t think carefully enough about creating sufficient demand to pull material through that creates that feedstock for materials; we are still having trouble adjusting from a supply side or diversion focus. We have an opportunity to change that narrative.

Steve Menoff from Civil & Environmental Consultants: From a landfill engineer perspective, I think the biggest challenges are PFAS [per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances] in leachate and what to do with that—and leachate and gas management in general.

Michele Nestor from Nestor Resources: I think we’re going to see a lot more use of organics and biomass; renewables of all different kinds is where we’re going to have to look. We also may need to redefine what we see as “recycling,” particularly with plastics. There’s a lot of technology out there that can turn some of the plastics into synthetic fuels, instead of worrying about bottle-to-bottle recycling for every single thing we produce.

Listen to the full episode below and more episodes here. Don’t miss these 25 quick minutes of priceless knowledge.