The 2016 version of the Federation of New York Solid Waste Associations Conference and Trade Show will include an up-close look at organics recycling and speakers with two different viewpoints on zero waste efforts. The federation’s event takes place May 15-18 at The Sagamore resort in Bolton Landing, New York.

“Strive for Sustainability” is the theme of the 2016 conference, with a program that features 30 panel discussions over the course of 2.5 days and that includes more than 100 speakers addressing “the latest on waste and recycling issues, materials management, new technology and recent legislation,” according to the federation.

Several panels will address organics and composting, with speakers including Al Rattie of the U.S. Composting Council on the Council’s Seal of Testing Assurance program and Charles Duprey of WeCare Organics, based in Jordan, New York, who will discuss developing market opportunities for compost.

Regulators from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation will provide an overview of the state of composting in the Empire State and Scott Woods, the CEO of Sustainable Generation, a commercial composting and waste conversion company based in Wilmington, Delaware, will discuss scalable composting methods in use across the country.

On the zero waste topic, Commissioner Kathryn Garcia of the New York City Department of Sanitation has been scheduled to provide an update on achieving zero waste in New York City. Since her appointment to the position in 2014 by Mayor Bill De Blasio, Garcia has focused on sustainability efforts including composting and expanding biodiesel fleets.

A presentation by Mark M. Zessin of Glastonbury, Connecticut-based Anchor Engineering Services Inc. titled “The Case Against Zero Waste: It’s Ideological Nonsense, Not a Practical Economic, Engineering or Public Policy Objective,” is likely to provide a contrasting viewpoint.

Another scheduled panel discussion looks at the politics and technology involved with mixed waste processing programs.

The complete agenda of the May 2016 event can be found at http://nyfederation.org/pdf/TechnicalProgram.pdf.