Arlene Karidis

Mount Airy

Writer, Editor and Media Consultant at Freelance

Arlene Karidis is an environmental reporter for Waste360 and a health reporter for several regional and national newspapers, lifestyle and trade publications.

Articles

Colorado Startup’s Tech Destroys 99 Percent of PFAS

1 week ago | waste360.com | Arlene Karidis

PFAS remediation is an ongoing and grueling battle as these toxic chemicals are incredibly hard to destroy. Most existing technologies capture and concentrate them, but then the trapped pollutants must move on for disposal or incineration. Now a few new options go further by breaking down these chemicals’ strong carbon-fluorine bond and thoroughly destroying them. H2Plus is one of the early companies to accomplish this feat.
SWANA CEO Burke on What’s New in 2025 and Beyond

1 week ago | waste360.com | Arlene Karidis

Under CEO Amy Lestition Burke, SWANA is addressing industry challenges through initiatives like the Lithium-Ion Battery Workgroup, PFAS management courses, and a partnership with NWRA on safety priorities. Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) is having a busy year, with more plans to come. In this Waste360 Q&A, Amy Lestition Burke, SWANA’s executive director and CEO, discusses a brand new conference to roll out in November 2025—RCon—which will replace WASTECON.
Interstate Waste’s Josh Haraf Leads by Being Present

2 weeks ago | waste360.com | Arlene Karidis

In this Waste360 Q&A, Haraf, a 40 Under 40 award recipient, talks about teamwork and trust. And he tells of challenges and opportunities that New York City’s waste management landscape brings both to him in his role—and to Interstate Waste. Josh Haraf, vice president of NYC Market at Interstate Waste Services, has quite a job. He leads 500 employees across multiple operations while staying laser-focused on driving the company’s business strategy in New York City.
Vaulted Deep Taps Old Tech to Provide a New Disposal Path for Sludge

2 weeks ago | waste360.com | Arlene Karidis

Houston-based Vaulted Deep is using the deep, deep earth to store sludgy organic waste rather than landfill, burn, or land-apply it. That waste, mainly biosolids and animal manure, is converted to a slurry and injected about a mile underground to be safely stored for thousands of years—along with the carbon it contains that would otherwise release to the atmosphere. The enterprise’s technology is leveraged at two slurry injection facilities: one in Hutchinson, Kansas and another in Los Angeles.
Rumpke’s Westerfield on Understanding the Rules and on Treading New Territories

2 weeks ago | waste360.com | Arlene Karidis

Variety is the spice of life as they say. Rumpke’s JT Westerfield would have to agree. He went from working for a Fortune 500 company – and not in waste management—to an engineering job with Rumpke and from there to running one of North America’s largest landfills for the company. In this Waste360 Q&A JT Westerfield, regional landfill manager at Rumpke, talks about what keeps him on his toes.
Earthcare Makes Biochar from Wastewater Biosolids and MSW Digestate

2 weeks ago | waste360.com | Arlene Karidis

Biochar has long been used to enrich soil while also dealing with wood waste and crop byproducts—traditional go-to feedstocks to make the charcoal-like material. Tech developer and project manager Earthcare has a new twist to biochar production to valorize more waste types and offer an alternative disposal method to more industries. The company is going after higher-ash feedstocks and turning to farmers, wastewater treatment plants, and municipal waste haulers for the materials.
ReFED Report Updates on Food Waste Trends and Makes Near-term Projections

3 weeks ago | waste360.com | Arlene Karidis

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A Look Back, Today’s Landscape, and What’s Next

3 weeks ago | waste360.com | Arlene Karidis

Recycle Florida Today (RFT), celebrating its 35th anniversary, has grown from a grassroots effort into a key player shaping Florida’s waste and recycling policies through education, advocacy, and collaboration. As the state prepares for new legislation and recycling goals, RFT is advancing sustainable materials management strategies, launching initiatives like a recycling-themed license plate to support local programs and reinforce Florida’s circular economy.
LRS’ Rifkin Brings Public Schools Experience to LRS to Drive Sustainability

3 weeks ago | waste360.com | Arlene Karidis

When Joy Rifkin left her career with Chicago and New York City public schools to come to LRS, she never expected to become that corporation’s director of Sustainability, interacting with non-profits, institutions, governments, and others to drive waste diversion initiatives. But the transition has been a natural fit for the former science teacher, who went on to launch the nation’s largest zero waste school program before settling into her current position.
New Techs Transform How Food is Preserved and Disclose its Supply Chain Journey

1 month ago | waste360.com | Arlene Karidis

Transparent Path, Blakbear, and Ryp Labs are pioneering technologies to reduce food waste by enhancing supply chain transparency and shelf-life monitoring through smart sensors and packaging. These innovations track real-time conditions, replace fixed expiration dates with AI-driven freshness assessments, and extend produce life with antimicrobial solutions.