2025 Policy & Practice Forum Focused on Tennessee Solid Waste Solutions
History of TEC's Policy Forum and This Year's Theme: Tackling TN's Solid Waste
Since its formation in 1970, Tennessee Environmental Council has been at the forefront of tackling the critical environmental issues that define life in the Volunteer State. Our history has always been about recognizing a growing problem and convening the right people to solve it. Today, the most pressing issue we face is the ticking clock on our state's capacity to manage its own waste, a crisis that has become acutely urgent in Middle Tennessee. For decades, as our population and economy boomed, especially around Nashville, our waste management strategy mostly relied on one simple, unsustainable solution: burying it. Major legislative efforts, such as the Solid Waste Management Act of 1991, sought to shift us toward reduction and recycling. Still, the overwhelming momentum of growth and consumption proved too powerful, leaving Tennessee ranked 48th in the nation for recycling.
This decades-long reliance on landfills has culminated in the current crisis, epitomized by the looming closure of major facilities like the Middle Point Landfill in Rutherford County, which takes in a massive share of the Nashville region's trash. For the millions of residents and thousands of businesses in Middle Tennessee, the reality is stark: we are rapidly running out of room. This isn't just an environmental problem; it's an economic and social one. If we can't manage our own waste, we will soon be forced to pay exorbitant costs to truck it hundreds of miles away, damaging our economy and impacting our quality of life. The problem is so complex—involving outdated regulations, rapid growth, and limited recycling infrastructure—that it can't be solved by any single entity.
This is why we created this year's Policy & Practice Forum. The current moment is a pivotal one, demanding that we shift from simply reacting to a shortage of space to proactively building a circular economy. To do this, we must finally get the key players out of their silos and into the same room. Our goal is to foster a constructive, solutions-focused dialogue where policymakers (who hold the power of the law), industry leaders (who know how to move materials and build infrastructure), and community representatives (who live with the impacts and drive local change) can connect, understand each other's roles, and forge a shared regional strategy. Only through this integrated approach can we stop the crisis, divert valuable materials from landfills, and identify sustainable solutions that benefit all Tennesseans—our environment, our communities, and our economy.
This decades-long reliance on landfills has culminated in the current crisis, epitomized by the looming closure of major facilities like the Middle Point Landfill in Rutherford County, which takes in a massive share of the Nashville region's trash. For the millions of residents and thousands of businesses in Middle Tennessee, the reality is stark: we are rapidly running out of room. This isn't just an environmental problem; it's an economic and social one. If we can't manage our own waste, we will soon be forced to pay exorbitant costs to truck it hundreds of miles away, damaging our economy and impacting our quality of life. The problem is so complex—involving outdated regulations, rapid growth, and limited recycling infrastructure—that it can't be solved by any single entity.
This is why we created this year's Policy & Practice Forum. The current moment is a pivotal one, demanding that we shift from simply reacting to a shortage of space to proactively building a circular economy. To do this, we must finally get the key players out of their silos and into the same room. Our goal is to foster a constructive, solutions-focused dialogue where policymakers (who hold the power of the law), industry leaders (who know how to move materials and build infrastructure), and community representatives (who live with the impacts and drive local change) can connect, understand each other's roles, and forge a shared regional strategy. Only through this integrated approach can we stop the crisis, divert valuable materials from landfills, and identify sustainable solutions that benefit all Tennesseans—our environment, our communities, and our economy.
2025 Guest Speaker Lineup & Run of Show
9:00 am: Opening Keynote: Chairman Shane Reeves
9:30 am: MiddlePoint and Landfill Impacts on the Local Community Panel featuring
10:35 am: Waste To Wages Documentary Panel featuring
9:30 am: MiddlePoint and Landfill Impacts on the Local Community Panel featuring
- Dr. Rachel Peay Cornett, President of Recycle Rutherford
- Murfreesboro Mayor Shane McFarland
- Rutherford County Mayor Joe Carr
- Candida Layne, Rutherford County SOCM Chair
- Darren Gore, Murfreesboro City Manager
10:35 am: Waste To Wages Documentary Panel featuring
- Donna Kopecky, Vice President of Sustainability at Kaiser Aluminum
- Don Haynes, Environmental, Health, Safety, and Sustainability Manager at Florim USA
- Stephanie Baker, Director of Advocacy, KW Plastics
- Jake Morabito, Senior Director of the Communications and Technology Task Force, as well as the Energy, Environment, and Agriculture Task Force at the American Legislative Exchange Council
- Senator Heidi Campbell, Sponsor of the Tennessee Waste To Jobs Act
- Gary Cohen, Tennessee Waste To Jobs Executive Director & Packaging Specialist
- G. Dodd Galbreath, Director, Institute for Sustainable Practice Graduate Program, Associate Professor of Sustainability at Lipscomb University
- Amber Greene, TDEC Program Administrator
- Mac Nolan, Williamson County Solid Waste Director
- William Anderson, TDEC’s Materials Management Department’s environmental manager
- Donna Barrett, Former State Representative, Tennessee Solid Waste Task Force, & Founder of Recycle Right, TN
- Don Gentilcore, Area Director of Disposal Operations for Waste Management (WM) in Middle Tennessee
- Todd Smith, Waste Away Chief Communications Officer
- Dan Firth, Tennessee Waste To Jobs Bill Author, analytical chemist, and adjunct faculty at East Tennessee State University
- Laura Howard, Operations Manager, Sevier Solid Waste
