Expert Guidance

We assist communities in building or improving their infrastructure  & operations to more effectively manage household hazardous waste (HHW) and very small quantity generator (VSQG) waste.
Founded by one of the nation's leading experts, David Nightingale CHMM, who has performed site visits at 140+ HHW collection facilities in the United States and Canada.
This breadth of exposure provides an exceptional basis for assisting clients in meeting their unique HHW and VSQG management needs.
HHW
FACILITIES
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VISITED
STATES
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What We Do

Consulting

Services include:

Training

From HHW collection facility design workshops to HAZWOPER courses we provide top-tier training. To meet your unique training needs we combine nationally-recognized curriculum and instructors with customized course delivery.

Publications

A Comprehensive HHW Collection Facility Design Guide  with valuable insights and real-world examples for designers, project managers, and HHW professionals.
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How We Work

From visiting 148 HHW collection facilities in 27 states we are uniquely qualified to assist you in developing or improving your HHW and VSQG collection infrastructure and operations. This starts by understanding your project context including program goals and policy drivers. Given your project context Special Waste Associates (SWA) provides a focused set of services ranging from assisting in finding a suitable site for an HHW collection facility, to offering assistance from pre-design programming through  review of final design plans and specifications., 
Special Waste Assocaites
Special Waste Associates serves clients across North America
We typically work under contract directly for the program sponsor as your expert advocate before the design process starts. This pre-design discovery helps you refine and set the appropriate expectations and context for the design process. Our experience with many local building officials and design teams provide confidence in moving projects forward.  We facilitate clearer project focus and direction to optimize facility design features for safe and efficient operations.

In addition to HHW collection infrastructure consulting, SWA is also a leading firm in providing HHW collection system evaluation and analysis, health and safety training, and publisher of professional reference materials.

Each of our clients bring a unique set of constraints, talents, resources, and program objectives to their projects. To most effectively execute each project requires complete project awareness and flexibility to best match our services with your project needs. Consequently, we provide differing levels of effort and, if needed, additional specialists to serve the specific and unique needs of your project.
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David Nightingale CHMM, S.C.

In addition to my work for clients across North America, I've been a guest speaker at regional and national conferences, provided training on facility operations and design, and published the most comprehensive book on HHW Collection Facility Design.

My book, HHW Collection Facility Design Guide, Charting Your Path through the Hazardous Waste Facility Design Process, sets the standard for addressing the unusual and complex HHW collection facility design process.

I co-authored a chapter regarding HHW collection facilities in the Handbook on Household Hazardous Waste, 2nd Edition, edited by Amy Cabaniss, Bernan Press, 2018. I'm also the co-author of Chapter 10, Household Hazardous Wastes, in McGraw-Hill's Handbook of Solid Waste Management, 2nd Edition, Tchobanoglous and Kreith, Editors.

In 2020 I began writing a monthly column called the HHW Corner for Waste Advantage Magazine.  The first six issues focused on important features commonly missed during the HHW facility design process.  Later issues included articles on performance metrics, energy savings, staffing levels,  policy issues, case studies, and interviews with HHW luminaries.

With degrees in business and engineering, I worked for a number of national engineering consulting firms and the Washington State Dept. of Ecology before establishing Special Waste Associates in 2001.

I have participated with the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) for many years and am one of nine SWANA Certified Faculty for the HHW and CESQG Collection Operations training course. 
I am a former Director of SWANA's Special Waste Technical Management Division and was awarded SWANA's Distinguished Service Award.

I also served as a member and subsequently as an adjunct member of the board of directors for the North American Hazardous Materials Management Association (NAHMMA) and  received the President's Award in 2006 and 2007 for Special Service to NAHMMA, and the Outstanding Member Contribution Award in 2008.

With NAHMMA I co-authored and continue to serve as one of the lead instructors for the 24-Hazwoper course for HHW/VSQG operations.  This course is offered by NAHMMA and SWANA. 

I assisted SWANA in establishing the national HHW/VSQG operations certification exam which is jointly recognized by both SWANA and NAHMMA.

I continue to collaborate with and perform research with leading professionals in the field.  I am frequently invited to speak, provide training, webinars, design workshops, and publish to advance the practice of the profession.

Joel Nightingale, M.S., EIT

Trained as a mechanical engineer with master's degree in Sustainable Engineering, I have worked on HHW projects or visited operating HHW collection facilities in WA, OR, CA, FL and IL since 2015 

HHW Collection Facility Planning and Development
  • Clatsop County, OR Permanent HHW Collection Facility Develpment:
    • Met with local sponsor and fire marshal in Clatsop County, OR to prepare for conceptual design
    • Assisted in documenting legacy landfill site conditions and implication for facility design
  • Indian River County Solid Waste, FL.  Compiled HHW collection records and analyzed historic HHW collection with various vendors and types of transportation vehicles.  Developed a typical full truckload profiles for major HHW groups.  The truckload profiles was used to size the appropriate storage and processing areas for the new collection facility.  This was coordinated with the concurrent development of a new solid waste transfer station.
  • Kern County replacement Special Waste Facility, CA.  Working with county staff to identify a convenient and suitable site for a replacement HHW collection facility in the Bakersfield area.  Performed waste stream analysis to appropriately size the processing and storage areas of the new facility.

Publications
  • Contributor and Copy Editor for HHW Collection Facility Design Guide, Second Edition (forthcoming)
  • "Staffing Levels at Permanent Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facilities", co-authored with David Nightingale and Larry Sweetser, Waste Advantage Magazine, July 2020, pp. 20-23.
  • Narrator and editor for HHW Collection Design Guide Video Tour (forthcoming)

Professional Training and development
  • 24-hour HHW HAZWOPER, 2015
  • HHW Facility Design Workshop, 2015
  • 2015 North American Hazardous Materials Management Association (NAHMMA) National Conference, Austin, TX
  • 2019 Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) National Conference, Spokane, WA
  • 2020 NAHMMA National Conference, virtual

​Education
Villanova University – Villanova, PA - 2018
        Master of Science in Sustainable Engineering. 3.93 GPA.
University of Portland – Portland, OR - 2013
        Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. 3.69 GPA. Dean’s List. Passed FE exam in Oregon.