Three years ago I left a very satisfying 25-year career editing business magazines focused on environmental protection in order to pursue a fresh opportunity. For more than two decades I edited the publication of record for the Canadian waste and recycling industry; when one leaves such a position, one might stay closely affiliated with the industry, e.g., working for a major company, becoming a consultant, or serving on the board of a trade association. Many are the times I witnessed people retire only to return after a short respite to such a position.
When I left, I truly departed! I haven’t attended conferences or trade shows, and have only met a handful of times in the past three years with former professional colleagues. Yet I think about waste and recycling issues often, and sometimes comment to a friend or relative upon an innovative waste recycling bin or gadget, or a truck driving along the highway with the logo of a past advertiser. One never fully leaves the waste industry; the impact of understanding its issues and strategies is permanent.
The Amazon River (Photo Credit: G. Crittenden)
So I was happy to learn recently that my former colleague and publisher Brad O’Brien and our regular technology columnist John Nicholson have paired up to launch this new online publication, to continue into the future the tradition of publishing excellence we established back in the early 1990s. Over the years, apart from the many wonderful people I befriended in the industry, my main interests were the innovative strategies to reduce or eliminate waste in the first place (e.g., European packaging ordinances), product and packaging re-design, and (especially) environmental technologies and automation.
There’s no doubt the future of waste management will incorporate “leapfrog” technologies and solutions unimaginable when we launched our first publication in the early 1990s. Computers, GPS, real-time monitoring and billing, automated sorting, new products made from discarded materials… it’s an interesting time to be involved in this rapidly-changing industry, and I offer my best wishes to my former colleagues in their exciting new venture!
If you’re interested in learning what I’m up to myself nowadays, I invite you to visit my brand new website HipGnosis.co
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About Guy Crittenden
Guy is freelance writer who recently retired from a 25-year career in the business-to-business press in Canada, where he edited two trade magazines, Solid Waste & Recycling and Hazmat Management Magazine, that he co-founded with partners in 1989. He and his partners sold the business in 1999 to a conglomerate for which he worked for the next 15 years.
Guy is now pursuing other writing interests, including books, magazine articles and blogs. To his long-held environmental themes he recently added adventure travel writing and a range of other topics that include spirituality and shamanism.
Guy is a graduate of the University of Toronto, earning a Honours BA in English Language and Literature/Letters.
