The SWANA Florida Sunshine Chapter, founded in 1978 with 7 members, now serves over 500 members statewide. The chapter is focused on professional training, annually presenting conferences and training courses.
Although the chapter membership is geographically dispersed throughout the state, the Tampa Bay area has historically maintained the largest concentration of members. The City of Tampa, in particular, has produced an international association president and several chapter presidents in addition to an extensive number of chapter board directors and technical division chairs.
It is interesting to note that the chapter held it’s very first membership drive and conference in February 1979 at the Apollo Beach Holiday Inn with a technical tour of the new Apollo Beach Transfer Station. This meeting produced 40 new chapter members and would not have been as successful without the organizational assistance of solid waste professionals from the City of Tampa and Hillsborough County.
SWANA was originally founded in 1962 in Southern California as the Governmental Refuse Collection and Disposal Association (GRCDA). By the mid 1970’s, GRCDA had several chapters along the west coast and in Canada. In 1978, the Association decided to expand throughout North America and established an office in the Washington, D.C. area. It also recognized its first Chapter on the east coast, Florida.
The Association changed its name to SWANA in the late 1980’s to reflect its wider more diverse membership as well as the rapidly changing technological nature of the profession. SWANA now has over 46 chapters in the US and Canada and a membership of over 6700 professionals from all areas of the field.
