Every gallon of wastewater flowing through a municipal sewer contains recoverable energy, nutrients, and water—assets that the linear “flush and forget” model has long treated as problems to dispose of rather than value to recapture. Meet Kevin Shafer, who has spent more than two decades proving otherwise. As executive director of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) since 2002, he’s transformed an agency once mocked as a symbol of government waste into a national model for sustainable infrastructure, and last year, Veolia designated it as America’s first “eco factory.”
Learn about how MMSD is leading momentum on the cradle-to-cradle movement with the support of The Water Council and other partners in this interview with journalist Mitch Ratcliffe for the Sustainability in Your Ear podcast. The interview is based on a column Shafer wrote recently for Earth911 calling for bold leadership in the wastewater space.