Landfill leachate treatment is a big business at the many landfills around the world. Rochem Americas, the California-based wing of the Hamburg-based company, wanted to get their message in front of the leaders of landfills all across North America. In particular, they wanted to show how their technology can deal with PFAS, a hazardous material found in virtually all landfills and therefore, their leachate.

This meant getting an article published in MSW management, the SWANA partner publication. But many editors, such as those at this publication, are reluctant to publish articles by equipment vendors, because they are often just a disguised sales pitch saying “Buy our box, it’s better.”

So I worked with the then-President of Rochem Americas, to use his long experience with the solid waste sector, to ghost-write an article that discussed the history of leachate treatment, the various technologies available, including Reverse Osmosis, which Rochem uses. Front and center in the article – and its headline – was the Rochem technology’s abilities to deal with PFAS, the “forever chemicals” that are becoming of increasing concern to the general public, environmental regulators, and landfill operators.

This article, which included text and several pictures of Rochem’s installations, covered four pages of the publication. Periodicals like this routinely charge $10,000 per page for advertising, giving this article the equivalent value of some $40,000. And, an article is more likely to be heeded than an advertisement.

See a copy of the article that was published