ALLENTOWN, Pa., Sept. 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — PPL Electric Utilities today filed a proposal with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission that would make transmission costs more transparent for customers and create a new way to directly assign certain transmission-related costs associated with large energy users to those customers.

The proposal would establish a Customer Protection Transmission Rider (CPTR) and replace the current Transmission Service Charge (TSC). It builds on the company’s existing Customer Protection Framework, which already requires large-load customers served under the LP-6 rate class to make significant financial and usage commitments before connecting to the system.

Pennsylvania is experiencing increasing interest from data centers and other large energy users that can require substantial electric infrastructure investments. PPL Electric’s Customer Protection Framework is designed to help ensure growth occurs responsibly while supporting affordability, reliability and transparency for existing customers. The proposed CPTR would add another layer of protection by creating a mechanism to directly allocate certain transmission network upgrade costs associated with serving large-load customers to those customers while giving all customers a clearer view of transmission costs on their bills.

“We want to ensure that all of our customers benefit from economic growth and that includes how investments in the electric grid are supported. As Pennsylvania grows, our responsibility is to make sure existing customers are protected,” said Christine Martin, president of PPL Electric Utilities. “This proposal would make transmission costs easier to see on customer bills and provide a way to assign certain transmission costs associated with serving large energy users directly to those customers. It’s a practical step that supports responsible growth while helping protect residential and small business customers.”

Customer benefits of the proposal
Today, transmission costs are embedded within supply charges on the bill and recovered through existing cost-recovery mechanisms by customers’ energy suppliers or by PPL Electric for default service customers. While these costs are recovered through established regulatory frameworks, this approach makes it difficult for customers to see these costs on their bills and limits the ability for the company to directly assign certain transmission network costs associated with large-load growth to a specific customer class.

The proposed CPTR would address both challenges by making transmission costs visible to customers through a dedicated line item and creating a mechanism for the company to directly allocate certain transmission network upgrade costs associated with LP-6 large-load customers to that customer class. This added protection helps ensure customers driving the need for new transmission investments contribute directly to those shared costs while increasing transparency and accountability for all customers.

The proposal would not add a new charge. It would replace the existing Transmission Service Charge with a more transparent method of recovering transmission costs while positioning all customers to benefit from the expected reduction in transmission costs as large-load customers begin contributing a larger share of transmission network costs.

If approved, the CPTR is expected to take effect in the first quarter of 2028, further expanding PPL Electric’s Customer Protection Framework.

For more information visit: pplelectric.com/CustomerProtections.

About PPL Electric Utilities
PPL Electric Utilities delivers safe, reliable and affordable electricity to about 1.5 million homes and businesses in eastern and central Pennsylvania. It regularly ranks among the country’s best utility companies for reliability and customer satisfaction. PPL Electric Utilities is a major employer and an active supporter of the communities it serves. It is a part of the PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL) family of companies. Visit pplelectric.com or connect on social media via Facebook, X and Instagram for energy efficiency tips, bill help information, guidance on shopping for an electricity supplier, storm updates and more.

Note to Editors: Visit our media website at https://news.pplweb.com/ for additional news and background about PPL Corporation.

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SOURCE PPL Electric Utilities

Find out exactly why Unplugs Hearing has been named a finalist in Fast Company’s 2026 Innovation by Design Awards. Talk to the co-founders to learn their deeply personal story of how they paired passion with science to completely rethink a familiar frustration with hearing protection: people want to protect their hearing without disconnecting from the music, conversations, and full experience. Unplugs founder and CEO Tom Worcester has worn hearing aids since age four and grew up working with audiologist and hearing-technology innovator Dr. Natan Bauman. Years later, Worcester reunited with his childhood audiologist to tackle a problem he understood firsthand: traditional hearing protection can force users to choose between reducing sound and staying connected to the people around them. Their patented solution turns the choice into a simple click, creating a compelling story at the intersection of scientific design, music, health and a founder’s lifelong experience navigating sound differently.

BROOKLYN, N.Y., Sept. 14, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Unplugs Hearing is proud to announce that it has been named a finalist in the Fast Company Innovation by Design Awards for 2026 in the On the Rise: 0–4 Years in Business category.

Now in its 15th year, the Innovation by Design Awards celebrate the designers and businesses addressing today’s most urgent challenges while anticipating the problems of tomorrow. The program is one of the most prestigious design competitions in the industry, spotlighting work that exemplifies originality, beauty, sustainability, user insight, cultural significance, and measurable business impact.

“This recognition is a nod to the obsessive design approach we’ve taken to create Unplugs, spanning acoustic, mechanical, and industrial engineering,” said Tom Worcester, founder and CEO of Unplugs. “Our mission has always been to make protecting your hearing something you want to do, to solve that choice of “protect or connect”. With our click-to-connect earplugs, we’re proving that it’s possible for hearing protection to adapt with you between life’s loudest moments and life’s most important ones.”

Worcester has dealt with hearing loss since the age of four. “Growing up wearing hearing aids means sound wasn’t just something I experienced. It was something I had to navigate, manage and sometimes fight for,” Worcester said. He grew up working with audiologist Natan Bauman, the inventor of the “receiver in canal” hearing aid, now the most widely used hearing aid technology in the world. Years after being his patient, Worcester, Bauman reunited and added Ralph Campagna to work on a revolution in hearing protection. Thus, Unplugs was born.

Unplugs is a new type of earplug that uses an inventive design to provide two unique modes – full protection and transparency mode. Unlike traditional earplugs that muffle sound, the acoustic attenuators selectively reduce volume while maintaining audio clarity. They also offer users the unique ability to control how they use their earplugs without taking them out. The patented mechanical switch system means the wearer uses just one click to switch between full hearing protection and conversation mode, giving them the best of both worlds.

Honorees were selected by a panel of top designers, business executives from leading organizations, and Fast Company editors.

“The Innovation by Design Awards have always recognized the ideas that challenge convention and show what’s possible when design is treated as a strategic force, not an afterthought. Congratulations to this year’s honorees, who demonstrate how thoughtful design can solve meaningful problems and create new possibilities for people and businesses,” said Brendan Vaughan, editor-in-chief of Fast Company.

To see the complete list, go to fastcompany.com/innovation-by-design/list, and read about the winners in the Fall issue of Fast Company magazine on newsstands September 22, 2026.

About Unplugs Hearing

Unplugs Hearing is a hearing technology company focused on advancing hearing protection through product design, acoustic engineering and audiology. Their main product is a novel mechanical earplugs designed to give users control over how they experience sound. Founded and led by Tom Worcester, who has worn hearing aids since the age of four, the company brings together his personal experience with hearing loss and background in the live events industry with the audiology expertise of Dr. Natan Bauman, his childhood audiologist and a longtime hearing technology innovator. Unplugs’ patent-protected technology uses a mechanical switching system that lets users switch between sound-reduction and conversation modes with one click, without removing the earplugs or relying on electronics or batteries. The company’s technology solves common limitations of traditional hearing protection, including the difficulty of moving between loud environments and conversation.

About Fast Company

Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on the future of business. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with fellow business publication Inc., and can be found online at www.fastcompany.com.

Media Contact

Jennifer Horton, Relevance, 1 573-864-0616, Jennifer@relevance.com, https://www.relevance.com/

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Vietnam Waste Solutions (VWS), the California-owned operator of Ho Chi Minh City’s largest engineered landfill, is now embracing an expansion and conversion. Plans include a 50- to 60-megawatt waste-to-energy plant and specialized recycling lines that would supplement VWS’s existing systems, and a landfill-gas system already running on site.

OAKLAND, Calif., Sept. 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Vietnam Waste Solutions (VWS), the wholly owned Vietnamese subsidiary of Oakland-based California Waste Solutions (CWS), is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to further Vietnam’s 2050 net-zero target by converting the country’s first U.S. Subtitle D sanitary landfill into a larger clean-power and resource-recovery complex.

Vietnam Waste Solutions – Da Phuoc Integrated Solid Waste Facility (DPI)

The 341-acre landfill outside Ho Chi Minh City in Da Phuoc was the first U.S.-standard waste landfill built in the mid-2000s and it receives and buries up to 6,500 tons of municipal solid waste a day, or roughly 2.4 million tons a year. The landfill services over half the household waste generated by Ho Chi Minh City’s residents. Ho Chi Minh City disposes of around 10,000 tons of household waste every day.

About $200 million has already been invested in developing the existing Da Phuoc environmental complex. That investment established the landfill and its supporting systems and is separate from the proposed 50- to 60-megawatt waste-to-energy plant. The conversion now on the table is pivotal in Vietnam’s shift toward renewables as the country seeks to join America and Europe as a major green industrial economy.

“The renewable proposal is consistent with our core philosophy to be constantly improving on existing resources, both for the benefit of CWS and its subsidiaries and for our customers and the places they live in,” said Michael Duong, President of California Waste Solutions. “The Duong family has never taken any shortcuts when it comes to environmental innovation. In addition, the City’s visionary leadership is always easy to work with on long-range solutions like this, which has been a huge help to the plans.”

Da Phuoc Integrated Solid Waste Facility (DPI) has already been producing electricity for years from captured landfill gas, enough to support operations at the complex. The latest plans are an expansion of those operations: a waste-to-energy plant rated at 50 to 60 megawatts, plus specialized recycling lines that would supplement material-recovery systems already running on site.

This year, VWS formally proposed the waste-to-energy conversion enhancement at Da Phuoc Integrated Solid Waste Facility (DPI) and is working through appraisal and permitting. The added capacity is viewed by the company as a further contribution to a cleaner Ho Chi Minh City.

Since so much of the city’s waste is handled by VWS, the conversion of the giant landfill toward greater recovery and on-site power is intended to support Vietnam’s 2050 net-zero target. The project would cut the volume of residual material requiring long-term burial while recovering electricity from waste that cannot otherwise be economically reused or recycled.

CWS will be responsible for running the energy systems, while day-to-day construction and operations will be carried out by Vietnamese contractors which VWS has spent years working with and training.

A landfill built to a U.S. rulebook

The Da Phuoc landfill dates back more than two decades. In the 1990s, as Hanoi and Washington normalized political relations, Ho Chi Minh City asked CWS to build a U.S.-standard waste disposal unit. CWS agreed as long as it was made the sole owner of the landfill and it was built to U.S. environmental standards.

Environmentally friendly liner systems, a commercial-grade landfill leachate plant of a kind associated with large private water-treatment firms, and gas-collection hardware sourced from the United States was not the cheapest path to go down. Still, the expense was worth it, said David Duong, founder and CEO of California Waste Solutions, since it was the route that made the site bankable and durable long-term.

“We are all about quality as the main driver of everything we do,” said David Duong. “At the end of the day, I want to stand by what I’ve committed to doing and say, ‘This is the absolute best anyone could have done.’ That’s really the goal of the company since our early days picking up trash on the streets of Oakland for recycling. It’s the same today.”

The liner system was designed to isolate waste from surrounding soil and groundwater. Leachate generated within the landfill is collected instead of moving uncontrolled through the site, then directed to dedicated treatment systems. Gas generated as organic material decomposes is also collected and has become a source of electricity for the complex.

Da Phuoc Integrated Solid Waste Facility (DPI) became one of the first major catalysts for Vietnam’s new energy efficiency in an economy that has been growing rapidly. DPI is still the only landfill in Vietnam modelled on the U.S. Subtitle D standard, making it one of the country’s most essential components to Ho Chi Minh City’s environmental protections as the country works toward net zero by 2050.

Water treatment is a core part of Da Phuoc Integrated Solid Waste Facility (DPI)

The original DPI concept placed unusual emphasis on water and leachate management for a waste facility developed in Vietnam at the time. VWS operates dedicated systems to collect and treat leachate and wastewater generated by the complex, including biological processing, membrane filtration and reverse-osmosis technology.

The system allows VWS to reuse treated water for operating needs rather than relying entirely on fresh groundwater, including road and equipment washing, dust control, irrigation, odor management and other facility functions. VWS says the treated water leaving its process is already cleaner than water measured in nearby local waterways, a comparison the company attributes to its own operating and water-quality data.

International engineering has played an important role. German environmental engineering company Wehrle has supplied technology associated with leachate treatment at Da Phuoc Integrated Solid Waste Facility (DPI).

Recycling and composting were built into the system years ago

Material recovery has been part of Da Phuoc Integrated Solid Waste Facility (DPI) long before the current waste-to-energy proposal. VWS operates recycling and material-separation infrastructure designed to pull recyclable commodities from incoming waste. Dutch firm Bollegraaf is the provider of the sorting, separation and processing equipment.

The existing recycling systems matter to the new project because waste-to-energy is not intended to replace material recovery. Plans for the next phase include additional specialized recycling lines that would complement the systems already operating at the site.

Organic material follows another route. DPI has operated composting systems for years. Austrian firm Komptech provides VWS with organic grinding, turning, aerating and screening equipment for composting and soil amendments.

Taken together, different portions of the municipal waste stream are directed toward different processes according to what can still be recovered.

Da Phuoc Integrated Solid Waste Facility (DPI) was producing energy before the new project

Electricity generation is already an established part of the site. VWS has captured landfill gas for years as organic material decomposes beneath the landfill. Instead of allowing that gas to escape uncontrolled, the collection system directs it toward energy-recovery equipment used to support operations at Da Phuoc Integrated Solid Waste Facility (DPI).

That existing landfill-gas system is separate from the proposed 50- to 60-megawatt waste-to-energy plant. Landfill-gas energy is produced from gas created through decomposition after waste has been placed in the landfill. The proposed plant would process residual municipal waste before final disposal and recover energy directly from that material.

The new facility would therefore expand an energy-recovery strategy already operating at Da Phuoc rather than introduce electricity generation to the site for the first time.

International technology, operated increasingly by Vietnamese specialists

From its earliest years, Da Phuoc Integrated Solid Waste Facility (DPI) was built around technology sourced from the United States, Europe and other established environmental-engineering markets. Wehrle supplied technology for water and leachate treatment. Bollegraaf supplied recycling and material-separation systems. Komptech equipment supports organic processing and compost production. U.S.-sourced components have been used in landfill-gas management, while the proposed waste-to-energy expansion would introduce another generation of international power and waste-treatment technology.

The equipment, however, represents only one side of the operating model. VWS spent years transferring knowledge to Vietnamese engineers, operators, supervisors and contractors. Today, according to VWS, the operation is staffed almost entirely by Vietnamese employees, with one U.S. employee remaining on site.

That transition was intentional. The same philosophy is expected to guide the new waste-to-energy development. CWS would continue to provide technical and operating oversight, while Vietnamese contractors and employees would perform much of the construction and long-term operational work.

David Duong built the California-to-Vietnam connection

The Da Phuoc story began thousands of miles from Ho Chi Minh City. David Duong, founder and chief executive officer of California Waste Solutions and president and chief executive officer of Vietnam Waste Solutions, rebuilt his life in the United States after his family left Vietnam. The Duong family drew on earlier experience in paper and recovered materials, establishing CoGiDo Recycling in California before Duong founded California Waste Solutions in Oakland in 1992 with eight used collection trucks.

CWS later developed municipal recycling operations in Oakland and San Jose. Today the company operates six Bay Area recycling facilities and serves more than 343,000 customers through recycling collection, processing, material recovery, customer service and related municipal programs. Duong eventually brought that operating experience back to Vietnam.

“We brought American and European environmental technology and operating experience to Vietnam at an important period in the country’s development. That allowed us to build infrastructure with the long-term growth of Ho Chi Minh City in mind.” said Duong. “Because we were using American technology and know-how we were able to effectively plan for Ho Chi Minh City’s growth decades ahead of time.”

Duong’s cross-Pacific history is also documented in “The King of Trash,” a documentary examining the Duong family’s experience in Vietnam, refugee resettlement in the United States, recycling, entrepreneurship and the businesses that followed.

A second generation carries the family business forward

California Waste Solutions remains family owned and operated, with a second generation of Duong family leadership now working across operations, finance, public affairs and company strategy.

Alongside David Duong, Michael Duong serves as president of California Waste Solutions. Kristina Duong serves as chief financial officer. Johnny Duong serves as chief operating officer. Victor Duong serves as executive vice president of public affairs.

CWS has moved from a business David Duong started with eight used trucks into an environmental company working across municipal recycling in California and large infrastructure projects in Vietnam. The second generation is now involved in carrying that operating platform forward.

Beyond Da Phuoc Integrated Solid Waste Facility (DPI)

VWS’s work in Vietnam also extends beyond the Da Phuoc Integrated Solid Waste Facility (DPI). The company is pursuing the Long An Green Environmental Technology Park, a long-term environmental development designed around waste treatment, recycling, resource recovery, energy production and related green infrastructure.

The Long An project reflects the same operating principle that has evolved at Da Phuoc over more than two decades: recover usable materials where practical, process organic material through appropriate systems, control water and gas generated by waste, recover energy where technically feasible, and reserve sanitary landfill capacity for material that cannot be directed elsewhere.

“Circular systems are the future and we intend to be a big part of that in Vietnam and across the world over the next 35 years,” said David Duong.

About California Waste Solutions

California Waste Solutions Inc. is a family-owned and operated recycling and resource-recovery company headquartered in Oakland, California. Founded in 1992 by David Duong, CWS provides recycling collection, processing, material recovery and customer services for residential, commercial and municipal customers in Northern California, including Oakland and San Jose. The company operates six Bay Area recycling facilities and serves more than 343,000 customers. Its leadership includes David Duong, founder and chief executive officer; Michael Duong, president; Kristina Duong, chief financial officer; Johnny Duong, chief operating officer; and Victor Duong, executive vice president of public affairs. CWS extends its environmental infrastructure work internationally through its wholly owned subsidiary, Vietnam Waste Solutions.

About Vietnam Waste Solutions

Vietnam Waste Solutions is the wholly owned Vietnamese subsidiary of California Waste Solutions and operator of the Da Phuoc Integrated Solid Waste Facility serving Ho Chi Minh City. Da Phuoc Integrated Solid Waste Facility (DPI) was developed as Vietnam’s first sanitary landfill modelled on U.S. Subtitle D standards. Existing operations include sanitary landfill management, recycling and material recovery, composting, leachate and wastewater treatment, treated-water reuse, landfill-gas collection and electricity generation. VWS is advancing the proposed 50- to 60-megawatt Da Phuoc waste-to-energy project and continues development of the Long An Green Environmental Technology Park.

Media Contact
Wendy Nguyen
PR & Marketing Manager
California Waste Solutions
wendynguyen@calwaste.com

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SOURCE California Waste Solutions