A Word About Recycling with Ollie Maier
Like most of you, we had hoped (and prayed) that the coronavirus would be almost history by this time, not still one of the primary topics across our nation. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Thus, again we will touch on the subject as addressed in an article in the Resource Recycling newsletter.
In this latest newsletter, they mention infections among workers have caused at least one Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) to shutter. It has also delayed collection of recyclables in a number of areas. It also spoke of how the federal government and at least one state are working to provide masks and funding to help programs cope.
Going back, the coronavirus pandemic has been affecting recycling programs since the middle of March. Already then, stay-at-home orders and other regulations began to change our daily life throughout our country. These caused recycling programs to experience both material volume changes and operational methods. It even led to some programs having to suspend services.
Although at one time, there appeared to be a slight break on the number of cases each day, that is no longer the case. It is as bad now as ever, even in the recycling area. When more than a dozen workers came down with the virus in early June in Canada, they shut down the MRF for two weeks. They used this time to clean and disinfect the facility.
Also in June, a MRF in California had 43 employees test positive for COVID-19 during a two week period. The MRF operator reported, “The majority of infections were among sortation workers, not drivers or other public-facing employees.”
Going to Missouri, staffing shortages due to the virus began over a month ago. Even now, it continues to affect their recycling collection service. The city found it necessary to temporarily stop collection because multiple collection employees had been exposed to the coronavirus. These workers were then placed in quarantine.
COVID-19 has affected recycling in a number of areas. In a county in Florida, residential collection was suspended due to a shortage of drivers. Baltimore suspended recycling for three weeks due to 15 workers testing positive. And in North Carolina, money was set aside to help recycling operators who experience difficulty due to the virus.
Recently the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) started taking orders from waste and recycling organizations for the protective equipment. These will be provided free of charge by the federal government.
Also recently, a survey was administered by the National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA). One of its findings was about two-thirds of its nearly 400 respondents reported “moderate to severe operations impacts due to COVID-19 restrictions.” (So the virus is obviously still with us in many areas.)
In our monthly report on how much was recycled at the Green Guy Recycling Services drop-off site, here are the figures for last month (June): Metals (iron, steel, aluminum, etc) - 2,009,586 lbs Cardboard - 229,040 lbs Paper - 46,780 lbs Glass - 33,510 lbs Monitors (TV, Computer, etc) - 13,800 lbs Plastics (bottles, jugs, etc.) - 9,720 lbs Electronics - 1,800 lbs Used oil - 1,110 Gallons Used tires (auto, pickup, riding mower) - 595 units Used oil filters - 200 units
Plus printer cartridges, rechargeable batteries, Styrofoam peanuts, and reusables. A big thank you to all of you who continue to recycle at drop-off sites or through curbside even during the restrictive conditions of the virus.
Till next week, do have a safe and healthy one,
