The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) sent a letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) March 31 urging the agency to establish a system to compensate public and private sector solid waste and recycling industry participants for providing essential collection and disposal services that may otherwise go unfunded through this COVID-19 pandemic. Solid waste management was identified as an essential critical infrastructure workforce in the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) March 19 memo and has been listed as essential in every emergency order issued at the state level in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

SWANA’s letter expands on a previous request to cover municipal providers and the private sector. With residential collection frequently provided by municipal providers, and residential volumes increasing, this request is particularly timely, SWANA says. SWANA represents individuals employed at municipal sanitation departments and private companies throughout the United States.

“The SWANA letter asks FEMA to protect both municipal and private sector organizations that provide essential services,” SWANA Executive Director and CEO David Biderman says. “Since both the public and private sectors collect and manage solid waste and recyclables, SWANA’s letter asserts that all sanitation departments, haulers and postcollection companies providing services during the COVID-19 pandemic without being paid for them should be eligible for reimbursement.”

SWANA’s letter requests that “FEMA ensure funding is made available across the country to municipalities and their private sector partners to cover all of the costs incurred to provide these essential services during this national emergency. It is imperative that solid waste management continue uninterrupted at this critical time. FEMA can help protect public health and safety by committing to cover the costs of essential services provided that aren’t paid by the service recipients (e.g., customer bad debts).”

Additional guidance for the waste industry concerning the coronavirus pandemic is available on SWANA’s website.

Ireland-based Technopath Clinical Diagnostics says Northwell Health, one of the state of New York's largest health care providers,  is using its Envetec 200 system to help neutralize potentially infectious medical waste in a COVID-19 treatment environment.

Northwell, which has with 23 hospitals and nearly 800 outpatient facilities, is the first health system worldwide to implement Technopath’s technology, according to the firm.

“As Northwell Health significantly ramps up COVID-19 testing to over 1,600 samples daily, there is an urgent need to quickly and reliably minimize the risk of spreading disease from infected medical waste,” says Malcolm Bell, CEO and founder of Technopath. “Partnering with Northwell to provide the most advanced, environmentally friendly, and cost-effective technology for the treatment of medical waste infected with coronavirus is allowing us to respond to what the World Health Organization has characterized as a global pandemic.”

Technopath’s Envetec 200 system simultaneously shreds and disinfects infectious medical waste using a patented destruction and disinfection process designed to kill COVID-19 viruses along with bacteria, spores and other pathogens that could pose a danger to human health.

According to Technopath, the process requires no heat, and no dangerous chemicals emanate from the system at the end of each 20-minute treatment cycle. The resulting confetti-like solid residue is categorized as regular trash, entirely safe to handle, and can be used in a number of waste-to-energy and other recycling applications, says the firm.

“For the past several weeks, Northwell has continued to take on the health and safety challenges posed by COVID-19,” says Michael Dowling, Northwell president and CEO. “This new technology allows us to remove the unknown risk exposure when disposing of medical waste while avoiding the need for the costly and carbon-inefficient transportation and disposal by third-party handlers. It’s a positive light during a unique time.”

Implementing the Envetec 200 technology comes as Northwell continues to ramp up COVID-19 testing at many of its facilities. Northwell Labs is one of 89 public health laboratories in the United States testing for the novel coronavirus, testing as many as 1,600 potential COVID-19 samples daily.

“We are extremely confident that the Envetec system provides us with the best-in-class technology solution for treating hazardous health care waste at source, and also eliminates any unknown risk of infection to the wider community,” states Dwayne Breining, a doctor and the executive director of Northwell Labs

Northwell Labs installed the Envetec 200 technology in late 2019 and has been awaiting regulatory approval, which was fast-tracked on March 13 when New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order to allow a series of special emergency measures. Governor Cuomo’s executive order accelerated the formal approvals from the U.S. EPA and the New York Department of Health that had been pending, enabling Northwell to complete the system validation and put the technology to use.

Greensboro, North Carolina-based Mack Financial Services (MFS) is offering several what it calls “enhanced and unique” finance programs designed to help its customers during the COVID-19 coronavirus situation. One of the four new programs is targeted specifically toward the waste and recycling hauling sector.

The Trash into Cash Finance Program is for customers in the refuse segment who want to purchase a Mack LR or TerraPro model, says MFS. Qualified buyers will have 90 days to make the first payment and will receive chassis, engine and exhaust aftertreatment systems (EATS) coverage, plus what Mack calls competitive finance rates and flexible payment options.

“We’ve always recognized how vital trucking is to society, but it’s never been as evident to the general population as it is now,” says Tom Guse, president of MFS in the U.S. “It’s critical that deliveries are made and construction projects continue, so Mack Financial Services developed these enhanced finance programs to help our customers with their operations during the current situation.”

MFS is offering three more finance programs, each of which extends the first payment date for qualified buyers. In addition to the LR and TerraPro models, programs are for model year 2020 and 2019 Mack Anthem, Pinnacle and Granite trucks. The other three programs are:

• For the Mack Granite model, MFS is offering the Let’s Build America Finance Program, extending the first payment to 90 days for qualified buyers. Customers who finance with MFS will receive engine and EATS purchased coverage, competitive finance rates and flexible payment options, says Mack.      
• The Let’s Deliver Finance Program for Mack Anthem and Pinnacle day cab models extends payment for 60 days for qualified buyers. Over-the-road and regional haul customers who purchase an eligible day cab and finance with MFS receive engine plan and EATS purchased coverage, competitive rates and no-to-low down payment options.
• The Fully Loaded Highway Sleeper Finance Program is for Anthem and Pinnacle sleeper models and extends payment for 60 days for qualified buyers. Customers purchasing a new sleeper and who finance with MFS are eligible for engine plan and EATS purchased coverage, competitive rates and no-to-low down payment options.

“Mack appreciates what our customers are doing on a daily basis to keep our stores stocked and our construction projects moving,” says Jonathan Randall, Mack Trucks senior vice president of North American sales and marketing. “These programs will help customers manage cash flow and keep up with the current delivery demands.”

The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland struck down the Baltimore Clean Air Act on March 27, and the court ruled that the requirements in the ordinance conflicted with existing federal and state laws and regulations. 

According to a news release from Arlington, Virginia-based National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA), Wheelabrator Baltimore L.P., a waste-to-energy facility located in Baltimore, and Curtis Bay Energy L.P., a medical waste incinerator in Maryland, brought this action along with the NWRA as well as the Energy Recovery Council, Washington, and TMS Hauling LLC, Baltimore, to invalidate Baltimore’s attempt to force the closure of the Wheelabrator and Curtis Bay facilities through the imposition of extraordinary emission limits and operational requirements that Baltimore had no power to impose. The initial lawsuit was filed in May 2019.

“NWRA is pleased with the court’s decision. We agree with Judge [George] Russell’s view that state and federal regulations already in place protect the public’s health and that allowing the Baltimore City Council to replace those state and federal regulations with its own ordinance is not in alignment with spirit of those existing state and federal regulations,” says NWRA President and CEO Darrell Smith. 

“We thank Judge Russell for issuing his ruling on the key preemption issues in an expeditious manner given the September 2020 deadlines for implementation of the Baltimore Clean Air Act that would have forced the closure, at least temporarily, of the Wheelabrator Baltimore facility,” says Jim Riley, NWRA’s chief counsel and senior vice president for government affairs. “Baltimore’s attempt to do this disregarded nearly 50 years of federal and state primacy in directing a uniform system to regulate air pollution and imposed unprecedented emission limits that lacked scientific, technical or factual bases.” 

The emission limits and other requirements of the Baltimore ordinance directly conflicted with the emission limits and provisions in the Federal Clean Air Act, EPA’s regulations and the Title V operating permits granted to Wheelabrator and Curtis Bay, NWRA reports. Additionally, the ordinance criminalized conduct allowed under federal law and, as the ordinance’s sponsor admitted, was passed with the intent to shut down these facilities under the guise of regulation.