The
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) published a
Notice of Application for Exemption and Request for Comments in the March 29 Federal
Register regarding The National Waste & Recycling Association’s (NWRA’s)
application for an industrywide hours of service exemption as it relates to electronic
logging devices (ELDs).
“We are
pleased that FMCSA is willing to consider that the waste and recycling industry
is different from most other sectors and is now seeking comments on our
application,” NWRA President and CEO Darrell Smith says. “We are hopeful that
FMCSA will come to this conclusion at the end of the process based upon the
facts and submitted comments.
“ELDs
are actually counterproductive
for our industry and increase risks associated with distracted driving due to
the frequency that waste and recycling industry drivers must interact with them.
Safety is the top concern for NWRA and its members. We want every single member
of our industry to make it home each day safely, without a crash, and free from
injury or fatality.”
NWRA
urges all private sector waste and recycling industry companies to weigh in
with their own unique stories and comments supporting this exemption before the
April 29 deadline. Instructions on submitting comments can be found in the
Notice.
FMCSA
granted such an exemption to Houston-based Waste Management Oct. 25, 2018. The NWRA filed comments supporting Waste Management’s application in
August 2018 as part of an NWRA-led effort on behalf of the entire waste and
recycling industry. The association encouraged and coordinated comments from
member companies including those submitted by Republic Services, Phoenix, and
Waste Connections, The Woodlands, Texas.
An
industrywide exemption would create regulatory consistency across the entire
waste and recycling industry, solidify the exemption already granted to Waste
Management, and preempt the need for individual companies to apply for their
own exemptions that would create a confusing patchwork enforcement system, the
NWRA says.