The National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA), Arlington, Virginia, has released four new detailed policy position papers covering issues affecting the waste and recycling industry in the safety and health and workforce categories. These policy documents come after NWRA identified 36 issues it would engage on at the federal level and seven previously released papers on topics in the waste and recycling and international trade categories.
“As the voice of the waste and recycling industry, we must continue to lead on efforts that make our industry safer and attract new talent,” Darrell Smith, NWRA president and CEO, says. “Our policy position papers on driver shortage and workforce development, third-party distracted driving, automated pickup and the mandated use of electronic logging devices (ELDs) reflect our commitment to be a strong advocate for our members and especially the men and women working the front lines of the industry.”
According to the policy position papers, NWRA backs increasing federal support for state, local and veterans job-training programs to address the workforce challenges facing the waste and recycling industry and supports the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) efforts to combat distracted driving caused by texting, phone use and alcohol or drugs, as well as enhanced enforcement of state distracted driving laws by state and local law enforcement agencies.
The NWRA also supports automated pickup of waste and recycling containers by collection vehicles where it is logistically and economically feasible and says waste and recycling commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers and companies should not be required to use ELDs or maintain daily electronic records of duty status to record hours of service (HOS) because of significant operational differences between their industry and long-haul, over-the-road and regional operations.
More information about NWRA’s federal legislative and regulatory agenda can found here.