SWANA concerned about impact of omicron on waste collection

The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA), Silver Spring, Maryland, has expressed concern that increased delays in solid waste collection are likely to occur over the holidays and into January. In light of these concerns, SWANA encourages municipal solid waste officials and haulers to plan now for staffing shortages.

The sharp increase in new COVID-19 cases, fueled by the highly contagious omicron variant, combined with the seasonal uptick in residential waste and recyclables associated with Christmas, could stress some solid waste collection systems, the association says.

“A substantial percentage of front-line collection workers are not vaccinated, and some may get sick from COVID in the coming weeks,” states David Biderman, SWANA executive director and CEO. “This could make it difficult for some haulers or local sanitation departments to fulfill all of their collection obligations, at the same time that residential waste and recycling volumes increase around the holidays. We urge all solid waste officials and haulers to plan for how they intend to address a shortage in collection workers.”

Many communities throughout the U.S. experienced collection delays in spring and summer 2021, as haulers and local governments experienced difficulty attracting and retaining qualified collection workers.

Earlier in December, Nashville announced it was temporarily suspending curbside recycling collection in response to staffing shortages and the bankruptcy filing of a key city waste contractor. Nashville is reassigning recycling trucks to trash collection to ensure that all trash routes are collected on schedule. Dozens of communities have temporarily suspended curbside recycling collection during the pandemic.

Nearly 300,000 new COVID-19 cases were reported Dec. 22, more than double the seven-day average. The number of new cases is expected to increase for the rest of 2021 and into January 2022.

Solid waste officials and haulers have been dealing with worker shortages, increased residential waste and evolving COVID risks since the start of the pandemic. The increased transmissibility of the Omicron variant will likely result in collection delays in some communities, and SWANA urges elected officials and the general public to be patient if agencies and haulers are forced to adjust collection schedules.