Losing waste

Is anything truly accomplished by keeping one more plastic bottle out of the landfill?

Starting April 1, 2008, residents and businesses within Annapolis County will be required to put their garbage in clear bags, according to a new program that aims to reduce waste and make the handling of waste a safer business. This three-part series will sort through the challenges and advantages of utilizing waste as a resource, and demonstrate the ripple effect of recycling and composting, even at the most minute level.

By Carolyn Sloan

Spectator

NovaNewsNow.com

Over the18 years he’s been in the business, taking out the trash has taken on a whole new meaning.

EFR Disposal manager Roger Ward Sr. reflects back on the days when the incinerator was king, when it was burn it or dump it. Either way, garbage was garbage, and disposing of waste, a pretty straightforward business.

Flash-forward to today, and EFR is now contracted for a bi-weekly four-stream collection of organics, two types of recyclables, and garbage for Annapolis County, King’s County, and every town in between. To accomplish this, the company runs 14 to 15 one-man operated units, each making as many as 400 stops per day on the road, and at each stop, four trips to and from the truck to unload each type of waste. Throw in a snowstorm, and its tough day’s work for the operators out on the road. “The guys, you know, they’re certainly working out there,” says Ward. “We send our guys out there in some very rough conditions. “People expect us to be there.”

While the days of simple disposal are over, Ward is looking forward to the spring, when municipalities across the Valley will be switching from black or green garbage bags, to using clear bags for trash items that are not biodegradable and recyclable, or of a private nature. While this is a simple change to the current system, it will make a big difference in the long run, both in terms of waste reduction and improved safety for EFR staff.

On average, the disposal company has four to five injuries a year that are related to the improper disposal of hazardous waste, such as broken glass and needles. For some, it means missing a day of work, while for others, it may mean being several months off the job.

In one instance several years ago, an operator picked up a garbage bag and a large shard of glass made a deep cut into his leg. Ward hopes that with the clear bags, it will be much easier to see if there are any dangerous objects that could cause an accident. “That’s probably our biggest threat out there,” he explains. “The boys have learned to be very careful out there. “I don’t think people do it on purpose. I just don’t think they think.”

Working on the collection end, Ward and his staff have a pretty good sense of problem areas, where recycling and composting is still at a minimum. An audit of waste in the Valley done a few years back showed that, by weight, 40 per cent of so-called garbage was either recyclable or compostable. “Most of the garbage bags, if you really want to go through there, you’ll find at least three things that shouldn’t be there,” says Ward. “They’re better on the paper than they are on the plastics or compostable products.”

He continues, describing maggot-filled green bins, recyclables that are still half-full of food or drink, and metal and glass pieces in the compost. What’s really discouraging about it all, Ward explains, is how properly sorted waste can be easily contaminated. In the case of fast food outlets where customers are responsible for sorting their own waste, for example, it is a greater challenge to get to the source of the problem. “It discourages me,” says Ward, “[but you have to] look at the big picture. “Six to eight years ago, it was worse because everybody was just getting into the recycling at that point. Now, it’s working here and its working well. It just needs to be ongoing, I guess, until people…get things right.”