Environmentalists. Every Day. America's Solid Waste Industry

As Senator Charles Schumer (New York) addressed the participants of the U.S. DOT Distracted Driving Summit in D.C. earlier today, he mentioned NSWMA as one of the business groups that has endorsed his “Alert Drivers Act.” This bill would require states to bar the sending of text or email messages while driving a car or truck, or risk losing federal highway funds.

This summit is an important meeting from which legislation may result, among other safety initiatives. NSWMA and an industry representative were invited to participate in the event.

Learn more about this bill and NSWMA’s support.

In its September 28 issue, Newsweek ranked the Greenest Big Companies in America. For more than a year, the magazine worked with leading environmental researchers KLD Research & Analytics, Trucost, and CorporateRegister.com to rank the 500 largest U.S. companies based on the actual environmental performance, policies and reputation.  A number of EIA members companies are on this list: Caterpillar was ranked 73. Cummins was ranked 91. Waste Management was ranked 109. Deere was ranked 141. PPG Industries was ranked 335. And Navistar International was ranked 424.

Advanced Disposal Services, Inc., announced that their employee Husnija (Husk) Omicevic was honored with the First Coast Manufacturing Associations Crane Awards.  Husk joined Advanced Disposal on May 1, 2004 as a front-end loader driver.  Since joining, Husk has driven more than 330,000 miles and performed more than 174,000 container lifts. He ensures that all his customers are cared for to the best of his ability and will make suggestions to amend the can size or the number of pickups when it is beneficial to do so.

In an article called “Trimming Waste: A greener, cheaper way to deal with garbage,” Big Belly Solar’s solar compactor was featured on Slate.com. Read the article here.

The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently released fatality data for 2008, and there was an increase in solid waste collection employee deaths in 2008 compared to 2007.   Truck rollovers, backing and being struck by a car were the most common causes of these fatal accidents.  The majority of those killed worked for small haulers and local governments.  NSWMA believes that even one workplace fatality per year is one too many, and will continue its effort to provide safety information to solid waste companies and local governments that helps them reduce their accidents and injuries.

The U.S. DOT is convening a Distracted Driving Summit in D.C. on Sept. 30 – Oct. 1, 2009.  This is an important meeting from which legislation may result, among other safety initiatives. An industry representative has been invited to participate on the panel for the event.

In a related matter, Senator Schumer introduced a bill in July that would require states to bar the sending of text or email messages while driving a car or truck, or risk losing federal highway funds. NSWMA has announced its support for that legislation.