Tying up trash, other measures help sanitation workers stay safe

Tying up trash, other measures help sanitation workers stay safe

Jim Lawley is a one-man garbage removal crew, working six days a week not only driving his company’s lone truck, but also getting out at every stop to pick up the cans and dump them into the back.

He’s been working hard for 42 years, ever since he took over the family business, Lawley’s Disposal in Leesport, as a high school student.

But never in his career has Lawley been as scared about getting sick from his job as he is during the current coronavirus pandemic.

So he and his wife are joining other sanitation companies in asking customers

to help.

“We want everyone to put all their trash in bags and tie the bags up before they put them in their cans,” said his wife, Barbara Steiner Lawley, the business’ vice president and only other full-time employee.

Some people regularly throw loose trash into their cans, which even in normal times is unsanitary for the workers, she said.

Those unbagged items often force them to reach into the cans to pull them out by hand, and sometimes loose debris blows into their faces, she said.

But now it’s a much bigger problem, considering how contagious and potentially deadly COVID-19 is and how it can spread through mucus and droplets left on objects.

‘It’s dangerous’

“He’ll open a can and there will be a bunch of used tissues in there,” Steiner Lawley said. “It’s dangerous.”

In Reading, residents are required to bag all trash, but they don’t always comply, either putting it in cans loose or not tying the bags securely, which leaves garbage in neighborhoods, said Kevin Lugo, the city’s sustainability and solid waste manager.

He agreed it’s crucial to do so for the sake of the people who do sanitation removal in the city and for residents who may come across litter on the streets or in their yards.

“If it’s not done properly, they (the haulers) may not pick it up,” he said.

J.P. Mascaro & Sons of Audubon, Montgomery County, collects residential and commercial trash in a number of Berks County municipalities. Spokesman Frank Sau said it’s a simple act for customers to bag and tie up trash, but one that’s really helpful to workers trying to safely complete their work.

“That’s always the case, but now so more than ever,” he said.

The request to customers is one of several steps the company is taking to protect workers, along with making sure extra gloves are available along with masks if they want them.

Evening out

Steiner Lawley said her husband is seeing much more residential trash in recent weeks, as many customers are home from work and apparently taking that time to clear junk from their garages and attics.

But there is so much less commercial refuse now, with so many businesses closed, that it’s almost evening out.

Mascaro is seeing the same pattern of more residential waste and less commercial, Sau said.

“It seems people are doing their spring cleaning now,” he said.

Republic Services, a national company that collects garbage from many of Reading’s residents, said the recent surge in residential waste and the threat of coronavirus is prompting it to change services in some communities, including only collecting trash and recycling that is contained in customers’ carts or for customers who do not have cart service only in bags not exceeding 50 pounds.

In some markets the company is suspending bulk and/or yard waste pickups to prioritize residential collection.

A company spokesman could not say if those changes would apply to Reading, but said customers would be notified if that’s the case.

‘It’s very scary’

Steiner Lawley said the message about properly securing trash is one she’s also heard recently from the Pennsylvania Independent Waste Haulers Association, which wants households and businesses statewide to heed the advice.

She thinks the customers who put loose trash into their cans do so only because they don’t realize how much risk it brings for workers. But she’s hoping now that the word is spreading, they’ll change their habits and keep securing it long after the pandemic has passed.

It’s a difficult enough job without the added danger of disease, she said.

“It’s very scary,” she said.

Antonio Serrano, left, and Benjamin Morales, both of Republic Services, load trash on East Wyomissing Boulevard.

Benjamin Morales, right, and Antonio Serrano, both of Republic Services, empty trash cans on Margaret Street in Reading. To protect haulers like Morales and Serrano, residents are urged not to put loose trash in cans during the coronavirus pandemic.

Antonio Serrano, left, and Benjamin Morales, both of Republic Services, collect trash on Margaret Street.

BEN HASTY — MEDIANEWS GROUP Residents are urged to securely tie trash bags and not put loose trash into cans to help protect sanitation workers during the coronavirus pandemic.