COVID-19 has created challenges for businesses all across the nation and locally, and trash haulers are among those rethinking how business can safely continue.

Oak Ridge Waste of Danbury, Shelton, and Stamford (which purchased Winter Brothers) “most definitely” has seen an impact from COVID-19, said Mark O’Brien, vice president of sales and marketing for the company that provides residential and commercial trash removal and roll-off dumpsters for the Newtown area.

There has been a significant amount of suspensions and decreases in business from commercial customers that include schools and restaurants. The company, O’Brien said, has seen a reduction of over $200,000 a month as businesses shut down and waste removal services are no longer needed or greatly reduced.

The loss of commercial business has also resulted in a consolidation of routes, O’Brien stated.

Roll-off business, though, has not been bad. “There is a definite increase in delivering roll-offs (dumpsters) to residential homes,” observed O’Brien, perhaps because people stuck at home are occupying time with major clean-outs or DIY construction.

On the residential side of trash hauling, business has picked up for Oak Ridge, too, with people isolating at home and thus generating a greater amount of home trash than normal.

“We’ve seen a drastic increase in [residential] waste,” O’Brien said, which results in abnormal disposal costs for Oak Ridge. “But,” he added, “we haven’t raised the rates.”

That increase in household garbage means that the company is greatly concerned for the wellbeing of its employees. While service and sales representatives have been equipped to work safely from home, trash collectors “are touching the trash cans,” O’Brien pointed out, “and maybe breathing in all kinds of things.”

The workers now wear rubber gloves inside of work gloves when collecting garbage, and masks as needed. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, drivers and laborers may have switched routes frequently with each other, but now the company is trying to keep a driver and laborer consistent with each other on the schedules.

Oak Ridge Waste trucks are regularly disinfected, as are any office spaces, and regular communication with all employees keeps an eye on how they are handling the pandemic.

“At the same time,” O’Brien said, “[employees] are affected at home,” dealing with other family members’ job losses, children out of school, child care issues, and all of the other day to day life issues that arise.

Unlike responding to natural emergencies, such as tornadoes and other storms that disrupt service in defined areas and have an endtime in sight, “[The coronavirus] is everywhere and affects the health and wellbeing of our employees. We want to make sure our employees are as safe as possible. Who,” O’Brien asked, “is going to be picking up the trash if someone has to self-quarantine?”

Reconsidering the many aspects of productivity for the company has been a challenge, but O’Brien feels that the company is handling the new business world created by coronavirus as smoothly as possible.

“One thing we are most proud of,” he said, referring to the Oak Ridge workforce that is on the front line to remove trash at residential addresses, “is that they’re coming in, every single day, and doing a very good job with that.”

Pendergast Roll-Offs & Recycling

In a message to The Newtown Bee, published March 27, 2020, Fred Pendergast, Jr, of Pendergast Roll-Offs & Recycling had already noted changes needed for safety. Residential homeowners who recycle were reminded:

* Place your recycling bins with clean and accepted items at the curb of the road the night before scheduled pick up.

*In lieu of recycling bins, you can also use approved recycling bags instead of the bins.

*Place in bins: Clean and rinsed out items, glass jars, magazines, newspapers (no window panes, ceramic, Pyrex, drinking glasses, light bulbs, batteries, Styrofoam, loose plastic bags, plastic film, bubble wrap, paper towels, napkins, tissues, paper plates, plastic utensils, paint cans, aerosol cans, food/table scraps, Chinaware dishes, etc), empty plastic containers, flattened cardboard (maximum size of flattened cardboard is two feet wide, two feet length, one foot in height; if outside of the bag or recycling bin, tie them securely).

Cardboard filling a bin, extending beyond the top, “creates a health issue that we will not subject ourselves to, as it now comes too close to our faces and blocks our sight from safely emptying,” Pendergast noted in that message.

Also, as of that date, “Pendergast Roll-Offs & Recycling cannot take large, oversized boxes or piles of broken down, flat cardboard that is not tied in bundles or in bags.”

Handling A Gamechanger

Associated Refuse Haulers, servicing residents of Newtown, Danbury, and Bethel, along with all of Fairfield County with container work for commercial businesses, as well as construction, demolition, and bulky waste removal, has seen the way the company does business affected by the coronavirus.

In the office, said owner Pat Caruso, employees are separated safely; trucks that travel throughout the communities and county are sanitized twice a day.

While formerly Caruso had an open door policy for all of the 18 employees, coronavirus concerns have meant that conversations with the drivers now take place “out in the yard,” safely spaced from each other.

On the upside, “We are blessed with automated trucks,” Caruso said, “so [workers] are not touching trash.” Only one rearloader truck used for some “driveway customers” might require a bit of handling, and those drivers and laborers remain as removed as possible from the task, wearing gloves and masks as needed. That vehicle is also sanitized daily, something Caruso himself oversees.

When drivers bring containers to the transfer station, there is no personal interaction. The drivers stay in the truck the whole time it is dumped, Caruso said.

Commercial business has taken a hit for this trash removal company. “Commercial business,” he said, “is way off.” Businesses, schools, and restaurants that needed regular service are closed, reducing that arm of the business.

On the other hand, said Caruso, residential business has been active, with “everyone being home and needing containers,” he noted, “and that’s a good thing, I guess.”

Associated Refuse has sent out an e-blast to customers, reminding them of safe practices during this unusual time. “We won’t be touching anything outside of the containers,” Caruso said. “Any bags have to be tied shut inside the carts.” He has also advised customers to be sure and bring carts out to the curbside in time for regular pick up. If extra carts are needed because more home trash is being generated, he encourages residential customers to call the office at 203-426-8870 to request additional carts.

Bears can be a nuisance this time of year, on top of it all, he did note, and the company does have bear-proof carts on order. Customers experiencing bear issues can call to ask for one of these special carts, which Caruso hopes will soon be in stock.

Although safe practices are in place and staff remains employed, his employees do worry about the how the coronavirus has affected the economy, Caruso said. “I don’t think we’ll see how bad it hits folks until May or June,” but his company is fortunate that so far, few of the workers have had to deal with childcare or other health and home issues. “One of our younger employee’s wife had a baby in January,” but the company has been able to accommodate him as needed. Like the thousands of other state residents, their greatest problems now are getting the usual home supplies they need.

COVID-19 has been a gamechanger, there is no doubt, said Associated Refuse Hauler’s Caruso. Still, he added, “We have to move the trash; it’s sanitation.”

And he remains positive.

“We’ll get through this. I see people helping people. I’m pretty optimistic. We’re pretty resilient and we’re tough Connecticut folks.”