Media Availability: National Solid Wastes Management Association's President & CEO Sharon H. Kneiss on Sandy Clean-Up

Solid Waste Services Industry Integral to Clean Up after Natural Disasters Such as Super Storm Sandy

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Super storm Sandy ravaged communities along the Eastern seaboard of the United States.  Once the immediate concerns related to rescue operations and initial assessments of damage are complete, communities will concentrate on clean up. Many solid waste services companies have emergency response plans and response protocols.  Many solid waste services companies coordinate directly with state environmental regulators and their city, county and other local official counterparts. America's solid waste services industry is an integral part of the clean-up effort after any natural disaster.

The National Solid Wastes Management Association can answer broader questions related to typical disaster clean-ups. And we can try to help media representatives locate local company representatives who are active in post-Sandy clean-up activities in a particular community.

Media might be interested in the following sorts of stories:

• Some state and local officials already have eased hours of service and truck weight restrictions for all trucking industries engaged in relief efforts, including the solid waste services industry.  Such provisions are vital, giving our relief providers the necessary flexibility to clean-up communities as quickly as possible. If a particular state, county or city has not relaxed such limitations in their emergency declarations, they should.
• States and localities may ease restrictions that exist in certain jurisdictions regarding where storm debris can be taken. Storm debris is a mixture of all kinds of materials, some benign such as tree limbs and other organic debris and other potentially less benign material from buildings and vehicles and other storm-generated debris. While our industry generally has systems in place to recycle building debris and mulch tree debris, such activities become more difficult after a storm, because the lack of separation of collected materials; because a lot of what might otherwise be recyclable is wet and will become moldy; and because of the necessity for a quick cleanup to restore the use of streets and other infrastructure and for public health reasons. Still, our industry supports states, counties and cities requiring the use of a Subtitle D landfill, a waste-to-energy facility or appropriate construction and demolition debris facility for the safe disposal of such materials, if reclamation through recycling or mulching isn't practical.
• Local disaster coordinators include both public sector and private sector solid waste services resources in the cleanup. Most communities will use a mixture of municipal employees and private contractors to haul away many tons of building, vehicular and yard debris placed at curbside after of the storm. Because of the immensity of the effort, the majority generally are private contractors, who are supervised/contracted by public officials.

Members of the press wishing to interview Sharon H. Kneiss or other local solid waste services company officials, please contact Thom Metzger at [email protected].

NSWMA – a sub-association of the Environmental Industry Associations – represents for-profit companies in North America that provide solid waste collection, recycling and disposal services, healthcare waste management, or provide professional and consulting services to the waste services industry. NSWMA members conduct business in all 50 states.  Visit environmentalistseveryday.org/environmentalists.

SOURCE National Solid Wastes Management Association (NSWMA)