Media Advisory: Waste & Recycling During COVID-19 Pandemic

SWANA Available to Discuss Waste & Recycling Issues, Tips for Public

The Solid Waste Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) is recognized as a leading subject matter expert on solid waste management in the United States. SWANA has been providing guidance guidance to municipal and private sector waste and recycling operations to help protect worker and public health during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. As an essential critical infrastructure workforce, waste and recycling collection continues during this national emergency, but it must also adjust to new, unique challenges. Some services have been modified or temporarily suspended in some locations and the public is being asked to change their behavior to help protect worker health.

SWANA Executive Director David Biderman and SWANA Advocacy & Safety Senior Manager, Jesse Maxwell, are available to answer questions from the media concerning how the waste and recycling collection system is functioning during the pandemic and how the public can help ensure it continues safely and effectively. As reporters continue to write about the response to the pandemic, it is important that waste and recycling is included in that narrative.

SWANA has substantial experience explaining solid waste and recycling issues to local and national audiences. Just in the past week, SWANA Executive Director David Biderman has spoken with CNN, The Washington Post, a local NPR affiliate in NY, and several trade publications that cover the waste and recycling industry about the evolving impact of the pandemic on waste employees and employers. SWANA been featured on the NPR On Point program, as well as in articles in ABC News, The Bloomberg Environment, The Verge, The Atlantic, The New York Times, HuffPost, Associate Press, Waste Dive, MSW Management, American Cleaning & Hygiene, and The Christian Science Monitor.