Coronavirus clean-up: Sanitation workers face increased risk, job loss
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By C.J. Atkins

Wherever there is poor sanitation, disease and illness spread. That's why those who work in the waste management industry are just as much an "essential service" right now as are health care, pharmacy, grocery, and restaurant workers. Dealing with all the trash society produces is a dirty and dangerous job even in normal times; during a global health pandemic, it gets even riskier. The Department of Homeland Security agrees, deciding on March 20 to designate waste workers an "Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce."

According to the EPA, each person in the United States produces an average of four-and-half pounds of solid waste every day; exactly how that number might change under quarantine conditions is unknown. It's possible that sanitation workers could soon be facing an onslaught of residential garbage as millions of people stay home and put a lot more boxes, bags, jars, food take-out containers, hand sanitizer bottles, Lysol wipes, latex gloves, and masks out on the curb.

That means heavier loads and longer hours-as well as the potential for exposure to COVID-19-contaminated trash.

For the men and women who empty the bins we all put out each week and the landfill workers who bury the stuff, there are new questions about safety and paid time off for sick employees. What precautions are the garbage companies taking to look after workers' health and well-being?

Harrison Persinger, who works for a waste collection firm in the Detroit metro area, says that "Signage regarding COVID-19 has been posted" at his garage, "and drivers have been provided with gloves and cleaners."

Despite significant automation of the industry in recent years, much of the work is still done manually. A single worker on a residential route comes into contact with the garbage of hundreds or even thousands of different individuals every day. This raises concerns about how long the virus survives on surfaces-including on the surfaces of objects put in the garbage can....

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