HomeMy WebLinkAbout04.03.20 Email from Barry Skolnick, Waste Management - FW_ NCN COVID-19 Update - Status of Waste Management Services
From:Bennett, Robin
To:BOS;Alpert, Bruce;Bennett, Robin;Clerk of the Board;Connelly, Bill;Cook, Holly;Lambert, Steve;Lucero,
Debra;McCracken, Shari;Pickett, Andy;Ring, Brian;Ritter, Tami;Rodas, Amalia;Sweeney, Kathleen;Teeter,
Doug
Cc:Schuman, Amy;Schmidt, Dennis;Schuman, Amy;Schmidt, Dennis
Subject:FW: NCN COVID-19 Update - Status of Waste Management Services
Date:Friday, April 3, 2020 5:36:15 PM
Attachments:image001.png
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NCN COVID-19 Update to Elected Officials_4.3.20.pdf
Please see BOS correspondence below from Waste Management.
Thank you,
Executive Assistant
Office: 530-762-2186 Cell: 530-990-2678
Email: rbennett@buttecounty.net Email: dteeter@buttecounty.net
Supervisor Doug Teeter, District 5
Butte County Board of Supervisors
6585 Clark Rd, Suite 200
Paradise, CA 95969
From: NCNCovid19 <NCNCovid19@wm.com>
Sent: Friday, April 3, 2020 4:37 PM
To: NCNCovid19 <NCNCovid19@wm.com>
Subject: NCN COVID-19 Update - Status of Waste Management Services
ATTENTION: This message originated from outside Butte County. Please exercise judgment before opening
..
attachments, clicking on links, or replying.
USA Waste of California, Inc.
Modesto Garbage Co., Inc.
Waste Management of California, Inc.,
Waste Management of Nevada, Inc.,
Waste Management Collection and Recycling, Inc.
Date: April 3, 2020
To: Supervisors, Mayors and Councilmembers in Franchised Municipalities
RE: NCN COVID-19 Update – Status of Waste Management Services
Supervisors, Mayors and Councilmembers,
This has been an historic three weeks and as we enter the weekend, I wanted to update you on
Waste Management of Northern California-Nevada’s (NCN) efforts in your community. Collectively,
we are dealing with an unprecedented event that is forcing us to take unprecedented steps to
ensure we can meet our communities’ health and safety needs for the duration of the COVID-19
pandemic. Since the first shelter-in-place order was issued on March 16, to today, NCN continues to
provide all residential, commercial and roll-off collection of trash, recycling and organics/green
waste in all jurisdictions.
The orders issued by federal, state and local governments constitute a force majeure event.
Maintaining these essential services for the duration of the pandemic is our goal. We’ve had to make
some hard choices to protect the health and safety of our employees, customers and communities,
and to ensure we have the personnel and resources to maintain services. While we’ve been
communicating these changes to public works staff, city managers and regulators, I want to provide
you a status report as we settle into another 30 days of shelter-in-place restrictions.
Health & Safety Primary Focus
Every operational change we’ve made is guided, first and foremost, by what is in the best interest of
our employees, customers and the communities we serve. Achieving appropriate social distancing
has resulted in significant changes to our workplace across North America, including:
Closingcallcentersandestablishingavirtualplatform.Thisherculeantaskrequired
purchasingthousandsofpiecesofequipment,includingheadsetsandlaptops,and
trainingemployeesinlessthanaweeksoallcustomerservicerepresentativescould
workfromhome.
Today20,000WasteManagementemployeesareworkingfromhome,servingour
customerswhilefollowingshelterinplaceorders.
Another25,000WasteManagementemployeesarestaffingcollectionandtransfer
trucks,operatingheavyequipmentatourtransferstationsandlandfillsandworkingon
sortlinesatourmaterialrecoveryfacilities(MRFs).
InNorthernCalifornia-Nevada,wehave2,500employees,2,000ofwhomareworking
onthefrontlinedeliveringessentialservicesandcannotworkfromhome.
Specialsocialdistancingprotocolshavebeenimplementedatoursitesalongwith
cleaningproceduresandadditionalpersonalprotectiveequipment(PPE)forthese
employees.
Wheresocialdistancingbetweenstaffandcustomerscouldnotbeachieved,wemade
thehardchoicetoclosesomefacilitiestothepublic,includingoffices,buy-back
recyclingsitesandbillpaystations.Acompletelistoffacilitiesandservicesisavailable
atwm.com/alerts–scrolldownandselect“California”or“Nevada.”
Maintaining Essential Services
Recycling Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs)
EffectiveMarch30,wemadethedifficultdecisiontoshutorsignificantlyreducethe
recyclingsortingcapacityatourfiveMRFsinNCNtoensuresocialdistancing,reduce
thepotentialofaCOVID-19outbreakatoursitesandinthecommunity.
WM MRF employees affected by this restructuring are guaranteed up to 40 hours of pay a
week and continued health and welfare benefits during this temporary closure or processing
reduction.
It is our hope this short-term disruption in recycling processing is overshadowed by the
continued health and safety of our employees and communities.
Wecan’toverstateourcommitmenttorecyclingandourdesiretomaintainthecurbside
collectionexperienceourcustomersexpect.Weunderstandtheimportantrolerecycling
playsinourenvironment,economyandcollectivesocialcontract.Wecontinueto
providecurbsiderecyclingcollectiontomaintainthe‘recycleright’habitswehave
collectivelyworkedhardtofoster.
Bulky and Excess Waste Collection
Drivers are on the front line of this pandemic providing an essential service.
We must prioritize the collection of trash, recyclables and green waste.
To ensure adequate personnel each day, we are eliminating bulky pickup and the collection of
waste not containerized.
We are already seeing a 15% increase in residential trash disposal volume from the effect of
shelter in place.
To help customers manage this excess waste, we will collect it in personal containers set out
with their WM carts on collection day.
Weintendtomaintainseparatecollectionoftrash,recyclablesandgreen
waste/organics,andencouragecustomerstocontinuetoRecycleRight.
Contingency Plans
EveryNCNhaulingdistrict,processingfacilityandlandfillhascontingencyplansfor
maintainingservice,backedbythecompany’soverallbusinesscontinuityplanand
leadershiptaskforcegroups.
Ourcollectioncontingencyplanprioritizescriticalserviceslikehospitals,first
responders,governmentalbuildings,andessentialprivatebusinesses.Todate,every
routehasbeenservicedandourgoalistomaintainthisservicerecord.
AsNorthAmerica’slargestwastemanagementcompany,wehavebuilt-inredundancies
thatallowustostaffourfacilitieshitbyhurricanesandtornados.Whileunprecedented,
webringthesamecommitmenttoworkingthroughtheCOVID-19crisis.
Commitment to Communication
If you would like to be added to our NCN COVID-19 Update distribution list, please email
NCNCovid19@wm.com. To receive service updates, please visit wm.com and select “My WM” on
the righthand side of the tool bar to sign up for text, email or phone notices. Finally, if you have any
questions about our COVID-19 Update, please email us at NCNCovid19@wm.com and our COVID-19
Communication Task Force will respond.
Thank you for your understanding. We appreciate your support of our drivers and employees on the
frontline and look forward to resuming our normal routine as quickly as possible.
Sincerely,
USA Waste of California, Inc., Modesto Garbage Co., Inc., Waste Management of California, Inc.,
Waste Management of Nevada, Inc., Waste Management Collection and Recycling, Inc.
Barry Skolnick
President of the above referenced legal entities
cc: WM Corp Legal, Northern California-Nevada Leadership Team, NCN Covid-19 Task Force
NCN Covid-19 Communication Task Force, Collection, Processing & Disposal District
Managers, Public Sector Managers, Sales Team and Coordinators, Customer Service Team,
Environmental Protection Team
USA Waste of California, Inc.
Modesto Garbage Co., Inc.
Waste Management of California, Inc.,
Waste Management of Nevada, Inc.,
Waste Management Collection and Recycling, Inc.
Date: April 3, 2020
To: Mayors, Councilmembers and Supervisors in Franchised Municipalities
RE: NCN COVID-19 Update Status of Waste Management Services
Mayors, Councilmembers and Supervisors,
This has been an historic three weeks and as we enter the weekend, I wanted to update you on Waste
Management of Northern California-Nevadas (NCN) efforts in your community. Collectively, we are
dealing with an unprecedented event that is forcing us to take unprecedented steps to ensure we can
COVID-19 pandemic. Since the
first shelter-in-place order was issued on March 16, to today, NCN continues to provide all residential,
commercial and roll-off collection of trash, recycling and organics/green waste in all jurisdictions.
The orders issued by federal, state and local governments constitute a force majeure event. Maintaining
these essential services for the duration of the pandemic is our goal. had to make some hard
choices to protect the health and safety of our employees, customers and communities, and to ensure
we have the personnel and resources to maintain services
changes to public works staff, city managers and regulators, I want to provide you a status report as we
settle into another 30 days of shelter-in-place restrictions.
IĻğƌƷŷ ε {ğŅĻƷǤ tƩźƒğƩǤ Cƚĭǒƭ
Every operational change is guided, first and foremost, by what is in the best interest of our
employees, customers and the communities we serve. Achieving appropriate social distancing has
resulted in significant changes to our workplace across North America, including:
Closing call centers and establishing a virtual platform. This herculean task required purchasing
thousands of pieces of equipment, including headsets and laptops, and training employees in
less than a week so all customer service representatives could work from home.
Today 20,000 Waste Management employees are working from home, serving our customers
while following shelter in place orders.
Another 25,000 Waste Management employees are staffing collection and transfer trucks,
operating heavy equipment at our transfer stations and landfills and working on sort lines at our
material recovery facilities (MRFs).
In Northern California-Nevada, we have 2,500 employees, 2,000 of whom are working on the
front line delivering essential services and cannot work from home.
o Special social distancing protocols have been implemented at our sites along with
cleaning procedures and additional personal protective equipment (PPE) for these
employees.
Where social distancing between staff and customers could not be achieved, we made the hard
choice to close some facilities to the public, including offices, buy-back recycling sites and bill
pay stations. A complete list of facilities and services is available at wm.com/alerts scroll down
.
ağźƓƷğźƓźƓŭ 9ƭƭĻƓƷźğƌ {ĻƩǝźĭĻƭ
wĻĭǤĭƌźƓŭ ağƷĻƩźğƌ wĻĭƚǝĻƩǤ CğĭźƌźƷźĻƭ ΛawCƭΜ
Effective March 30, we made the difficult decision to shut or significantly reduce the recycling
sorting capacity at our five MRFs in NCN to ensure social distancing, reduce the potential of a
COVID-19 outbreak at our sites and in the community.
WM MRF employees affected by this restructuring are guaranteed up to 40 hours of pay a week
and continued health and welfare benefits during this temporary closure or processing reduction.
It is our hope this short-term disruption in recycling processing is overshadowed by the continued
health and safety of our employees and communities.
collection experience our customers expect. We understand the important role recycling plays
in our environment, economy and collective social contract. We continue to provide curbside
recycling collection to maintain the habits we have collectively worked hard to
foster.
.ǒƌƉǤ ğƓķ 9ǣĭĻƭƭ ğƭƷĻ /ƚƌƌĻĭƷźƚƓ
Drivers are on the front line of this pandemic providing an essential service.
We must prioritize the collection of trash, recyclables and green waste.
To ensure adequate personnel each day, we are eliminating bulky pickup and the collection of
waste not containerized.
We are already seeing a 15% increase in residential trash disposal volume from the effect of
shelter in place.
To help customers manage this excess waste, we will collect it in personal containers set out with
their WM carts on collection day.
We intend to maintain separate collection of trash, recyclables and green waste/organics, and
encourage customers to continue to Recycle Right.
/ƚƓƷźƓŭĻƓĭǤ tƌğƓƭ
Every NCN hauling district, processing facility and landfill has contingency plans for maintaining
servicecontinuity plan and leadership task force
groups.
Our collection contingency plan prioritizes critical services like hospitals, first responders,
governmental buildings, and essential private businesses. To date, every route has been
serviced and our goal is to maintain this service record.
-in redundancies that
allow us to staff our facilities hit by hurricanes and tornados. While unprecedented, we bring the
same commitment to working through the COVID-19 crisis.
/ƚƒƒźƷƒĻƓƷ Ʒƚ /ƚƒƒǒƓźĭğƷźƚƓ
If you would like to be added to our NCN COVID-19 Update distribution list, please email
NCNCovid19@wm.com. To receive service updates, please visit wm.com and select My WM on the
righthand side of the tool bar to sign up for text, email or phone notices. Finally, if you have any
questions about our COVID-19 Update, please email us at NCNCovid19@wm.com and our COVID-19
Communication Task Force will respond.
Thank you for your understanding. We appreciate your support of our drivers and employees on the
frontline and look forward to resuming our normal routine as quickly as possible.
Sincerely,
USA Waste of California, Inc., Modesto Garbage Co., Inc., Waste Management of California, Inc.,
Waste Management of Nevada, Inc., Waste Management Collection and Recycling, Inc.
Barry Skolnick
President of the above referenced legal entities
cc: WM Corp Legal, Northern California-Nevada Leadership Team, NCN Covid-19 Task Force
NCN Covid-19 Communication Task Force, Collection, Processing & Disposal District Managers,
Public Sector Managers, Sales Team and Coordinators, Customer Service Team, Environmental
Protection Team