US to celebrate new Waste and Recycling Workers Week on June 17, 2013
Solid Waste & Recycling Association, Honors Garbage Men and Women
By: SWR Staff
2013-06-11
The U.S.-based Environmental Industry Associations (EIA) joins customers and groups across the United States in celebrating Waste and Recycling Workers Week on Monday, June 17, 2013.
The new holiday is the brainchild of John Arwood, CEO of EIA member company Arwood Waste Inc., based in Jacksonville, Florida. EIA is the trade association representing the private sector waste and recycling services industry.
“The drivers and sanitation workers manning the front lines of waste and recycling pickup routes are more than just valued employees. They are the industry’s ambassadors for safety, service and environmental stewardship,” said Sharon Kneiss, EIA’s president and CEO, in a June 10, 2013 announcement to media. “They epitomize our motto of serving as environmentalists every day, so it is most appropriate to set aside a national day of recognition in their honor.”
EIA recently honored nine sanitation workers from 900 nominees nationwide as “Drivers of the Year” at the 45th Annual Waste Expo Conference and Exhibition, North America’s largest solid waste and recycling tradeshow, on May 21, 2013 in New Orleans.
“Their important work goes largely unrecognized,” Kneiss said of sanitation workers. “Take some time to thank them personally.”