With schools and many restaurants and retailers closed because of the coronavirus pandemic, Casella Waste Management said its commercial business has “dropped off the face of the earth,” but with more people staying home, there’s been an uptick in residential trash coming to the company’s landfill here.
Overall, said Kevin Roy, who is a division manager for Rutland, Vt.-based Casella, the volume of solid waste being received at its North Country Environmental Services landfill is down slightly because of the loss of the commercial component, although it is being offset by an increase in residential trash.
Casella serves 50,000 residential customers in New Hampshire, some 5,500 commercial and institutional clients, 150 cities and towns and it also accepts waste from out of state. Typically, late winter/early spring is a quieter time at the NCES landfill, said Roy, but the coronavirus has made things quieter still. “Commercial has dropped off the face of the earth,” said Roy, and activity at the landfill, too, has decreased, some intentionally, some by happenstance.
The landfill has shut down its swap shop to prevent social interaction that could spread the coronavirus, he said, and while keeping its weigh station open, has eliminated contact between haulers and landfill employees, the latter now recording billing information electronically from a safe distance.
The operation of the landfill and of the third-party contractors who deliver waste to and maintain equipment there has been deemed an “essential” business by the federal government, which means the facility will stay open, said Roy. The landfill is not, however, increasing its number of employees, something that it would normally do at this time of year.