Trash and waste haulers are asking people who might be ill or in self-quarantine to be mindful and properly bag trash. Residents should put out only bagged trash — not loose — to prevent the spread of COVID-19 for the health and safety of residents, trash haulers hands, truckers, and landfill and transfer station workers, said Jason Yorks, director of Lycoming County Resource Management Services at the landfill office in Brady Township.
That is because the Centers for Disease Control has indicated the virus may be active and communicable for up to three days while it remains on materials such as the surface of trash and recyclables, Yorks said. Efforts to control the spread of the virus have impacted the way trash is getting collected and disposed of. That has a valuable lesson for the average individual and family. “My thinking is, if a household has a person with the virus or someone in self-quarantine, it should be mindful of others downstream of the waste and bag it up properly to prevent exposure,” Yorks said.
The landfill serves a six-county region including: Lycoming, Union, Snyder, Columbia, Montour, and Northumberland counties, he said. Efforts to reduce any transmission include ways to minimize interaction between people coming to the landfill and those working there.