Many Maine communities have pared back or dropped recycling programs in an effort to guard workers from potential exposure to the COVID-19 virus. Some big supermarkets have also curtailed in-store redemption efforts. To accommodate these moves, Gov. Janet Mills has ordered that the state ease enforcement of some recycling rules.
Last month the New England Journal of Medicine published research demonstrating that the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19 could persist on some metal and plastic surfaces for as long as three days, and a day or so on cardboard. That got noticed in the solid waste and recycling communities. “People didn’t want to put their workers at risk, to handle the public’s goods.”
Victor Horton is the executive director of the Maine Resource Recovery Association, which acts as an advisor and broker for Maine municipalities looking to dispose of waste and recyclables. “Because you can’t tell who’s coming in that might have the virus or might be in the early stages or late or not. So they said ‘look we can’t take the risk of having all our people getting sick because, you know, sometimes when you’re sick, you die.’ ”
Municipalities large and small moved to limit worker exposure by suspending recycling programs and encouraging residents to throw everything together into one bag.