Waste Pro’s Co-Heart Program is celebrating a major milestone of 400 graduates. As the nation and the waste industry continue to navigate an unprecedented truck driver shortage, Waste Pro has offered the program to ‘build an army from within.’ Created in 2015, the Co-Heart Program gives Waste Pro drivers, helpers, and any other interested employees an opportunity to receive one-on-one training to earn their commercial driver’s license (CDL).
During the program, Corporate Operations Trainer Robert Bourcheau trains students in skills such as advancing backing/driving and rollover prevention. Robert is a state-approved examiner and instructor in Florida. At the end of the program – which typically takes about 90 days to complete – students take the CDL exam at Waste Pro’s Regional Operations Center in Sanford, FL, which is a state-approved CDL testing site. Waste Pro is one of only two solid waste companies in the state that works with the Florida Department of Transportation to offer such a program.
In May, four helpers from Waste Pro’s Cocoa, FL Division brought the program to surpass 400 graduates. Malcolm Clark, Andrew Rivers, Robert Anastasio, and Matthew Paseler each earned their CDL just before Memorial Day. “Many of us never thought we would ever get to 100 graduates when this program started, let alone 400,” Robert said. “No words can explain how proud the young men and women feel the second I get to tell them, ‘You passed.’”