From Waste to Resources: Safe disposal protects landfill workers from dangers

Joe Lombardi
·3 min read

As most residents know, the Solid Waste of Central Ohio’s mission is to keep the central Ohio community clean, safe and healthy and to ensure the proper and safe disposal of our community’s waste.

We do this by offering programs and services that help residents, families, schools and businesses reduce, reuse and recycle, but our most important job is to safely manage the Franklin County Sanitary Landfill, a public asset that we work hard to protect. We do this to ensure it is always available to the communities, residents and businesses who rely upon it and to help extend the life of the landfill to serve generations to come.

Safely operating the landfill means we place a high regard on protecting the individuals who work within its borders. According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s 2020 National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, waste-refuse and recyclable-materials collection is the sixth-deadliest occupation in the U.S. In fact, the data shows a slight increase in fatalities at landfills and material-recovery facilities in 2020 – a statistic we can’t afford to see increase.

Keeping our landfill operators and waste haulers safe while protecting the land on which the landfill is built is a responsibility we all share. Identifying and understanding common culprits that can cause issues at the landfill is the best way to keep our workers and the landfill site safe.

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These are hazardous materials that should be disposed of correctly in order to keep landfill staff safe. All of these items are accepted at SWACO’s Household Hazardous Waste Facility, 645 E. Eighth Ave. in Columbus:

  • Batteries. These can cause fires at the local landfill and recycling facility, putting recycling workers at risk if not disposed of correctly.

  • Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). Broken CFLs can release mercury vapor and should be cleaned up using U.S. EPA recommendations. Other light bulbs, such as LED, incandescent and halogen bulbs, are safe to dispose of in the trash.

  • Households generate a wide range of poisonous, dangerous, flammable and corrosive products, including lawn chemicals, solvents, household cleaners and pool chemicals. These materials should be taken to a household hazardous-waste facility or collection event.

  • Oil-based paint and similar products, like paint thinner and solvents, are flammable and hazardous. These materials should not be placed in with your household garbage but should be taken to a household hazardous-waste facility or collection event.

  • Propane tanks. Even when seemingly empty, they can retain enough propane to cause an explosion and put landfill and recycling workers at risk.

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It’s easy to find out how to safely dispose of unwanted items. SWACO’s Recycle and Reuse Search Tool is a comprehensive guide to helping residents and business owners know how to safely dispose of or recycle any and all waste, including that which is most hazardous.

When we work together to safely dispose of our waste, we help to ensure our fellow central Ohioans who work in the waste and recycling industry return home to their loved ones.

Joe Lombardi is executive director of SWACO. Questions about its operations may be directed to him at questions@swaco.org. His office provides this column to ThisWeek.

This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: From Waste to Resources: Safe disposal protects landfill workers from dangers