By Isaac Donsky
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on trash collection and recycling in Baltimore, City Council and Department of Public Works officials told a hearing on Tuesday.
Council members questioned DPW about the suspension of recycling pickup and slow-down of trash collection that has been ongoing since August. The department recently announced that recycling pickup would be suspended throughout the city through Nov. 1.
Matthew Garback, DPW acting director, said the pandemic is responsible for exasperating issues already within the trash collection service.
“COVID hit us directly and indirectly,” said Garback. “It’s almost like death by a thousand cuts.”
Garback detailed the issues that sanitation workers have faced during the pandemic, ranging from increased tonnage to oppressive heat during the summer months. By mid-August, daily staffing shortages forced the department to slow down the rate of trash pickup and suspend recycling collection entirely, he said.
In addition, Garback said the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic forced a shutdown at the sanitation yard in July. He said social distancing and other sanitization practices have been implemented on the job, but problems have remained.
Garback said that the workforce has been cut from 345 total employees in January to 285 total in August. Finding replacement workers has been difficult and replacement crews have not been as effective, he stressed. The department has been forced to contract private haulers for assistance.
“It’s been difficult to get some of these vendors onboard because they are having the same issues that we are,” Garback said.
John Chalmers, the acting director of Routine Services, added that operations have been heavily strained due to the shortage of workers and the increase of trash.
“We’ve been collecting more trash with fewer employees,” Chalmers said, explaining that “34 percent of our workforce did not work in August. And we’ve been dealing with an aging workforce on top of that.”
So far, the DPW has implemented a community drop-off system to replace recycling pickup, with locations spread across the city.
City council members brainstormed other solutions during the meeting, with the focus being on community awareness of the slow downs.
“We want to avoid situations where people are leaving trash out on non-pickup days due to a lack of communication,” said Councilman Zeke Cohen.
Other issues discussed by the council included providing safe working conditions and proper benefits for sanitation workers.
Council President Brandon Scott, who requested the hearing in a letter to the Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, praised the sanitation workers “who are working during a global pandemic.”