Garbage Workers Are on the Virus Front Lines, Too

No class of Americans was spared during the 1918 flu pandemic, including the garbage men. In San Francisco, illness rapidly thinned their ranks, and trash piled up in streets and backyards, leaving the city little choice but to cover it with dirt. In Kansas City, Missouri, medical waste was tossed atop the household waste already piling up in public spaces, creating new hazards for the diminishing numbers of people employed to collect it, and those who lived, worked and played in the city. And in Baltimore, at least a quarter of the city’s sanitation workers didn’t report for duty at the peak of the pandemic, with predictably dirty and dangerous results.

A century later, trash collection is as reliable as a utility bill in most American towns and cities, and thoughts of pandemic trash piles are relics of a dirtier past. But the coronavirus outbreak has the potential to challenge those perceptions, and create unsanitary and potentially hazardous problems. Already, a few towns — including New York — are suspending or reducing some trash and recycling services to promote social distancing and prepare for lower staff levels that will stress collection and processing. These reductions won’t lead to a 1918-style trash crisis. But they are a reminder that the critical job of managing American waste is extremely vulnerable in a pandemic. Fortifying and protecting the companies, towns and workers who do this work must be a top priority for citizens and government alike.