Materials Management - Transfer Stations: Improving Safety & Reducing Waste
Transfer Stations: Improving Safety & Reducing Waste
In many areas in the Northeast, towns operate transfer stations to provide waste management services to their residents. Transfer station operators and attendants report seeing all kinds of potentially dangerous and unwanted activities, such as residents throwing hazardous materials into the regular trash. Workers also witness residents throwing away recyclable materials, such as milk jugs and aluminum beer/soda cans, or items that are in good shape and could be reused by others.
In 2016 and 2017, NEWMOA partnered with waste management authorities and transfer stations in rural areas of New Hampshire and Vermont to improve worker safety and promote waste reduction. NEWMOA and its partners provided technical assistance and training by:
- Publishing a series of outreach handouts and posters
- Hosting workshops for transfer station workers on improving safety and reducing waste disposal
This material is based upon work supported by the Rural Utilities Services, United States Department of Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Rural Utilities Services. The views expressed on this webpage do not necessarily reflect those of NEWMOA, USDA, the Project Partners, or the NEWMOA member-states.
NEWMOA is an equal opportunity employer and provider.
During the summer of 2017, NEWMOA held workshops focused on improving transfer station operator safety and communicating options for reducing, reusing, and recycling wastes to residents.
North Country Council (NCC) in NH [PDF]
Northeast Kingdom Waste Management District (NEKWMD) in VT [PDF]
Reducing Waste Disposal at Rural Transfer Stations & Getting the Message Out [PDF]
NEWMOA hosted a national webinars to summarize the results of this Project and discuss lessons learned and next steps:
Improving Safety at Transfer Stations in Rural Communities
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
1:30 PM
In many rural areas in the Northeast, towns operate transfer stations to provide waste management and recycling services to their residents. NEWMOA partnered with waste management authorities and transfer stations in rural areas of New Hampshire and Vermont to improve worker safety and promote waste reduction.
This webinar was intended to raise awareness of common issues found at small transfer stations to help improve safety for both transfer station workers and residents. Topics included:
- Equipment safety (compactors)
- Personal protective equipment (PPE)
- Weather & extreme temperatures
- Traffic safety
- Slip/Trip/Fall hazards – with a focus on the metal & bulky/C&D waste collection areas
- Hazardous & Universal Waste
- And several other topics
The PPT Slides and a Recording of the Webinar are available.
Reducing Waste Disposal at Transfer Stations in Rural Communities
Thursday, September 28, 2017
1:30 PM
In many rural areas in the Northeast, towns operate transfer stations to provide waste management and recycling services to their residents. NEWMOA partnered with waste management authorities and transfer stations in rural areas of New Hampshire and Vermont to improve worker safety and promote waste reduction.
This webinar offered strategies for transfer station attendants to communicate the importance of waste reduction, reuse, and recycling to residents. NEWMOA’s recently published handouts and posters were also highlighted.
The PPT Slides and a Recording of this Webinar are available.
For more information, contact Rachel Smith at rsmith@newmoa.org.
NEWMOA developed a series of handouts targeted to residents using rural transfer stations. The handouts promote waste reduction practices, including, reuse and recycling, and properly disposing of problem items:
For some of the handouts, NEWMOA created customized versions for each partner, as well as fillable form versions that other communities can edit and distribute:
- WHY Recycle (fillable form version)
- Benefits of Reuse (fillable form version)
- Don’t Trash That! (fillable form version)
Note: You will need Adobe Reader Version 8 or newer to edit these forms. Hold your mouse over the shaded areas and click to enter text. Be sure to save the form on your computer as a PDF before editing the document.
NEWMOA also developed accompanying educational posters, to be displayed at transfer stations:
- Reducing Your Waste – 11×17 poster [PDF] or 24×36 A-frame [PDF]
- Benefits of Reuse – 11×17 poster [PDF] or 24×36 A-frame [PDF]
- WHY Recycle – 11×17 poster [PDF] or 24×36 A-frame [PDF]
- Recycle Right! – 11×17 poster [PDF] or 24×36 A-frame [PDF]
- Don’t Trash That! – 11×17 poster [PDF] or 24×36 A-frame [PDF]