Recycling Workers Finally Receive Long Overdue Pay Increase

For years these workers were exempt from Boston’s living wage ordinance, resulting in near minimum wage salaries for dirty, dangerous work

June 19, 2019
For Immediate Release
 
Boston             Today, the City of Boston announced a set of recommendations that will bring it into the zero waste economy, moving away from a polluting waste system and creating good jobs for residents. The release of the City’s draft recommendations, which will shape the future of Boston’s waste system is the culmination of nearly a decade of work by local environmental, worker, and community groups. Together, these groups formed the Zero Waste Boston coalition and advocated for the adoption of policies that improve public health and minimize the climate impacts of the trash while also creating good, green jobs for Boston residents.
 
Currently, Boston residents and businesses generate well over one million tons of materials every year, with 25 percent being reused, recycled or composted and 75 percent being disposed of in polluting incinerators or landfills. By implementing the recommendations, Boston can reduce trash, and increase recycling and composting by about 638,000 tons per year, increasing Boston’s current recycling rate from near 25 percent to 80 percent by 2035. The workers who labor in dirty, dangerous conditions sorting these materials will also see a pay increase for the essential services they provide.
 
In 2014, Boston pledged to become a Zero Waste city, aiming to divert at least 95% of non-hazardous waste from landfill or incineration by 2050. To help make this goal more affordable, the city made a massive wage exemption for Casella, allowing it to pay its workers low wages. Exempting Casella from Boston’s Living Wage Ordinance meant that it did not have to pay a living wage of at least $14.82 per hour, a requirement for any business providing labor for a job contracted with Boston for $25,000 or more. For years, Casella workers were making thousands less than the city says workers deserve.
 
The low wages were seen by worker advocates as adding insult to literal injury. Recycling workers are more than twice as likely to be injured at work as the average worker. Sorting recyclable materials can be a high-risk occupation, with workers regularly exposed to used needles, dead animal carcasses, and hazardous chemicals as they hand sort glass, plastics, metal, and other materials that have been mixed by consumers. Workers are also expected to work around and fix heavy machinery that can become clogged with waste, with very few safeguards to protect them from harm. Many waste and recycling companies, including Casella, rely heavily on temporary labor, who tend to be paid less and are more reluctant to raise health and safety concerns due to their temporary status. The day-to-day nature of their employment also means they are less likely to be trained on how to stay safe in this dangerous line of work.
 
“In keeping with the recommendations of the Zero Waste Plan, the City committed that their next recycling contractor would pay their workers a Living Wage like all the other workers who work for sizable vendors for the City of Boston,” said Jodi Sugerman-Brozan, Executive Director at the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health. “Unfortunately, Casella is only willing to meet them part of the way. Because the City of Boston represents only 20% of the tonnage of recycling they process in Charlestown, they are only willing to close 20% of the gap between the minimum wage and the living wage. While workers will see an increase in their paychecks starting July 1, many will still not be paid a Living Wage. We will keep advocating until our shared vision is realized.”
 
"Ten years ago, we were working with communities saddled with leaking landfills in towns across the Commonwealth while seeing major problems with the way we manage our waste and deep income inequality here in Boston,” said Sylvia Broude, Executive Director of Toxics Action Center. “Working together for a zero waste future can address both of those problems and more. The City’s plan is an opportunity to transition to zero waste, but also to address economic inequity by growing local business and paying workers fairly. We’ll be continuing our work with the City to carry this out."
 
"We are excited to see Boston taking initial steps towards a sustainable, fair and circular economy," said Alex Papali of Clean Water Action. "There are, however, important measures these recommendations leave out, including moving towards eventual source separation to meet tight contamination standards in recycling markets. A strong zero waste program, properly implemented, will provide an economic engine well worth our initial investment and help insulate vulnerable communities from both increasing economic pressures and climate disruption."
 
Currently, mixed material recycling used by Boston, where all materials are placed in big, blue bins lead to inefficient sorting of materials and increased landfill use.
 
The recommendations, developed in a year-long planning process led by City Hall with input from community leaders in Zero Waste Boston and other stakeholders include expanding composting, keeping materials that can be reused out of landfills, and recycling as much as possible. The plan will make these programs accessible to all communities and includes education and community outreach to ensure that Boston residents know what programs are available to them and how to participate.
 
“We have a garbage problem, and the only solution is to drastically reduce solid waste and the negative health and environmental effects that go along with it,” said Kirstie Pecci, Director of the Zero Waste Project at Conservation Law Foundation. “By committing to proven efforts like curbside composting and textile recycling, and building on the plastic bag ban, Boston is clearly up to the challenge. These efforts will create new green jobs and save taxpayers a lot of money in the process.”
 
“Every worker involved in processing this City’s waste should be respected, safe, and able to support a family on his or her wages. Workers in the waste stream are a backbone of our environmental goals, and we cannot have a City where they are the invisible poor. Boston’s planning is a good start; now we need to make sure it’s a plan for environmental equity, with every worker our neighbor,” said Richard Juang, Staff Attorney for Alternatives for Community & Environment.
 
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Zero Waste Boston, formerly known as the Boston Recycling Coalition, brings together key local and national environmental, worker and community groups in an alliance aimed at rapid and responsible expansion of Boston’s Zero Waste sector. Steering Committee members include Alternatives for Community & Environment (ACE), CERO Cooperative, Clean Water Action, Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health, Toxics Action Center and Youth On Board/Boston Student Advisory Council.