Graham Waste Services, a Cohasset, Massachusetts-based provider of trash and recycling services in the Boston area, announces it has hired Brian Stack as its director of business development. In this role, Stack will be based out of the company’s Cohasset and Brockton, Massachusetts, offices and will largely focus on catering to contractors’ needs for construction and asbestos containing material (ACM) waste disposal.

Stack, a certified Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Associate, has worked in the construction and asbestos abatement industry since 2000. He has predominantly worked with larger general contractors in the Boston area as well as institutions supporting building infrastructure and remediation projects, including work for the state’s Department of Corrections, Massachusetts State House, Department of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) and projects at local schools and universities.

Most recently, Stack served as project and business development manager for one of the largest union remediation firms in New England.

According to the company, the hiring of Stack is significant as it represents a committed determination by Graham Waste Services to expand their service offerings to the construction and demolition industries. Graham will cater to larger contractors seeking construction waste removal at their project worksites as well as those seeking leadership and guidance from a LEED Green Associate related to safe and convenient disposal of both friable and non-friable ACM waste.

“To have the opportunity to play a leadership role in enabling an established and reputable company like Graham Waste to take their service offerings to the next level is something that I’m very proud of,” Stack says. “The synergy with my professional experience, combined with the ability to utilize my LEED accreditation in helping customers to better manage their projects is a challenge that really excites me.”

“Brian’s proven experience and industry knowledge will be a great addition to our team,” Kevin Guy, a principal of Graham Waste Services, says. “He is well connected in the construction and asbestos abatement industries, is a LEED Green Associate and has a strong work ethic that will help our company continue to grow.”

President Donald Trump has proposed an immigration policy that would aim to create a “merit-based” visa system to address the workforce shortages of U.S. industries.

The proposal would prioritize immigrants who have specific skills or job offers to work in the U.S. rather than those who have family already in the country.

Currently, about 12 percent of immigrants come to the U.S. for skill-based reasons, while 66 percent arrive with ties to family and 22 percent seeking asylum, according to PBS. Trump wants to keep immigration numbers the same but shift those ratios, increasing the number of skill-based arrivals to 57 percent in attempt to attract the most talented people to the country.

Trump says the proposal is “pro-American, pro-immigrant and pro-worker.”

“It’s just common sense,” he said when he unveiled the proposal May 16.

Other provisions of the bill include more funding to build a wall and update ports of entry along the southern border, as well as a plan intended to make it easier for people to obtain visas to come into the country. It contains no provision for providing legal status to people brought to the U.S. or other undocumented immigrants.

Construction industry officials have been outspoken in praising the policy’s efforts to replenish a parched workforce while noting parts of the policy they’d still like to see addressed.

“With a systemic labor shortage impacting ABC [Associated Builders and Contractors] member companies of all sizes and an estimated 440,000 construction jobs that need to be filled in 2019, ABC appreciates the efforts of the Trump administration to bring immigration to the forefront and address our country’s security and workforce needs,” says ABC President and CEO Michael Bellaman. “These are important first steps, though moving forward, immigration reform must include protections for DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] and Temporary Protected Status recipients, who have been members of the construction industry workforce for years.

“In addition, the strong U.S. economy has resulted in higher demand for construction services, which has created a nearly nine-month construction backlog, according to ABC’s Construction Backlog Indicator. Therefore, we also need to provide employers with greater access to temporary foreign workers to fill critical positions and meet current construction demands.”

Stephen E. Sandherr, the CEO of Associated General Contractors of America, also spoke out about the proposal:

“The president rightly understands that the nation’s immigration policy must allow for more skilled workers, including those with construction skills, to legally join the workforce if our economy is to continue to expand. Considering that this proposal appears to, correctly, redefine the federal government’s definition of skilled workers to include individuals who can perform construction services such as welders and electricians, this measure should provide needed relief to the construction workforce shortages that are already affecting construction schedules and costs. As important, measures like this have the potential to provide needed relief while the industry and public officials work to rebuild the once-robust domestic pipeline for recruiting and preparing young adults to enter high-paying construction careers.

“And while this measure does not tackle broader immigration challenges, such as addressing workers already in the country, it does continue the discussion about reforming our broken immigration system. In the meantime, we look forward to working with Congress and the administration to make sure a final immigration measure helps meet the workforce needs of the construction industry and addresses broader immigration challenges.”

David Biderman, the executive director and CEO of the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA), says the organization "will be studying the new proposal with interest."

“SWANA and its members are concerned that restrictive immigration policies make it more difficult for public and private sector solid waste employers to attract new workers to our critical, but unglamorous, industry," Biderman says.

On May 8, Associated Builders and Contractors Inc. (ABC) submitted a letter to the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee regarding the hearing, “Paid Family and Medical Leave: Helping Workers and Employers Succeed.” In the letter, ABC expressed concern over proposed legislation that would mandate employers to provide 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave funded through a new payroll tax on employers and employees. 

“ABC understands that Americans have long struggled with the stress of finding a healthy balance between work and family, especially when it comes to new families following the birth or adoption of a child and individuals dealing with a personal or family illness,” the letter reads. “ABC and its members remain committed to providing essential workplace benefits, and we are committed to working with Congress and the White House to expand access to paid family and medical leave.

“While providing quality employee benefits is a top priority for ABC and its member companies, we remain concerned about the federal paid leave proposals currently introduced in Congress that prescribe restrictive government mandates and additional payroll taxes which would most adversely affect lower income workers and could have a detrimental impact on the wages and employee benefits that construction employers currently provide.”

Among the concerns cited by the association were that the legislation could affect time-sensitive construction projects if passed.  

“As is common in the construction industry, many ABC members operate under tight deadlines and work to complete projects in an effective and efficient manner,” ABC states in the letter. “ABC believes that a mandated payroll tax could negatively impact the construction industry in two ways when it comes to time-sensitive projects: 1) Construction workers might not be able to take leave and therefore might not ever receive benefits from the program; or 2) Forcing employers to provide multiple months of paid leave to employees could result in higher rates of leave taken, resulting in additional costs and time to complete these projects.”

ABC said via a release that it is committed to working with Congress and the White House to expand access to paid family and medical leave, but it believes that participation in any federal program established to support and expand family and medical leave should be voluntary for employers and employees.

Regardless of daily tonnage intake or the number of years left in a landfill’s life, the No. 1 issue on the minds of many managers at solid waste agencies is airspace management.

This holds true for two North Carolina solid waste professionals.

“We are in the business of selling airspace. The tighter we compact the material, the more waste we fit in the same space and the longer life we get from this site,” says Gene Walters, solid waste director for Roberson County Solid Waste.

“Airspace is my primary concern,” echoes Keith Cain, solid waste superintendent for the Hanes Mill Landfill in Winston-Salem.

While Hanes Mill and Roberson County have similar waste streams—primarily composed of municipal solid waste (MSW) and construction and demolition (C&D) material—that is where the parallels end. Hanes Mill receives up to 1,200 tons per day (TPD) from a population of nearly 600,000. The operation has a mid-range expected site life extending to 2035.

Roberson County, on the other hand, takes in roughly half the daily tonnage from a county population about a quarter the size. It also has the luxury of time on its side. “We have 59 years left at the existing site,” Walters says.

With such a variation in daily intake, the expectation might be for operators at both sites to rely on landfill compactors of different sizes to meet their compaction needs. However, both landfills have used monstrous machines that weigh nearly 115,000 pounds to maximize their compaction densities.

“The compactors previously working at Roberson County weighed 115,000 and 75,000 pounds, respectively, and had wheels that were configured in a triangular pattern, while Hanes Mill’s two compactors were modified wheel loaders weighing approximately 120,000 pounds each,” explains Barry Neal, governmental sales representative for James River Equipment. James River is an authorized landfill compaction equipment dealer for Columbia, South Carolina-based BOMAG.

These heavier compactors help deliver tight densities, even during periods of elevated material flow, such as during hurricane cleanup efforts. Roberson County and Hanes Mill landfills receive densities close to 1,400 pounds per square yard and 1,500 pounds per square yard, respectively.

Looking to duplicate the compaction capabilities achieved by the sites’ compactors, teams at Roberson County and Hanes Mill landfills made the decision to stick with heavier equipment when they recently replaced their existing equipment.

Hanes Mill transitioned to a new BOMAG BC 1172 RB-4 purchased from James River in mid-2017.

The roughly 123,000-pound machine includes a wheel design with more than twice the compaction teeth per wheel than the model it replaced, which is designed to help improve material shredding prior to compaction.

The BOMAG landfill compactor at Hanes Mill sees high utilization rates, logging about 3,000 hours per year. The compactor’s weekday starts at 6:30 a.m. when the cover is rolled off the landfill cells and doesn’t end until 5 p.m. after the cells are re-covered. On Saturdays, the compactor runs from 7:30 a.m. to noon.

To keep the machines operational, upkeep is key. That’s why both teams rely on regular service.

“With their high utilization, Hanes Mill has been able to take advantage of a warranty that covers the entire machine for five years. They bring the machine into James River for routine maintenance at the prescribed intervals,” Neal says.

Cain adds, “We’ve experienced high uptime availability with the machine over the past year.”

Since Hanes Mill’s new compactor is designed specifically for landfill compaction, its frame differs slightly from the operation’s previous machines. “The frame has a single sealed-tub design to keep the engine compartment clean,” says Jerry Fitch, territory manager for BOMAG.

This frame configuration creates a smooth underside on the compactor.

“It does not get the buildup in the belly since there are no belly pans,” Cain says.

When the compactor was delivered in September 2017, one difference Cain noticed from Hanes Mill’s previous equipment was the compactor’s oscillating center articulation joint. The BC 1172 RB-4 offers a 40-degree steering angle to help with machine maneuverability, plus 15 degrees of oscillation to help keep the wheels in contact with the material.

“When the machine runs into a dip, one wheel doesn’t go up in the air like our previous compactor,” Cain says. “All four wheels maintain contact to keep compacting.”

Neal explains that with the new compactor, machine weight is only one part of the equation for achieving high densities.

“The other crucial part is how the force is applied through the wheels to penetrate the material,” he says.

The BC 1172 RB-4’s four 55.1-inch-wide wheels consist of 72 polygonal disc teeth, positioned in rows to create the confinement that is designed to aid in material shredding.

“We need to break up the C&D material [especially] to increase compaction, and the weight and wheel design of the new compactor do a good job of this,” Cain says. “Our compaction rate is great with the BC 1172 RB-4.”

He notes that at last flyover, compaction densities at the landfill have increased to nearly 1,600 pounds per square yard with the new compactor.

Keeping it clean

Roberson County Solid Waste began its new compactor bid process shortly after Hanes Mill put its BC 1172 RB-4 to use. Walters says he took the opportunity to visit the landfill on a wet and muddy day and see the compactor at work before making a decision.

“The first thing that impressed me was how clean the wheels were,” Walters says. “There was no waste buildup on the wheels. Cleat penetration equals compaction.”

Walters credits the compactor’s wheel design, which includes adjustable wheel scrapers that fit between the rows, for helping to prevent material accumulation.

Impressed by the machine’s performance during the visit, Walters was able to piggyback on the Hanes Mill Landfill’s bid, and Roberson County purchased the same size compactor from James River. Walters explains that it’s not imperative for his landfill to have a machine this size to keep up with material intake, “but the compaction we are getting out of the heavier machine is better.”

Robertson County took delivery of its new compactor in July 2018 and has already noticed a difference.

“The biggest compliment I receive from the operators is that it’s quiet and user-friendly,” Walters says. “The forward/reverse lever is mounted on the joystick controls, so the operator doesn’t have to take his hands off of the joystick to switch travel directions.”

The machine’s air intake and cooling systems were designed specifically for landfills, which Fitch says helps with operations.

“The sealed tub design draws clean cooling air from the machine’s highest point, flows it across the engine and has it exit the rear and sides of the compactor,” he says. “Plus, we include standard reversing fans for the radiator to keep it clean.”

After several months of operation, Walters says he is impressed with the design. “We checked the inside air filter at the 500-hour service interval, and it looked brand new,” he says.

Workers are also noticing a difference in compaction compared to the landfill’s old 115,000-pound machine. Although Roberson County has kept its older compactors to run them as backup machines when the new machine receives routine maintenance, Walters says there is a noticeable difference.

“The material was fluffy and not tight, and we could tell a huge difference when we put the BC 1172 RB-4 back to work. The waste was flat and tight again,” says Walters.

With the new compactor at his disposal, Walters says he is confident the next flyover in the summer of 2019 will show increased densities similar to Hanes Mill, helping the site achieve its primary goal—making the most of its airspace for years to come.

This article originally ran in the April issue of Waste Today. Rick Zettler is the owner of Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based Z-Comm. He can be contacted at zcomm@mchsi.com.