Dive Brief:

• Trash collection services have been halted in New York City, Philadelphia, and DC due to a historic storm that left cities in the mid-Atlantic region under a two-foot blanket of snow. 

• Many suburbs of these cities in parts of Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia will also delay trash services until the majority of snow is removed from roadways. 
• On Sunday, the Department of the Environment of Prince George's County, MD sent an e-mail alert stating that trash collection services "remain suspended until further notice." The city of Philadelphia notified residents that, for the week of Jan. 25, "all rear collections are suspended," and collections should be set out front for pick up. The District of Columbia announced Monday that it will suspend services at least until Thursday. 

Dive Insight:

While some cities don't have the capability to collect residential trash due to mountains of snow lining main streets, other cities are outfitting waste trucks with plows to help clear streets before continuing collections. In New York City, 2,400 sanitation staff have switched to "snow function," working two 12-hour shifts in order to operate spreaders and plows. 

In an October interview, NYC Department of Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia told Waste Dive that snow is one of the biggest challenges the city faces. "It’s absolutely critical that we get our missions done in terms of collections in snow any given day of the week," she said.

A few months later, Waste Dive followed up with Garcia to discuss the issues of snow. Garcia explained that DSNY takes pride in its emergency snow operations. "Normally, 48 hours after the last snowfall we are back to normal collection mode where customers are being serviced," she explained. 

While the city may not be able to turn over services this quickly due to the magnitude of the Storm Jonas, city officials are working their hardest to ensure that customers can be serviced soon — while keeping crews safe in the process.

"Be safe and be smart. This means that if the majority of trucks are getting stuck, then it might be wise to bring them in and try again later," said Austin Self, operations manager for Gallegos Sanitation Inc.