Press Release

Waste Management Route Manager Aids Gulf Coast Clean Up Efforts
Antelope Valley Resident is on Loan to Help Coordinate Waste Management Efforts in Louisiana


Raceland, Louisiana – November 17, 2005 – There is little comfort in the sight of curbside piles of rubble and storm debris in communities devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, but for Dave Hall of Waste Management of Antelope Valley and formerly of Blue Barrel in Santa Clarita, the rubble is a welcome sign, “It means people are coming back home and beginning to clean out what they can. Each pile is one more step toward recovery—the more piles we pick up the better.” Dave, who serves as Commercial Route Manager at WM of Antelope Valley, has been working in Louisiana since mid-September. He was asked by Waste Management to use his management expertise to regroup their local operations and bring trash routes back on line.

On a typical day in Raceland, 20 miles southwest of New Orleans, Dave Hall works from 4 or 5 in the morning until late in the evening with a dedicated crew of drivers, who began clean-up efforts within days of Katrina’s departure. During Rita, some families in the area had fled to their Raceland offices, where District Manager Brian Brining used three shipping containers—welded together for cover—to keep everyone safe. Dave reports that trash routes are back on line thanks to his hardworking crew members. Teams have also been working with the Army Corps of Engineers to haul away storm debris. “We have rows and rows of refrigerators at the Landfill. We’ve helped to collect 36,000 so far and, when all is said and done, we’ll have processed 500,000. There are crews that go through and gut the refrigerators, and the smell of rotting food is unreal. But we have to remove the spoiled food, Freon, and oil from the motors before we can send them off for recycling,” Dave noted. One of the most poignant reminders of the storm’s human toll was the $1800 in cash they found in a freezer. “That probably belonged to someone’s grandma. That was probably her life savings that she won’t be able to get back. I hope she’s okay.”

Dave arrived in New Orleans two weeks after Katrina ravaged the city. At the initial staging area in New Orleans, home for Dave was a battered hotel on Canal and Bourbon Streets with 200 cots piled three cots high, where the sound of snoring was inescapable. “It was 3D surround sound, with every kind of snoring imaginable. If I had a tape recorder, I could have done a study on snoring,” Dave recalls. During the day, it was hard not to notice the desolate landscape and abandoned communities. Giant billboards were folded over and snapped in half, and the only other people for miles around were members of the National Guard, in addition to police officers from New Orleans, New York, Pennsylvania and Memphis. Standing in the middle of a store with a shattered front window, Dave happened upon the strange but welcoming sight of a perfectly reusable, eight cubic-yard Waste Management bin, “It just needed to be sandblasted and repainted because salt water corrodes metal. Other than that, it was good to go.”

And what are his living quarters like now? “Well, we have air mattresses separated by cubicle walls at District offices. There’s a little more privacy and no more loud snoring!” He says with a laugh. He also can’t complain about the food, which is sometimes fried alligator, gumbo and jambalaya from their own kitchen. In about a week if all goes well, Dave should be back home. Dave feels great about having gone and helped out, but is looking forward to reuniting with his Antelope Valley team. He is especially grateful for District Manager, Rich Gelowicz’s, assistance with the Antelope Valley routes during his absence. Most importantly, Dave misses his wife, Tina, eight-year old son, Michael, and 11-year old daughter, Darlene. He can’t wait to seen them, again.

Waste Management is the industry's leading provider of comprehensive waste management, recycling and environmental protection services. Based in Houston, the Company serves municipal, commercial, industrial, and residential customers throughout North America.

# # #