FROM: Jesse Maxwell, Advocacy & Safety Senior Manager, SWANA
TO: SWANA Chapter Safety Ambassadors; Safety Committee
DATE: April 27, 2020
SUBJECT: SWANA & Glad Sanitation Workers Support Fund
SWANA today announced our partnership with Glad, maker of trash bags and plastic food storage containers, to establish a Sanitation Workers Support Fund to provide financial assistance to front-line solid waste and recycling collection workers in the United States and Canada adversely impacted by COVID-19. Glad has generously provided $200,000 to the Fund, to be administered and distributed by SWANA. We ask that you please share this information within the Chapter and via any other appropriate networks. The application website is available here.
Front-line solid waste and recycling collection workers will potentially qualify for assistance if they: (1) have tested positive for COVID-19; (2) were laid off because of COVID-19 and continue to be unemployed; or (3) if an immediate family member was a front-line solid waste or recycling collection worker and passed away as a result of the coronavirus. Individuals directly impacted by COVID-19 by testing positive for the coronavirus or who lost their job due to the coronavirus and are currently unemployed can receive US $500. Immediate family members (spouse or minor children) of a solid waste and recycling collection worker who died due to COVID-19 can receive US $2,500.
SWANA will begin accepting applications to the Fund on May 1, 2020. Applications will be processed on a rolling basis and will be accepted until the fund is depleted. According to published reports, hundreds of solid waste collection workers in the United States and Canada will be eligible for the fund. There will be a limit on the number of applications approved from any specific state, province, or country, to ensure funds are distributed in an equitable manner across different locations. SWANA membership is not required to be accepted as a recipient.
You can check out the FAQs about the Fund if you have any questions. Anything not addressed there can be sent to covid19fund@swana.org.
Glad’s contribution is part of their broader effort thanking sanitation workers for the essential work they are doing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Glad will be running advertising on broadcast media throughout the United States beginning May 6, and social media ads are expected to start later this week.
