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| January 26, 2010 By SHERRI LY/myfoxdc An early morning fire engulfed a Springfield house in flames. When firefighters finally got inside, they discovered two men dead. Neighbors say the fire spread so quickly, there was nothing they could do but stand by helplessly watching it burn. Two trash workers first spotted the fire on Heming Avenue around 6:30 a.m. They put their fears aside and rushed toward the house. "We open the first door, we see too much smoke," said Arquimides Gutierez. He didn't wait for firefighters. With smoke and flames coming from the house, he had to try and save the people inside. "We go to the door, bop, bop, bop," Gutierez said, making a pounding motion with his arm. "I say anybody's there? Come out, come out. Nothing." He and Jose Cuellar were picking up trash for American Disposal when they saw the house burning. Cuellar ran to neighbors and then tried to find another way in. "He broke the window, he broke the window, the smoke is coming out," Gutierez said, describing his co-worker's attempt to reach the victims. A few doors down, Dave Klimaj saw the garbage collectors stop and heard the commotion. When he went outside he saw the flames out back. "The men that work for the trash company were the heroes," he said. Klimaj and other neighbors called 911. They knew an elderly man and his son were likely inside. When firefighters arrived they ran into trouble immediately. "The fire was really intense. The first floor gave way, collapsed down around crews," said Dan Schmidt, spokesperson for the Fairfax County Fire Department. One firefighter was taken to the hospital, but was not seriously hurt. During a secondary search firefighters found the bodies of the two men. The fire appeared to spread very quickly. It was so quick, that one neighbor across the street took their kid to the bus stop and didn't see anything. Five minutes later, the garbage collectors were knocking on Nancy Kaegi's door saying her neighbor's house was on fire. When she walked outside, she says there was "smoke billowing out both ends of the house it was already and coming out the back. There was smoke everywhere," Kaegi recalled. Natural gas inside the house fed the flames. "It kept igniting and re-igniting," Schmidt said, hampering efforts to put the fire out. Investigators don't know whether a gas leak or something else caused the fire. Neighbors say just last year the elderly man's wife died. Now, another loss. "It was just heartbreaking," said Kaegi watching the home burn. It is heartbreaking too for the two garbage collectors. Gutierez said he was saddened to learn the two men died. "It's no good," he said almost tearing up. They made a valiant effort, but in the end could not save them. May 6, 2009 March 13, 2009 September 8, 2008 Ready...Set...Recycle!
Driver, Turelle Holmes, a 15 year veteran, pictured below, drove a recycling truck to Flint Hill School and taught the students about the vast changes in recycling over the past 15 years including the new technology known as Single Stream Recycling. With games like Relay Recycle and crafts like the Edible Landfill this exciting new program is designed to interactively teach children efficient ways to reduce waste, promote responsible resource management and fight climate change. October 20, 2008 Safety Monday EIA Driver of the Year - Calling Small Haulers and Local Governments The EIA Driver of the Year program recognizes the safest and best refuse drivers in the solid waste industry. There are seven categories: small residential; small commercial; small industrial; large residential; large commercial; large industrial; and public sector. The awards are given at WasteExpo at the EIA Inspirational Awards Breakfast. EIA recently made several important changes to the EIA Driver of the Year program. These changes were intended to improve the program and ensure that the best drivers - from small, large and municipal haulers - are nominated and received these prestigious awards. An important change to the program is that only companies with 50 or fewer vehicles are eligible to win the three "small hauler" categories. EIA did not receive many "small hauler" or municipal applicants last year, and urges small haulers and local governments to participate in the program. If you are a small hauler, or a municipal sanitation department, and have a driver with a good safety record, what are you waiting for? Just being nominated for EIA Driver of the Year would be great honor for one or more of your drivers. If you have not previously nominated one of your drivers - now is the time to do so! The changes to the program were made to encourage more smaller haulers to nominate their best drivers. The nomination deadline is December 5, 2008. Additional info about the program and the nomination form is here. Good luck.
NSWMA WASTEC - 4301 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 300 Washington, D.C. 20008 202-244-4700 Fax: 202-364-3792
ADS Smart Cars
American Disposal Services recently purchased a set of Smart Cars to aid in our Go Green Initiative. The Smart Cars are known for their economic build and efficient mileage with estimates of more than 41 mpg, according to 2008 EPA standards. Not only is the Smart Car gas efficient, it is also known for its small amount of Carbon Dioxide emissions. American Disposal Services Go Green Committee
Being in the hauling industry, we are constantly searching for the most environmentally sound way to dispose of waste. We implemented Single Stream Recycling, and we now provide our customers with larger recycling containers. We also bought our sales representatives Smart Cars in an effort to reduce emissions and fuel reliance. But, when we took a look around, we noticed our office wasn't very environmentally sound. So, we decided to do something about it. Thus, American Disposal Services' Go Green Committee was born. Our first order of business was to create a mission statement, something we would use in all of our Go Green efforts. We decided we would be a committee firmly committed to a greener tomorrow through leadership and education of co-workers, community and customers by reducing, reusing and recycling. Our efforts began by educating our co-workers about the acceptable recyclables list. We also offered them some helpful suggestions for making recycling easier around their homes. We also put a recycling container on basically every corner, and above the containers we posted signs indicating what is and isn't recyclable. We have also made a conscience effort to reduce energy reliance, provide our cleaning crew with economically friendly cleaning materials and change our light bulbs to Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (CFL). GGC- Meeting Notes 3/04/09 I. Called to order at 7:00 a.m. II. In attendance:
c. John Steele d. Greg Hubbell e. Diana Hodges g. Melinda Ward h. Robyn Harter III. Old Business
b. How to reduce reliance on plastic in the office – not fully relieved yet c. Progress on scanning versus e-mailing d.Recycling Center – examine progress since implementation e.How is the education of our commercial customers going? IV. New Business
b. Determine which Earth Day events will be the most beneficial for us to attend c. Recycling Fun Fact per week d. Ideas for at-home recycling policies V. Next meeting is scheduled for 4/15/2009 at 7a.m. V. Adjourned at 7:30 a.m. More GGC Meeting Minutes |
American Disposal Services co-hosts its Ready...Set...Recycle program with Deer Park Elementary. Drivers, Turelle Holmes and Mike Peak, teach the children about the changes in recycling and trash disposal in the past 15 years. "The children learned so much," says special education teacher, Karey Denis. 
American Disposal Services is a proud member of the Washington Metropolitan Chapter Community Associations Institute (WMCCAI). The WMCCAI serves the educational, business, and networking needs of the community association industry in 20 cities and counties in Maryland, Virginia,
and the District of Columbia. 
It has always been a tradition of American Disposal Services to give back to its community, and on Thursday, July 31, 2008 we kicked off our new Ready...Set...Recycle program at Flint Hill's Summer on the Hill.
American Disposal Services, Inc. PO Box 1326 Centreville, VA 20122
(P) 703.368.0500 (F) 703.369.1133 M-F 8:00-4:30
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