Upper Darby resumes recycling pickup after COVID-19 outbreak among sanitation workers

The Upper Darby Sanitation Division has returned from a two-week quarantine prompted by a coronavirus outbreak among its workers. 

Trash is being picked up on its once-per-week winter schedule. Recycling is being collected on its regular once-per-week schedule too. Trash was being collected on the twice-per-week summer schedule when the outbreak occurred earlier this month. 

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The entire sanitation crew, which includes 60-to-70 employees, was ordered to quarantine for 14 days after fewer than 10 members tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Delaware County Daily Times.

The decision to quarantine the entire sanitation department was "in the best interest of our township workforce and our township residents" and "in consultation with township employees and their union leaders," Mayor Barbarann Keffer said earlier this month.

The Delaware County township resumed trash collection on Aug. 10 after hiring temporary workers. But recycling pickup remained suspended until the workers returned. 

For the sanitation workers to resume operations, employees needed to submit a negative COVID-19 test result or a doctor's note clearing them to return. Employees were paid while they were self-quarantining. 

More temperature checks and staggered start times have been implemented to prevent another outbreak among sanitation workers, and only drivers will be allowed inside sanitation trucks.