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All American Waste is proud to support the First for the Future Campaign at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital. For more information, please visit: https://www.givetoynhh.org/firstforthefuture
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Our Commitment to Employee Wellness
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Our Commitment to Employee Wellness
By Mike Lauro – Human Resources
All American Waste has a deep commitment to the wellness of our employees. In addition to providing great health insurance benefits, we have a wellness committee, a safety team, and a commitment to technology that is for the benefit of each and every employee.
Our wellness committee runs programs throughout the year to teach our team about healthy living. Throughout the summer, we host healthy picnics at each of our sites teaching individuals the benefits of making the right choices when deciding what to eat. This healthy eating translated into our fall “Biggest Loser” competition. As a company, we lost 802 pounds in six weeks of competition! Our employees loved it and we will be running the program again continuing the message of healthy living.
While our wellness committee teaches us about how to live a healthier lifestyle, our safety team is committed to the wellness of employees on the job. The team analyzes any potential job hazards and what we can do to mitigate them to keep our employees in top shape. Looking at employee safety and wellness is what brings technology to our industry. While in years past you would see our workers lifting heavy trash cans and recycling bins that lead to injuries, we now use automated hydraulic systems operated by a joystick so employees can have less strain and prevent injuries.
We continually strive to make our employees safer on the job and are even launching a “Safety Boot Program” where we will provide our safety sensitive employees with a Safety Boot allowance each year to help reduce the risk of injuries. Another step forward for the health and safety of our employees!
Whether it is creating programs for the health of our employees or preventing injuries with technology, All American Waste is committed to our team’s wellness.
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Source To Sea Cleanup 2016
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The Connecticut River Watershed Council’s (CRWC) 20th Annual Source To Sea Cleanup was held this past Friday and Saturday, September 23-24. From their website www.ctriver.org: “The Source to Sea Cleanup is an annual trash cleanup of the Connecticut River system – rivers, streams and banks, parks, boat launches, trails and more. Each fall, thousands of volunteers of all ages and abilities head out to places of their choice all along the four-state watershed (NH, VT, MA, CT) to clean the Connecticut River and its tributaries on foot or by boat.”
All American Waste was a sponsor and also assembled a group of volunteers to help with the event. The group included employees and their friends and families, totaling 38 volunteers of all ages, from throughout the state meeting at the Barnes Boat Launch on S River Street in Enfield, CT. From there the group split up to clean the surrounding area along the Connecticut River. Some went on kayaks to access harder to reach areas, some went down the street to Parsons Road, while others spread out to clean other areas along the river. The combined effort brought in over 2.5 tons of waste along the river in our location alone, including a couch, mattress, chairs and tires, along with many bags of trash.
Make sure to vote for your favorite photos from the event at CT River Photo Contest 2016 starting at noon on Monday, October 3 and running through noon on Tuesday, October 11. You can vote for each photo once a day so make sure to vote for your favorites. Thank you to all the volunteers who helped make this event a success and we hope to see even more volunteers next year!
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Customer Service – What Makes Us The Best?
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Customer Service… What makes us the best?
By Sean O’Toole – Customer Service Manager
To be the best you must first have a clear understanding of what customer service is; as it is such a diverse area. Most people think customer service is a department that treats customers with a friendly attitude and tries to resolve their problem or question as efficiently as possible. This is true, however, there is so much more that has to happen for a customer to be serviced to their satisfaction. For example, if a customer calls us to change the removal date of their container, we have to then update the scheduling which must be relayed to the driver through dispatch. The route must be subsequently recalculated to ensure other customers experience are not effected as the driver may have been counting on the removal to make his next delivery. This is simply one example of how customer service is truly handled by the whole company instead of just the Customer Service Department. In our company, the whole company participates in customer service. We believe working as a team across all departments is what truly makes an exceptional customer service experience.
Michael Jordan is considered to be one of the best basketball players of all time. However, despite his great skill he could not have won any championships without the assistance and support of his team. His fellow teammates would aid him on the court by doing things like setting a pick for Jordan to make the crucial shot or making the tough pass to him for a game changing layup. He had such a long time in the spotlight due to his good team and great teamwork.
Our team knows that providing superior customer service needs to be solid much like an oak tree which consists of many living parts working & growing in unity. The root system is akin to our vast variety of service; our team is equipped to cater to all your needs, from the home, to your business or construction site.
The trunk of the tree represents our working platform for the day to day operations of our company. This includes our billing staff, operations workers, IT staff, web designer, and everyone that works to carry out the needs of the customer to ensure their satisfaction.
The branches of the tree are our Customer Service Representatives. These representatives are part of a diverse group with expert training, with plenty of experience to ensure all your individual needs are met in a timely fashion.
Most importantly are our leaves, our customers. The customers are the lifeblood of our company who provide the most valuable part of it all, their insight. This insight allows us to shape our company around our customers’ needs, which create the foundation of our company.
By providing your insight and opinion we are able to ensure the tree thrives. Without this, we slowly shrivel up to become a past memory. Your input combined with our experience has allowed us to grow over the past 41 years. Our service has a reputation of being seamless. From the person that takes your request to the driver that delivers the container. We understand it needs to be an all in effort with company wide participation.
To meet customer expectations reliability needs to be second nature. This is why we are selective in the equipment that we purchase, the mechanic that works on the trucks, and the drivers that provide the service. We know that we can not be the best without having the best to assist you.
Our oak tree is standing proud, thriving and growing every day. Through storm and calm, we have stuck with our core values. We do not run for cover when a storm comes, we in turn view it as an opportunity to gather rain to fuel our growth. These opportunities to learn, to adapt, to improve, and to keep doing what our customers love; has molded us into what we are today.
We are a diverse group of departments with one desire in common. We strive to provide paramount customer service, to internalize an instinct to assist you, to grow and to continue to train as a team. We accept that we may not always grow the fastest or make every shot; however, this is where our passion & purpose unite. As Henry Ford once said, “Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress: working together is success.” Over time we have come together from many departments into one company, standing united against any adversity ready to serve you. This is what makes our customer service the best!
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Closer To Free 2016
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All American Waste is proud to be a premier sponsor of the 6th annual Closer To Free ride. One hundred percent of all the funds raised by Closer To Free riders and volunteers goes to research and patient care at Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center.
This year’s ride had 1,450 riders and 500 volunteers and was held on Saturday, September 10. We’d like to thank everyone involved and hope to see even more of you at next year’s event! For more information, you can visit: http://www.rideclosertofree.org/
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2016 New Milford Fireworks Celebration Thank You!
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From www.newmilford-chamber.com:
We hope you were among the thousands of people who came out and enjoyed the New Milford Fireworks Celebration on Saturday, July 2nd. The Green was the place to be as the Opening Ceremony kicked off with Ray Plue singing our National Anthem. Ray also dedicated a memorial plaque (that can be found near one of the trees by the bandstand) to our dear friend and voice of New Milford Curtis Thompson. The Rev. Alex da Silva Souto, Pastor at the New Milford United Methodist Church delivered the invocation, followed by a few words shared by Chamber President Darren Piper and Senator Richard Blumenthal. As folks enjoyed the New Milford Lions Club Carnival on Young’s Field, The Woman’s Club of Greater New Milford constructed a delicious birthday cake and Perfect Timing entertained everyone on the Green. The finale of brilliant fireworks topped off this wonderful night of community celebration.
The Greater New Milford Chamber of Commerce would like to thank everyone who supported the July 2nd downtown events to celebrate America’s Birthday.
Special thanks to Fire Marshal Brian Ohmen and the members of the Gaylordsville Volunteer Fire Department who were on site all day long watching over the fireworks display. We’d also like to send out a special thank you to All American Waste for providing us with garbage toters to help us keep the Green beautiful during this and all our other community events.
The fireworks are organized by the New Milford Chamber of Commerce, and paid for by donations from businesses, organizations, individuals, and the Chamber. We are extremely grateful for the donations and support from everyone who helped give the community of New Milford a spectacular fireworks experience this year.
Thank you to:
Aspetuck Animal Hospital, Bank Street Investments, Donald & Pauline Grippo, Donald Ross, Grant & Jacqui Smith, James & Karen Hastings, Joseph Owens & Kathleen Mooney, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Law Office of Cecilia Buck-Taylor, Mark & Carolyn Haglund, Maureen Aumiller, Nadine Strossen, New Milford Commission on the Arts, New Milford Lions Club, Nordica Toys, Paul Barrett, Paul Hulton, Play LLC, Rotary Club of New Milford, and everyone who donated to our donation bucket at various Chamber events.
Can You Help?
In order to put together the fireworks display and community celebration, we need to raise about $10,000 every year. We fell quite short this year and are asking that you help us with this substantial financial undertaking. If you enjoyed the fireworks and can support it financially, we are still taking donations. Every dollar donated will help. Because of the generosity of you, our townspeople and businesses, we can keep this spectacular community event alive. This event is not funded by the Town of New Milford. YOUR donations keep this tradition alive!
Donations can be mailed to: GNMCC, 11 Railroad Street, New Milford, CT 06776.
Please make checks out to GNMCC and put “fireworks” in the memo line.
The GNMCC is busy preparing for many exciting New Milford community events. Village Fair Days will be held July 29th & 30th on the Green; The Sensational Dan LaRosa will be performing a Comedy Hypnosis Show on Saturday, September 17th at 19Main; The Cast of Beatlemania will be performing on Saturday, November 5th at the New Milford High School; the Tree Lighting/Festival of Lights will take place November 26th on the Green; and theHands On Train Display will run from Dec. 24th through Dec. 31st (closed Christmas Day) at The Railroad Station.
Thank you! The New Milford Fireworks Celebration happens because of you. We thank you for your consideration and really appreciate your support.
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All American Waste Selected As A Sustainability Finalist
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All American Waste has been named a finalist for the DEEP and Hartford Business Journal’s Green Circle Sustainability Awards. The finalists include an elite group of Connecticut businesses, government entities, individuals/groups, schools and universities who are doing their part to ensure that the business they conduct is environmentally responsible and sustainable.
To celebrate the achievements of all the finalists, and to announce the winners of the Green Circle Sustainability Awards, Hartford Business Journal and DEEP will be hosting the Green Circle Sustainability Awards Gala at Infinity Hall Hartford on May 23rd, 2016.
For more information and a full list of the finalists please visit: Hartford Business Journal’s Website
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Bridgewater Organics Recycling Is Evolving
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Two years after Bridgewater launched its’ Residential Curbside Pickup of Food Waste Pilot Project alongside All American Waste and the (Housatonic Resources Recovery Authority) HRRA, the program is now transitioning the organics collection program to allow for drop off of material at the Bridgewater transfer station. All American Waste will donate the container and transportation to the local recycling/compost facility.
“I want to express my deepest gratitude to All American Waste for donating their trucks, labor and thousands of dollars to run the first curb-side organics program in the state of CT in our home town of Bridgewater,” said Jen Iannucci of the HRRA. “This program would never have happened and continued for two years without their dedication and generous sponsorship. Thank you All American Waste for helping Bridgewater be a leader in the State.”
All American Waste would like to thank Jen for her vision and work over the past two years on this project and looks forward to continuing collaborative efforts to pursue a proactive approach to help our local environment.
The program will continue to separate organic materials from the trash that should be thought of as a resource, not a waste. The Bridgewater curbside pilot program has provided valuable data and information that has allowed two other communities to start their own drop-off program, with four other communities in the works.
Properly composted organics are beneficial because they
- Maximize plant growth
- Effective at preventing soil erosion
- Aid in Stream and land reclamation
- Reconstruction of wetlands
- Help with storm water management and construction sites
- Reduces the need for fertilizers & pesticides
- Over all soil amendment to improve soil health by increasing the physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil
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All American Waste Participates At NCCC Home Show CT
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All American Waste participated and was a gold sponsor at the 47th Annual North Central Chamber of Commerce (NCCC) Home & Product Show CT, held on March 12 and 13th. The event took place at 69 Prospect Hill Road, East Windsor, Connecticut in the former Walmart location and saw “the most participants in 20 years,” according to Gary Cote, Show Chairman of the NCCC.
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All American Waste Recognized By The Business Council Of Fairfield County
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On February 25, 2016, The Business Council of Fairfield County, through its Wellness Roundtable, identified 49 Connecticut employers who are doing something special to promote a healthy workplace and assist all employees to live healthier lives.
All American Waste and its family of companies was recognized as one of those 49 with placement in the Gold Category of Distinction.
“As I have been involved with this program since its inception, I continue to be impressed with the level of commitment these companies have devoted to wellness within their workplaces,” commented Matthew Fair, First Vice President, First Niagara Risk Management Inc. and co-chair of the 2016 Healthy Workplaces Employer Recognition Program. “Regardless of company size, these honorees have used innovative approaches to not just engage, but to measure the effectiveness of their programs over the long-term.”
All American Waste employees have been working hard to develop healthier strategies through increased efforts to quit smoking, lose weight, increase activity, and more. Those efforts have resulted in improvements in medical insurance metrics and in this recognition from the Fairfield County Wellness Roundtable.
In March, All American Waste’s 2016 Wellness Campaign will kick off with our Know Your Numbers II, Biometric Event as we continue to work at improving our employees’ health and wellness.
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