From the Can: Family Business

By the time you read this, if all goes as planned, I will be a proud new father to a pair of bouncing twin boys. It’s a moment I’ve been looking forward to all my life. And in a lot of ways I feel like it puts me in good company, because so much of what this industry is about is family.

For some of us, the family connection is literal. We work side by side with mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, daughters and sons. Businesses carry the family name and are handed down through generations.

Others of us may not work with our families, but likely carry them with us every day just the same, proud to tend the planet for our children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and leaving it cleaner than we found it.

But the industry itself is a family, and I have seen many of its members embrace each other like blood relatives, even though they may have only worked together once, years ago. When you work in the waste business, you shed a lot of the trappings that are part and parcel of other industries, and I think that tends to make simple coworkers feel a lot more like family.

So as I’m passing another sleepless night with dirty diapers flying at me from both directions, I will take solace as I hear that garbage truck rolling down our street, knowing that I am joining a proud tradition. I urge you to celebrate the ones you love, take pride in your work and strive to focus on what really matters in life: family.

As always, I am eager to hear your thoughts. You can reach me at [email protected]. And come find me on the floor of WasteExpo. I’ll have pictures to share.