CAMBRIDGE CHRONICLE | February 12, 2010 - Benzan believes that creating mandatory recycling and composting programs, in conjunction with the janitors and Teamsters union and their employers, will create thousands of jobs throughout Massachusetts. Also, in the cold winter months, he stressed the need for supporting expanded weatherization programs in conjunction with the laborers union.
CAMBRIDGE CHRONICLE | February 12, 2010 - Dennis Benzan, candidate for the Middlesex, Suffolk and Essex District State Senate seat, announced the need for innovative legislation and policies to create jobs and protect the environment — green collar job-creation strategies.
Benzan believes that creating mandatory recycling and composting programs, in conjunction with the janitors and Teamsters union and their employers, will create thousands of jobs throughout Massachusetts. Also, in the cold winter months, he stressed the need for supporting expanded weatherization programs in conjunction with the laborers union.
Benzan described his proposed policy: “The time has come to think about job creation and environmental protection in the same breath.”
Benzan added, “We will sit down with the janitors and Teamsters union — the men and women who spend their days collecting and hauling others people’s trash in buildings all over our state — and craft policies that ensure we are diverting more recyclables and composting from landfills.
“Commercial building are some of our largest producers of waste — mainly paper and food. If we work with the fine men and women on the front line collecting and hauling our trash, we can create some innovative programs to create new jobs and protect our environment.”
“The janitors collect the trash, and the Teamsters haul the trash. By working with both groups, and by applying what we’ve learned from best practices all over our country — like in California — we can ensure new green collar jobs are created, while we protect the environment at the same time. “Food scraps sent to landfills, instead of composting, produces methane gas — much worse for our environment than CO2 emissions. What we learn in this process can be applied from commercial buildings to also create residential programs.
“The laborers union has led the way in establishing great training programs for weatherizing homes. These are some of the best green collar jobs that can put people to work now, and help make homes warmer and better for the environment by using less energy.
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