Super Bowl clean-up complete following  snowstorm

Ten inches of snow causes long delay

East Rutherford, N.J. – While Super Bowl XLVIII ended on a Sunday night, the cleanup for the event
didn’t finish until March, when on a Thursday morning the last roll-off container from MetLife Stadium
was collected.

“It’s done and wrapped up,” said Jim Castner, senior route manager for Fairview Hauling and WM’s
point person for the big game. According to him, the original plan was to the service the event right
away. However, inclement weather prevented that from happening.

The day after the Super Bowl, a massive snowstorm brought up to 10 inches to the area, making
collection impossible. During the days that followed, litter inside the stadium became iced into place.
It wasn’t until two weeks later that cleanup efforts could begin. During that time, litter left in the
parking lots was plowed into huge snow piles.

Once that process began, Waste Management Container Delivery Driver John Lupardi placed 130
front-load cans around MetLife, using maps created by event organizers to know where every container
needed to go. One of the biggest challenges that came with this was navigating through the compound,
which was filled with large tents, pavilions and television broadcast areas.

“Organizers also requested a daily report of all the cans we collected,” Castner said. “To do that, I had
130 four-inch numbers installed on all the containers that our drivers could identify. Lupardi then registered
all the locations by number, which we used to monitor our services.”

One last, unique challenge for the event was security. Whenever a WM truck entered the perimeter it was
X-rayed by security personnel. In fact, the company’s trucks became such a frequent sight that state troopers
requested to use one of them during a collection to test their bomb-sniffing dog’s detection skills.

“They figured the smell of the garbage would throw the dog off,” Castner said. He said they tested the dog by
hanging a bag on the side of a truck. “He went right for it and then he got his Scoobie Snack.”

Involved heavily in the cleanup effort were Front-load Drivers Frank Evans, Wayne Johnson, Ben McQuade
and Juan DeJesus, who all expertly navigated the maze of compounds and accurately reported the 400 pickups
that were made. In addition, the roll-off team — made up of Javier Cantillano, Mike Kearney, Eulie Jones, Phil
Grassani, Ken Shuart, Robert Crawford, Robert Bednarz, Dan Danzico and Doug Galdamez — did an amazing job
of handling 354.33 tons of materials.

Castner also credits Fairview’s Operations Team, including Operations Specialists Veronica Majka and Pamela
Laychock and Route Manager Leroy Campbell for keeping the site running while Dispatcher Laurarenda Smith
and Router Kevin McClay supported that company’s championship services.

“I spent most of my time in my mobile office — in my pickup with my laptop, and at the stadium,” Castner said.
“It was a great experience. My team really stepped up.”