Two GFL drivers win first-place NWRA awards

GFL drivers Chris Girard and Neil Hansen were recently honored as part of the National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA) 2025 Driver and Operator of the Year awards at WasteExpo in Las Vegas.

Girard, a commercial front-load driver from Peoria, Illinois, with 35 years’ experience in the waste industry, received the National Commercial Driver of the Year award.

Hansen, a driver from Menomonie, Wisconsin, was the first recipient of a new award, the National Safety Sensitive Driver of the Year. This category includes industrial, hazardous, medical, and other waste drivers not covered under residential, commercial, or roll-off categories.

NWRA’s Driver and Operator of the Year awards recognize drivers who operate their trucks in a safe and responsible manner, have outstanding performance records and contribute to the overall safety and image of the solid waste industry.

Both drivers have extensive driving experience in the waste industry.

Chris Girard

For Girard, driving is his lifelong profession. After graduating high school in 1983, he joined the United States Army where he signed up to be a driver.

“I started gaining licenses for every vehicle I could,” Girard said.

These included jeeps, five-ton chassis semi-trucks, and off-road amphibious vehicles. Before he left the service, he got his Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) to transition to a civilian driving career.

After hauling flatbeds, Girard eventually made the switch to the waste industry where he drove every type of vehicle the company had. The company was later acquired by GFL. He now drives commercial front-loaders in Peoria and the surrounding smaller communities.

“I really enjoy the job I do,” Girard said. “I’m never bored.”

Girard has volunteered for 15 years with the local fire department as an emergency medical technician (EMT) on their transport ambulance where he rides in the back, looking after the patients.

In his spare time, he and his son race in demolition derbies.

Neil Hansen

Working in GFL’s Menomonie, Wisconsin branch, Hansen has 14 years of experience in the waste industry driving his pickup truck and dump box or hauling a trailer. He delivers and picks up garbage cans and recycling bins, and receives and delivers parts for GFL mechanics in various locations.

During five years of service with the United States Coast Guard doing heavy weather search and rescue on Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, Hansen learned how to find things in remote locations, a skill he still uses.

“It's always exciting when the tablet doesn’t take me where I have to go and I have to find it myself,” Hansen said.

Hansen credits his exemplary safety record to driving defensively so that other drivers’ actions don’t take him by surprise. He also adjusts his driving for weather conditions, such as ice and snow in winter.

In his spare time, Hansen enjoys spending summers on his ski boat with his grandkids, water skiing with them.

Congratulations, Chris and Neil!

Congratulations also to the following GFL drivers and operator who received honorable mention:

Commercial

Jeffery Sievers

Wilford Cooper

Residential

Mike Zielaskowski

Roll Off

Dan Bartelt

Jason Jewell

Safety Sensitive

Clayton Bland

Daniel Woodin

Richard Sutton

Daniel Korb

Operator

Christian Ramirez Hernandez

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