The Birmingham City Council voted to approve a contract for 100,000 uniform trash cans equipped with anti-theft chips that allow cans to be tracked if they are stolen. The contract with Toter, LLC is for up to $6.556 million. “This is a very necessary step in keeping our city clean,” Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said. “This is a very progressive step forward.”
Currently, city workers pick up trash placed on the roadside regardless of what type of container it’s placed in. Workers had to get off garbage trucks and lift items that put them at risk of injury, Woodfin said. “That’s outdated,” he said.
The new trash cans will be provided free to residents on the city’s 26 routes on a rolling basis, beginning with the first 25,000 that should arrive in six to eight weeks, Woodfin said. The cans will be tagged and labeled for the city and then distributed to residents by 2023, he said.