The Cheyenne Sanitation Department has found a way to take picking up trash into the 21st century. The department recently installed new software in 13 of its 27 trucks designed to make drivers more efficient as the city collects an estimated 250 to 300 tons of garbage per day. An added bonus? It gives drivers a way to prove that residents who may claim their homes were missed on trash pickup day actually forgot to put out the garbage.
Cheyenne public works director Vicki Nemecek told Cowboy State Daily on Friday that the new software, Fleetmind, was initially rolled out in December and will be added to more trucks in the coming weeks and months. The software, working with a GPS tracker, provides a directions so trucks can more more accurately follow the city’s six routes and better serve the city’s nearly 30,000 residential and commercial customers.
This is the first software of its kind being used in Wyoming, as far as Nemecek knew, putting the city on the cutting edge of garbage collection. “This software documents every stop we make,” Nemecek said. “So basically, the truck will drive down your street and pick up one of the containers, either trash, recycling or compost. So if they pick it up, the garbage can on the screen will turn green, showing it has been picked up. But if someone forgets to put out their can, they can push a button in their truck, and the can on the screen will turn yellow.”