In the face of major trash disposal cost increases, city officials are looking at all cost-reducing strategies, including once-a-week pickups. Costs may possibly double, or more, said officials, so rethinking how the city’s trash is picked up and discarded, is all up for review. “It’s a bad situation,” the city’s recycling and solid waste removal consultant, Wayne De Feo told members of the Council.
Under consideration to cut costs is cutting curbside pickup from twice to once a week and possibly increasing the size of trash containers to ones that hold 95 gallons and have wheels specifically designed to work with garbage trucks with robotic arms. The robotic arm trucks, De Feo said, may help get lower bids from contractors as it will cut back on employees. Gas and labor costs are high and the pool of willing workers is low, he said.
Robotic arm trucks have a number of advantages, De Feo said, including requiring fewer workers. The current trucks require three employees at a time, a driver and two to load the garbage. By using the semi-automatic method, the city can reduce the number of employees per truck down to one. It will also help bring down the number of employee compensation complaints due to injuries. “The average claim costs a company $150,000,” DeFeo told the Council. “Eight of them and it costs the company $1 million.”
He said other municipalities in New Jersey have already switched to the new automated trucks, including Atlantic City, Middletown and some beach towns. He said municipalities in the state’s northeast, however, have lagged behind the switch.