New trash cans

[fan-of-fans]

Got notice that we are going to be moving to the new automatic trash collection trucks and pickup once a week. They will be giving us two cans- one for trash and one for recycle. Not sure how the recycle works or what goes in it. It would be nice not to have to take the recycle paper, cardboard and plastic to the collection trailers any more.

What I don't like is I guess one won't have good finds in the trash anymore. Although I suppose people will still put large items next to the cans, as the city limits have automatic collection for years and still see large items put out.

But rarely see any good items in the trash anymore. Mostly cheap new junk or big CRT TV sets.

 

[tolivac]

Do you know what kind of trucks they are going to use?Some ASL trucks have two compartments-one for trash the other for recycle.The driver selects a diverter that directs the trash to the right compartment-a ram type compactor packs the waste in both compartments.Some ASL drivers have become skilled in the use of the trucks arm-they can load bulky items into the truck with it.Then there is another choice Heil-I believe makes a combination ASL with a manual rear loader.The rL handles the hand fed bulky goods.These trucks are fun to watch!

 

[appnut]

If it's like the system my city uses, for me, Mondays are for regular trash and Thursdays are for recycled trash.  My cans are respectively black and dark green.  My recycled items are limited to recycled plastic containers with the recycle numbers of 1-7 on the bottom--detergent/fabric softener jugs, beverage jugs, yogurt, ...  Junk mail/office paper items (and shredded); tin cans.  All food related containers have to be rinsed out as well as detergent bottles.  I find my recycled can fills up faster.  Bulk items are picked up twice a month based upon city-geographic locations.  No glass or aluminum foil is recycled. 

 

[twintubdexter]

Although it's illegal in my neighborhood, I don't necessarily have anything against people looking in the trash. What I do object to is individuals leaving trash and garbage on the street after they've removed aluminum and glass from the recycle container. Since the streets and sidewalks here are all private property "trash looters" are trespassing. 

 

Trash pickup is not an option in most desert cities. The cost is automatically added to your property tax. Since the City does not want trash dumped in vacant lots and such, the garbage company will pick up almost anything...appliances, water heaters, furniture, etc. You need to call them first. When I lived in San Jose, the garbage company was not as generous. In addition, they had bins you set out for recycling and it was a mess. People would drive by, turn the bin over, pick out what they wanted and then off they'd go. They also had a crazy system for yard waste. You'd pile the stuff in the street and a giant claw came around and scooped it up leaving debris all over the place. The claw which was very noisy wasn't too kind to the street surface either. Add to that the neighbor that would say "why should I make a pile in front of my "showplace" when I can just dump my stuff on someone else's"? This system may be different now.

 

The three trash containers I have, garbage, recyclables and yard waste are huge. I can easily get in one and close the lid although I wouldn't want to give my neighbors any ideas...

[this post was last edited: 2/25/2017-13:55]

 

[kb0nes]

The single sort recycle option is taking over everywhere. It sure is easy, just toss it all in one bin. The hauler just dumps the one bin into their compacting truck and off it goes. The resulting mess is separated later. The pity with the deal is that the value of some of the recycled material is near zero. All the fiber product ends up with bits of glass in it so it is worth far less. I'd LOVE to provided fully sorted material, but that is far less effective for the hauler, and most people couldn't be bothered. Heck I know many people that can't be bothered to recycle in the first place!

There was a big hullabaloo in St Paul recently as they are placing an RF ID chip in the containers so they can tell where they are and which they are dumping. Seems fair to me since they do own the containers... Add in the idea of a camera viewing/recording the recycled material being dumped into the truck then the tin-foil hat paranoids start waving their arms around.

 

[yogitunes]

we have that.....a blue one for regular trash, and red for recyclables....

there is a diagram/list on the sides so you know what is to be placed inside....its actually easier to put all recyclables in one container, saves a lot of time and space....

the lids must close completely, if propped open by the trash, there is a 79.00 fine...

any extra bags of trash, large bulky items, appliances, furniture......you have to buy a Tag/Sticker to be placed on the item....this can range from 1.00 to 10.00...

 

[petek]

Our city has 3 contracts out, one for the regular weekly pick ups which much be in a green garbage bag on the curb or it can be placed in a garbage bin as well. It's Marcotte for that one.  

Another contractor , Emterra comes every 2nd week and picks up recyclables.. No sorting, just everything in a blue bin or clear blue plastic bag, no exceptions.  The sorting takes place at their facility.  

 

Once a month on the first weekly pickup is what I call big garbage day.. the regular Marcotte truck comes and then another company, forget who, comes around in another truck and picks up things like sofa's, washer/dryers, whatever,, just no electronics like tv's or printers,..  Anything like a fridge or a/c must be tagged that it has had it's freon removed properly. 

 

Years ago one of the companies that had the contract had those fancy do all trucks, one operator/driver but the current contractors have all gone back to the run of the mill typical truck with the guy/gal on the back and a driver up front.  

 

[rp2813]

Fan, welcome to 1980!

Joe, as you probably know, SJ was the first major city in the country to implement unlimited curbside recycling. 

 

At first, we had separate stacking bins for cans, paper, and plastic.  They didn't hold much.  Overflow could be placed in bags, or in the case of broken down cardboard boxes, set out next to the bins.  One truck picked up garbage, another the recycling.  

 

Then they went to the cart system and all recyclables went into the same bin.   One truck picked up both.   After a big scandal when the mayor worked out a back room deal for a new contract -- which would have been cheaper if it had been allowed to happen -- the contract was put out for bid.

 

Now we have separate trucks picking up garbage and recyclables, and it costs more than the former mayor's deal would have.  Use of two trucks is basically a wash -- one truck makes twice as many runs to the dump/recycling facility; two trucks each make half as many.

 

Yard waste can still be piled in the street.  The scooper comes by to remove it.  Customers have the option to pay a small montly fee for a large yard waste cart if they'd rather not pile it in the street. 

 

[twintubdexter]

last trash comment...

Ralph, I remember those milk-crate like bins for recycling. I don't generate a lot of trash, 2 or 3 kitchen bags a week. My garbage can can hold many many more. I tend to cheat with recycling. I'll put a few cardboard boxes in with the regular trash. The very few pieces of glass and plastic stuff goes in there too. The yard waste container never gets used. The gardener takes everything with him. I occasionally let neighbors who don't have a gardening service use the container. If you were as old as I am, you'd remember when the garbage company in San Jose came in your back yard and emptied your trash cans for you...which were usually located next to your incinerator. 

 

I don't think people make a lot of trips to the "dump" like they did when I was a kid. How I loved it. Mountains of cool stuff. Sometimes it was difficult to convince my dad to let me bring something home. The closest "dump" to our house was located where the Pruneyard Complex sits today...I told you I was very old.

 

Yes Louise...there's a dump under there...

 

 

 

[rp2813]

Oh yeah Joe, I remember the days of the garbage man coming up the driveway to empty our cans.  When I was around kindergarten age the garbage trucks were basically dump trucks.  To compact the load, they'd tilt the dumper, floor it past a few homes, then stomp on the brake.  Stuff would go flying.  Cheap Pleasantville entertainment every Saturday morning.

 

I do not remember the dump in Campbell, and yes Louise, The Pruneyard will soon be receiving yet another makeover.  They could start with the name.  That has got to sound odd to anyone but a native old timer, am I right?  Even Mariani Packing (erroneously) calls them "dried plums" now.

 

 

 

[petek]

I can remember back in the day our trucks were just dump trucks and one guy would be up standing in the truck bed and the other would grab the cans and toss them up to him. Before the days of the green garbage bag.  

 

[iej]

It's a bit different here

Here in Ireland we've a couple of differences.

1. They privatised the waste collection and there are several operators in most areas, you can skip around.

2. There's a huge emphasis on septation and recycling.

I've 4 bins (normal Euro style "wheelie bin" trashcans)

Purple : general waste.
Green: mixed recycling
Smaller green: glass (mixed colours)
Smaller brown: completable waste - food, leaf litter, grass clippings.

Each bin has an RFID tag in the handle and the truck weighs it when it's collected. The recycling and composting and glass are "free" but you're given an online statement anyway and the non recyclables are charged per kg.

The truck also collects and scatters your recycling into a hopper and photographs it, linking the image to your account and if the truck catches it in time, the recycle contents are diverted, avoiding contamination.

If you cheat the system by putting inappropriate waste streams into the recycling, you pay a hefty charge/fee. If you repeatedly do it, they'll withdraw your recycling service which massively increases the cost as everything is weighed.

 

[panthera]

The insanity of it all

Our city in Wyoming and a neighboring city in Colorado share the same recycling facility (it's still the 'dump' to me and I always take great delight in calling it that whilst speaking with the officious idiojts running the place).

Our automated trucks pick up the recycling separately from the trash, take it to a facility where it's sorted both by machines and humans.

Apart from the no-hazardous waste rule, everything which can be recycled may be placed in the bin.

Our neighboring city in Colorado requires the drivers to check every single recycling bin before it's loaded - if there's anything on their very long list of 'we don't accept that', it's put back, the owners are fined and neither the recycling nor the trash are picked up that week.

 

Guess which city (despite being in a super-duper Republican state?) has a near 87% recycling participation rate and which city (despite being solidly Democratic) has the worst participation in that state?

 

People do make mistakes and it's easy to see how the whole thing might be more an exercise in 'education' than actually working to save the environment. Still, there's a lot to be said for working with the...consumer?... than penalizing them.

 

[tolivac]

I take my trash to the county "dump" place-a transfer station they call it.The place has three compactors now-one for trash,another for recycle-yes all of those are crushed together now-bottles broken into the newspapers and magazines-hate to be the one that has to sort thru the stuff.Then a third compactor for just corrugated cardboard and boxes.Three "dinosaur" dumpsters,one for furniture,large appliances-then small appliaces and electronics.I check that one regularly-got a few vacuums from it and a Pilot receiver.Then there is a place for dumping garden,lawn waste.And another pile for oyster shells so they can be shredded and used for driveway,walkway paving.I can get curbside pickup-this can cost to $400 per year.The "dump" is free.I feel "penalizing" the customer is bad-they will then use the side of the road or vacant lot as their trash dump.

 

[panthera]

Rex,

You nailed it - and the illegal dumping problem in the one city is much larger than in the other. Educate, yes - but at the cost of people damaging the very environment you're (allegedly) trying to save?

 

[alr2903]

Looks like running 2 or 3 different trash/recycle trucks would defeat the purpose of environmentally friendly? We have one large rolling green dumpster as pictured in reply 3.  I don't know about "chips" but the serial number on it  is assigned to our address.  A

 

[petek]

In the end it all boils down to what a towns taxpayers are willing to shell out as to what level of service they want more and more. The waste removal industry is huge and cut throat,, literally it's been said in the old days, may still be in some locales. 

 

[kb0nes]

There are 5 different haulers that service my street of 10 houses. The garbage and recycling is picked up by the same truck with 2 compactors on it. Yard waste is picked up by a different vehicle. So in the Summer we have the Joy of having 10, yes TEN trucks service our street.

People in the neighborhood complained that there was too much truck traffic on the streets, so finally the city counsel stepped in and fixed the problem. They designated that different parts of the city would have their trash day on different days of the week. So now we get 10 trucks all on Wednesday! City counsel wanted to embrace free enterprise and give the consumers freedom of choice in their hauler. Sad!

This is the place where government needs to do their job. Put an area up for bid and let a single hauler have an entire part of the city! The rates would be the lowest, the wear and tear on the streets and the environmental impact would be reduced. Coming soon, we will have 4 different fire departments servicing our neighborhood...

 

[sudsmaster]

And you'll pay through the nose...

When I bought my house in an East Bay suburb back in the late 90's, they had three bin recycling... little baskets (like storage baskets), yellow, blue, and green. Yellow for paper, blue for metal, green for yard waste. Of course, the yard waste basket was a joke, and often the paper one would overflow. Most people took their aluminum and glass beverage containers in to get refunds, also.

Then a few years later they combined the paper, plastic, and metal recycle items into one big blue rolling bin, and an even bigger green rolling bin for yard waste.

At some point some genius at the local refuse company sent out a mailer urging people to send their kitchen waste down the drain via the disposer (if one had one). I imagine this caused some consternation with the local water treatment plan, as well as environmentalists who were interested in turning kitchen waste into compost. But after a few years of the big rolling green waste bins, someone had a bright idea that people could put their kitchen waste in there with the clippings etc, since it was all destined for a huge compost pile on the edge of town anyway. But by that time I had developed my own composting operation in my back yard, putting rather sizeable quantities of english ivy clippings to their best use: rot.

The result has been great tilth in the formerly rock hard clay soil.

Meanwhile, however, every year or so the refuse company has used "enhanced" recycling operations, along with fuel costs, as a reason to jack up the garbage rates. They have more than doubled in the past 15 years. And there is a small army of workers at the local transfer station sorting through the recycled stuff and sorting it into paper, metal, plastic, and Not Allowed.

Which is all well and good, except the last big price hike was to give these folks a living wage. I'm all in favor of a living wage for workers, but since I am capable of sorting my own recycle items, I wonder why I'm paying others to do same.

I suppose this is progress!

PS-This town is getting what it deserves... back around 2000 the city was running the garbage service. It was bound by law to put any rate increases to a public vote. When the last rate increase of that era was voted down, the City Council in its infinite wisdom, contracted out the service to a commercial company with a sweetheart deal that pretty much authorizes them to raise rates at will with zero voter participation. And guess what? The service is worse than ever.