WILMINGTON — In an attempt to expand route capacity and meet growing community needs, the City of Wilmington’s new trash fleet will be in operation this month. This means customers will see changes to their pickup days.
READ MORE: City details new automated trash collection, over 10K customers will change trash days this year
On Sept. 23, a new line of nine automated sanitation trucks will debut citywide. The city spent a little more than $3.2 million on the trucks, with $2.5 coming from the Recycling and Trash Services Fund and $739,065 from the Feet Fund.
The trucks are replacing nine rear-loaders that have been in service for eight years. Several will be kept as backups and the rest sold for surplus, according to city spokesperson Lauren Edwards
Staff have received training to optimize collection routes as the trucks’ automated arms will clear curbside receptacles instead of having to rely on physical labor. The ASL trucks require one driver versus the rear-loading trucks mandating up to three people per vehicle — a driver and two sanitation carriers.
However, Edwards said the city has not lost any employees in its department due to the change. Temporary workers helped operate the former trucks.
“This makes the service more efficient and resilient, reducing the reliance on temporary labor to fill gaps created by labor shortages,” she wrote in an email to PCD.
It also helps improve safety, since staff aren’t physically moving trash carts in the roadways.
The automated trucks build capacity to 1,100 stops a day, as opposed to 800 stops formerly executed during a shift.
“Because the new ASL truck can service a higher number of stops,” Edwards explained, “the city can operate one less route, use less temporary labor and build in capacity to serve new development without adding more city staff.”
The changes bring with it collection-day impacts. A third of customers will have new service days for trash pickup. Information will be mailed regarding the changes, but a map is also available here for customers to see if their addresses are impacted.
Residents now serviced by ASLs will need to implement new measures so the automated arm can reach the receptacles.
Customers must ensure:
- Cart lids are closed completely
- Cart handle and wheels face toward your house
- Cart is placed within 2 feet of the curb or roadside, with 3 feet of space on all sides
There are still particular alleys, one-way streets, dead ends, and dense on-street parking areas that will be serviced by rear-loading trucks, due to ASLs unable to reach them. Customers still served by rear-loading trucks may also face collection-day changes due to newly optimized routes.
Recycling and yard waste will be collected by rear-loading trucks on the new routes and service days as well. It’s expected these trucks will eventually be replaced by an ASL fleet in the future.
The city will have an additional roaming collection truck operating during the transition, to ensure service is not impacted.
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