Pickup practice
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on June 8, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Harry McClarin looks in the rear and side view cameras located in the dashboard of the city's new automated garbage trucks. The cameras help with the nuanced control needed to use the mechanical arm to pick up the trash cans. McClarin has a goal of at least 100 trash cans per hour and hopes to catch up with the other cities that have been using automated trucks for much longer.
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
The new automated garbage trucks use a mechanical arm that can reach up to 12 feet to dump the trash, which decreases the amount of labor needed and increases productivity.
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
McClarin looks out his side view mirrors of the new automated garbage trucks while controlling the mechanical arm that picks up the trash cans.
It's just like playing a video game.
That's how Harry McClarin describes operating the city's new automated garbage trucks that were put to work the first of the month.
"It's a lot more technical, but like I said, I used to use the (control) stick on dump trucks, so the learning curve wasn't too steep," McClarin said.
Instead of one man driving the truck and two others hanging on to the back of it, hopping off and on to load garbage, now only one man is required for the job. He sits behind the wheel and operates an automatic arm with a joystick-like device.
This is what McClarin does. After nearly 20 years with the city, he is having to learn how to do his job all over again. He used to be the man on the back of the truck, but was bumped up to his new position when several of the automated trucks were introduced to the Public Works Department.
"I like the old way better, but this is a lot easier on your body," McClarin said.
And the drivers of these trucks aren't the only ones who will have to learn a new way of doing things.
At the start of the month, updates to routes and rules regarding placement of garbage bins took full effect, and residents who aren't complying will soon suffer the consequences.
Bins need to be placed as close to the curb as possible, with residents leaving three feet of space in every direction of both their recycling and garbage bin.
The two bins can no longer touch, as there must be room for the truck's automated arm to operate and pick up both bins.
New routes can be found at http://refuse.goldsboronc.gov/index.php.
Overflow will also no longer be allowed, meaning garbage cannot be stuffed in the bin so high that the lid is left open.
Several times along one of McClarin's recent morning routes, he was forced to stop the garbage truck, get out, manually move the bin into the proper position or collect excess bags and then dump the garbage in the compactor.
It might seem like no big deal, but this effectively hinders the entire purpose of automated garbage trucks if drivers must continue to do bins manually.
This creates extra work for the driver, slowing down their routes and delaying when residents' garbage will be picked up.
For now, drivers are still correcting the problem manually and leaving warning stickers on the tops of garbage bins for residents who are not in compliance with the new codes.
Public works director Jose Martinez said when the new rules went into effect June 1, residents probably didn't notice any immediate consequences.
"Drivers will continue to place stickers on top of bins and talk to residents and tell them how bins are supposed to be placed," Martinez said.
But that won't last much longer.
At the City Council's next meeting, Martinez will tell council members how many residents are complying with the new regulations and recommend a policy to deal with homeowners who aren't following the new rules.
McClarin estimated that approximately 45 percent of residents on his route are complying with the new codes so far.
"After that, residents will have two options if they have overflow or an incorrectly placed bin," Martinez said. "The first is we won't pick up their trash and they can roll it back in for a week and just wait until the next week to have it picked up. But if it wasn't picked up because of overflow, they aren't likely to roll it back and wait a week because they already have too much trash. So the second option is they can take their garbage to one of the 14 free locations around the county to dump it themselves."
Those 14 locations are listed at http://www.ci.goldsboro.nc.us/pw_sanitation_faq.aspx under FAQ No. 10.
If bins are not placed correctly -- or residents overfill the bins -- residents run the risk of garbage flying back into their yard or their bin being put back down with the lid left open, which is not something the drivers of the new trucks can control.
It is all up to how well individual residents follow the new regulations.
Despite the several occasions when McClarin had to hop out of his truck and do things the old way, he was able to pick up more than 200 garbage bins in under two hours -- a sign of greatly improved efficiency.
But, some things are just better when they're done the old way, and garbage men will be losing a perk they all enjoyed -- gifts left on top of garbage bins by residents who appreciated their work.
"This lady right here used to leave a bag full of waters and Gatorades out for us on top of her bin," McClarin said, pointing to a house along his route. "Since we started using the new trucks, I haven't seen them up there. Probably because the automatic arm would throw the bag in with the rest of the trash."