Page 18 - Vol34No7 MarchApril2017

KNOXVILLE By Eric Vreeland
City Delivers 60,000 New Trash
Carts to Knoxville Households

In December and early January,
contractor crews delivered 60,000 new
wheeled trash carts at no additional
charge to Knoxville residences. The new
standardized 95-gallon carts are a $2.9
million strategic investment, but City
of Knoxville officials say spending the
money was almost a no-brainer: The carts
will pay for themselves in about a year
and half, and they are a key component
in modernizing and improving the City’s
household garbage collection.

“Going to a citywide system that uses
standardized trash receptacles increases
the efficiency, safety, health and aesthetic
aspects of residential garbage collection,”
said Chad Weth, the City’s Public
Service Director. “The standardized
carts translate into a nearly $2 million-
a-year savings to taxpayers on garbage
collection. Additionally, the carts allow
our contractor, Waste Connections,
to utilize trucks designed to hoist the
receptacles and dump the trash into
the back of their garbage trucks. This
significantly cuts down on injuries and
improves the quality of work for garbage
collectors.”

Four teams began delivering an average
of about 3,000 carts a day on Dec. 1, 2016.
In January, crews were finishing the initial
round of distribution before focusing
on revisiting individual addresses
where deliveries were missed the first
time around. In some cases, delivery
misses were due to trucks being unable
to maneuver onto narrow back streets.
Or in other situations, troubleshooting
follow-up crews made adjustments at
condominium buildings, or delivered
delinquent carts to properties with shared
driveways.

By mid-January, the time-consuming
and sometimes-difficult rollout was
mostly complete – and Weth was able to
finally breathe a sigh of relief.

But Weth also is confident that the
move to standardized carts was good
for everyone involved – homeowners,
taxpayers, neighborhood beautification
advocates and the garbage collection

18 TPW March/April 2017