TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR
In December 2020, the Merrill Street Department sent out their 2021 Newsletter stating that Merrill would be changing over to a new automated waste collection program beginning in summer 2021. Due to unforeseen circumstances, that changeover has been bumped to Spring 2022.
Like many other industries, even the garbage industry has been affected by the business shutdowns and interruptions in the supply chain for manufacturing as a result of COVID.
After considering several different companies and their proposals for the new automated side loader garbage trucks, City staff were in favor of going with the New Way trucks (as compared to Loadmaster or Bridgeport). New Way also comes highly recommended by other cities that are already using the trucks, according to discussion during the January Board of Public Works meeting. The autogreaser was also recommended to cut down on greasing time. Their recommendation called for trading in the City’s existing trucks one and two, while keeping truck number three. Since truck manufacturing schedules have been delayed due to COVID, the Street Department was hoping for a fourth quarter 2021 delivery date for the trucks if they could get them ordered soon.
As a result, Alderman Mike Rick suggested starting the automated waste collection program in the spring of 2022, rather than trying to change procedures mid-winter. Alderman John Van Lieshout made a motion to move to recommend the purchase of the New Way Sidewinder garbage trucks and forward that recommendation to the Common Council. Alderman Steve Sabatke seconded that motion and it was carried unanimously.
At the Feb. 9 meeting of the Merrill City Common Council, Alderman John Van Lieshout made a motion to approve ordering the trucks as recommended by the Public Works Committee, Alderman Rick Blake seconded the motion, and the motion passed with a roll call vote of 7 to 1, with Alderman Steve Sabatke being the lone “nay” vote.
Dustin Bonack, Street Superintendent for the Merrill Street Department, said the good news is that the trucks will come in well under budget. “The trucks were ordered from Envirotech Equipment based out of Lannon, Wis.,” Bonack said, “And are being manufactured in Scranton, Penn. The cost for the two new trucks, including the trade of our two oldest current trucks, was $526,108.”
“Trucks like these contain thousands of different parts sourced from places all over the world,” he explained in reference to the unexpected production delays. “With factories and industries slowly getting back up to speed since the onset of COVID, the effects are being felt in almost every industry. Contributing to the delays are long lead times on parts, as well as a rush of municipalities and counties making up for orders they put off in 2020. The most recent date we have heard for our trucks being delivered is sometime around Thanksgiving of this year. Given that this is an entirely new system that residents will need to adjust to, our Board of Public Works agreed that it would be best to delay the start until the spring of 2022, as soon as the weather allows.”
It was agreed to hold off on ordering the new garbage and recycling rolling containers until closer to the time the program will begin. The City plans to apply for a grant that may help fund the purchase of the recycling carts. The number of stops for garbage and recycling collection is still being counted, and area businesses still being contacted to see how many containers will be needed, so the Street Department knows how many to purchase.
Bonack doesn’t believe the containers need to be ordered too far in advance. “The carts have not been ordered yet,” he confirmed. “However, the lead time for them is quite short given that they are produced domestically, with some being manufactured in Wisconsin.”
Why is the City making this change?
There are several factors that led to the plan for this change. In no specific order:
1. Merrill may be the only municipality left in the state of Wisconsin that still collects garbage and recycling manually.
2. The cost of getting rid of the City’s recyclables increased approximately $23,000 for 2021 (as compared to the annual cost for each of the last five years).
3. Automated garbage and recycling collection reduces the risk of injury for employees and residents.
4. The Street Department will benefit from the increased efficiency, and could actually save money overall.
5. Large, uniform “carts” or garbage containers on wheels are more aesthetically pleasing and reduce animal issues.
History of garbage and recycling collection
According to Bonack, Merrill is progressing through the stages most municipalities experienced with regard to garbage and recycling collection, just a bit slower. Originally, the City didn’t separate recycling from garbage; everything went into the trash and ended up in the landfill. When the City decided to implement recycling collection to make our community a little more ecologically friendly and responsible, residents were originally required to sort their recyclables by category, and City employees manually collected the recyclables, dumping them into various bins on the trucks to maintain that separation. Those materials were then stored in a warehouse until they were collected by a vendor.
“Single stream collection was implemented in 2014,” Bonack said. “This method of recycling allowed residents to put all their recyclables in one container, co-mingled, and eliminated the need for sorting. The sorting is done by the recycling facility.”
“While single stream collection is still the industry standard today,” he said. “Manual collection by city crews has been phased out almost completely. In talking with professionals in the industry, [at that time] it was thought that Merrill, Kenosha, and Sheboygan were the last three municipalities in the state to be collecting garbage and recycling manually. The latter two have converted to city-run automated programs in the last two years.”
Costs increased $23,000 per year
“Another major driver in the effort to move to automated collection is financial in nature,” Bonack said. “The City pays a per-ton fee (called tipping fees) for the materials that are hauled to the landfill or recycling facility. The tipping fee for garbage at the landfill in 2021 is $51.04 per ton. This fee is quite standard and has been a regularly budgeted item.”
“Recycling tipping fees, on the other hand, have gone through a drastic change in recent years,” he said.
“The City first contracted with Eagle Waste in 2014. Eagle Waste actually paid the city $20 per ton for the materials we hauled there. In 2015, the contract was renegotiated to a net $0 for the disposal,” he said. “That contract expired this past January. The City signed a new five-year contract with Eagle Waste [in Eagle River, Wis.] requiring us to pay $40 per ton.”
“This drastic change in recycling fees has been driven almost completely by the global market,” Bonack said. “For years, China was the primary purchaser of the world’s recyclables. In Jan. 2018, they abruptly banned the import of most plastics and other materials, resulting in a worldwide problem for recycling material handlers. This has resulted in many cities diverting a portion of their materials to landfills or incinerators, as producers scramble to find alternative markets. All of this had driven up the cost of disposing of materials.”
Bonack explained that although trucking recyclables to Eagle River seems like a long distance, it is actually the facility closest to Merrill. “The next nearest facilities that could handle our materials are in Portage or the Fox Valley,” he said.
“This sudden increase in tipping fees resulted in a hole in the City’s budget of around $23,000 that wasn’t there before,” he continued. “The challenge was to come up with creative solutions to cut costs without a reduction in services to the citizens. We floated the idea of going with automated collection at one of the first budget meetings last fall, and we were instructed to pursue it further.”
“We explored the option of contracting the automated collection first, versus purchasing the equipment and collecting as a City service,” he said. “Ultimately, it was decided to keep the service in-house and convert to automated collection. It was felt that we would be able to provide a higher level of service to the tax payers of the City than a contractor might.”
Automated collection is safer for everyone
“The most serious drawback to manual collection is the safety of the employees performing the work,” Bonack said. “The risk for slips and falls is high, as employees are required to ride the back of the truck and hop off hundreds of times a day in every type of weather imaginable. The risk for strains is amplified by employees having to lift every bag of garbage and every recycling container manually and either throw the bag or dump the contents of the bin into the collection truck.”
In addition, he said, “Manually handling waste materials has its own risks, including sharp materials, unknown and potentially dangerous contents, and a generally unpleasant environment. An article from CNBC in December of 2019 lists refuse and recycling materials collectors as the fifth most hazardous occupation in America. This job has been near the top of lists like these for years.”
Once the City converts to using the automated side-collection garbage trucks, the new garbage carts will be rolled out curbside to the same spot garbage and recycling tubs were placed. “However, now a robotic arm on the side of the collection truck will pick up the cart, dump the contents into the truck, and place the cart back,” Bonack said. “We realize that there will be special circumstances where cart placement may have to be adjusted, but those cases will be minimal and handled individually.”
“The first and most obvious benefit of his system is employee safety,” he said. “The operator can now complete the entire collection by operating a joystick from the cab of the truck. The risks involved in manually handling materials are all but eliminated. Gone also is the need to ride on the back of the trucks and hop off at every stop in all kinds of weather.”
Using the uniform roll-out garbage and recycling carts on wheels means citizens won’t have to lift their heavy garbage cans or recycling tubs either. “Residents will find that these carts will be easier and safer to move than lifting their current bins,” Bonack said.
Improved efficiencies
“The next benefit of automated collection is efficiency,” Bonack said. “Most municipalities collecting with automated trucks are able to collect between 700-1,000 stops per day. With that rate of collection, we will be able to move to a four-day route schedule.”
“This process reduces the number of personnel needed by half, allowing us to use those employees on the Street crew,” he said. Extra staff on the Street Department crews means they’ll be able to accomplish more projects in a more timely manner, as well.
“Another industry standard is to collect recyclables every other week,” Bonack said. The City is planning to use large 96-gallon carts that will enable the City to move to a bi-weekly collection for recyclables. That, in turn, will allow the Street Department time to make the trip to Eagle River, perform maintenance on equipment, take care of cart service requests, and do other related tasks.
Neater, cleaner neighborhoods
The City’s current system has residents placing loose garbage bags on the curb and providing their own recycling containers if all of their recycling doesn’t fit into the City-issued recycling container.
“The loose bags can draw animals if they are left out for a number of days,” Bonack said. “It can also be unsightly having garbage bags lying around compared to having uniform carts placed out.”
“Without a standard recycling cart, people are free to use any covered container they wish. These are generally not as durable as automated carts and are easily cracked and broken in cold temperatures,” he said. “They are also usually lighter, resulting in the lids and the cans themselves blowing down the street on windy days.”
“The basic principle of an automated collection system,” Bonack said, “Is that uniform roll-out carts are used, instead of loose garbage bags and self-provided bins. The carts will be 96-gallon capacity, in our case, and will be equipped with a handle and wheels.” The carts are both weather and animal resistant, can withstand winds without tipping over, and are designed to save floor space while holding maximum capacity.
“The carts are also equipped with an attached hinged lid that keeps the contents dry, while staying in place on windy days,” he added.
“Single family homes will each be given one recycling cart and one garbage cart. Multiple family dwellings, including duplexes, triplexes, and multi-family units, will be given two of each, as will businesses that wish to participate.”
“The standard cart allotment will not cost any tax parcel anything additional, as this service has been paid by the tax levy,” Bonack said. In other words, the cost of the initial carts you receive will come out of the City taxes residents already paid, so you won’t have to pay anything extra, and you won’t have to buy garbage cans and recycling tubs.
“The carts will be City property and will stay with the property if ownership changes,” he said. Each cart will have a serial number and barcode to aid in tracking it.
Businesses or residents can purchase additional carts for a one-time fee and will also need to pay a yearly disposal fee if they plan to exceed what can be fit into the allotted number of carts for their property. “Those fees will be established after the final cost of the carts is known,” Bonack said.
“Services that will not be changing are the large item pickup, brush cleanup weeks, and yard waste pickup,” he added. “Our City yard waste site located on the south end of Blaine St. will remain open, as well.”
Stay tuned for updates
The City will share updates when it gets closer to starting the new automated waste collection program. In the meantime, garbage and recycling pickup will continue on “as normal” for another year.