MONROE - City residents will notice the delivery of shiny, new trash and recycling carts to their homes beginning this week, and the automated grab-and-dump process for collection is not far behind.
The carts are uniquely designed for sanitation trucks to pick up, empty and replace - a process that will reduce the risk of injury to employees and the number of employees needed for collection.
Weekly automated collection for garbage begins the week of July 22.
The automated trucks arrived late last month, and employees have spent at least 8-10 hours of training on them.
"The employees love 'em; no more dodging cars," said Tom Boll, Street and Sanitation Department supervisor.
Boll said employees will be safer during collections, because they won't need to jump in and out of the streets to collect trash and recycling bags. The truck's arm extends to grab carts, so carts need to be unobstructed by any object, even another cart, by at least three feet.
Boll said he wants collection changeover to go as smoothly as possible for residents. Notification of the new carts and the collection schedule began arriving last week.
The carts are color-coded: Yellow lids for recycling and black lids for trash.
Recyclables will be picked up every other week beginning the week of July 29, and should be placed loosely in the yellow-lidded carts - not bagged. Information about recycling items is printed on the carts' lids.
About 800 stacked, large carts, forming a lofty wall, have been waiting at the street department for delivery. Small and medium carts started coming in by semi loads this week. About 8,000 carts are being delivered to homes.
The carts will be delivered to the driveways of the residences, where many people will place them for emptying.
If the carts and traffic are not obstructed, carts should be facing the street and placed along the curb or against the curb for trash collection.
Boll said people who wish to have their carts collected in their alley or another location should contact the Street Department, which will track the location of carts to set up efficient collection routes. Alley collections will occur along one side of alleyways.
Carts are also being tracked by GPS to thwart lost or stolen bins.
More information about the carts and collection is available at the city website, cityofmonroe.org, under Departments, Streets and Sanitation. To contact the Streets and Sanitation Department about locating your collection point, call 608-329-2490.
The carts are uniquely designed for sanitation trucks to pick up, empty and replace - a process that will reduce the risk of injury to employees and the number of employees needed for collection.
Weekly automated collection for garbage begins the week of July 22.
The automated trucks arrived late last month, and employees have spent at least 8-10 hours of training on them.
"The employees love 'em; no more dodging cars," said Tom Boll, Street and Sanitation Department supervisor.
Boll said employees will be safer during collections, because they won't need to jump in and out of the streets to collect trash and recycling bags. The truck's arm extends to grab carts, so carts need to be unobstructed by any object, even another cart, by at least three feet.
Boll said he wants collection changeover to go as smoothly as possible for residents. Notification of the new carts and the collection schedule began arriving last week.
The carts are color-coded: Yellow lids for recycling and black lids for trash.
Recyclables will be picked up every other week beginning the week of July 29, and should be placed loosely in the yellow-lidded carts - not bagged. Information about recycling items is printed on the carts' lids.
About 800 stacked, large carts, forming a lofty wall, have been waiting at the street department for delivery. Small and medium carts started coming in by semi loads this week. About 8,000 carts are being delivered to homes.
The carts will be delivered to the driveways of the residences, where many people will place them for emptying.
If the carts and traffic are not obstructed, carts should be facing the street and placed along the curb or against the curb for trash collection.
Boll said people who wish to have their carts collected in their alley or another location should contact the Street Department, which will track the location of carts to set up efficient collection routes. Alley collections will occur along one side of alleyways.
Carts are also being tracked by GPS to thwart lost or stolen bins.
More information about the carts and collection is available at the city website, cityofmonroe.org, under Departments, Streets and Sanitation. To contact the Streets and Sanitation Department about locating your collection point, call 608-329-2490.