LIHU‘E — Two trucks growled through their paces, Tuesday at the Vidinha Stadium parking lot. “This is a big deal for Kaua‘i,” said Barry Torgerson, sales representative of McNeilus. “O‘ahu has them, Maui has them, and now, Kaua‘i has them.”
LIHU‘E — Two trucks growled through their paces, Tuesday at the Vidinha Stadium parking lot.
“This is a big deal for Kaua‘i,” said Barry Torgerson, sales representative of McNeilus. “O‘ahu has them, Maui has them, and now, Kaua‘i has them.”
The rollout of Phase One of the automated collection service is scheduled to start next month in Puhi, Lihu‘e, Niumalu, and parts of Hanama‘ulu, said Mary Daubert, the county’s public information officer.
Torgerson and McNeilus Western Region Service Manager Steve Schimek joined the supervisors from the county’s Public Works department and a CDL instructor in watching the prospective drivers work through the various steps of the automated trash pickup.
“We have two trucks and 4,500 of the trash receptacles,” said Ed Renaud, the county’s Deputy Engineer. “We have another two (trucks) coming, and by the end of 2010, we should have six trucks in the fleet.”
The trucks come at a price tag of $315,000 each and the wheeled 96-gallon trash carts come in at approximately $60 apiece.
As Renaud spoke, Torgerson said he was in communication with the McNeilus factory that had just gotten the orders for two trucks spec-ed to the county’s requirements.
“Kaua‘i’s next two trucks should be ready by the end of October,” the McNeilus representative said. “It takes six to eight weeks to create an automated truck. We start with the chassis and build everything to spec from there.”
Daubert said during the rollout of Phase One, each household will receive a 96-gallon wheeled plastic refuse cart that can hold the equivalent to three regulation-sized trash cans now allowed for the manual collection.
An additional cart may be issued on request if a need is demonstrated.
Drivers who were polishing their skills Tuesday will use the new trucks to empty the new containers.
“This is just preliminary training,” said Steven Carvalho, the CDL instructor. “They still have other steps to take.”
The public, like the drivers, will also receive an educational program including reference materials provided by the county, Daubert said.
“There are thousands of these right-hand drive trucks in Southern California,” Torgerson said. “Honolulu has 70 on the road, painted a lighter shade of yellow with a white stripe compared to the Kaua‘i truck, and Maui‘s all-white fleet has grown to 12 trucks over the past five years. It’s really a big deal.”
Kauai Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. said the implementation of the automated refuse pickup and the pilot curbside recycling programs are two of his top priorities.
“As I said in my budget message, both are critical components of our Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan, which serves as the framework for our overall strategy to better manage solid waste and divert waste from our landfill,” Carvalho said.
Schimek said crews utilizing the rear-loader trucks like those on the road currently can average between 600 and 800 pickups a day.
“Using the new automated pick up trucks, a single driver will average between 1,000 and 1,200 pick ups a day, depending on the conditions,” Schimek said. “Productivity improves.”
Daubert said in addition to greater worker efficiencies, other advantages of the automated trash pick up include improved neighborhood aesthetics, litter reduction, minimizing of costs, and reduced injuries.
Citing the example of trash collection workers who were hospitalized last week from an explosion due to hazardous trash, Torgerson said the new trucks feature the latest technology.
“The driver rarely leaves the cab,” he said. “Some of the improvements that have come about include a wider door, improved steps to get to the cab, and most importantly, a wrap-around cab window in the rear so the driver has greater visibility in monitoring the pick up process. All of these improvements came about after talking with companies, their drivers, and focusing on greater safety and comfort for the driver.”
Drivers taking part in the preliminary training phase include those county employees who applied for the automated refuse collection truck driver position, Daubert said.
Renaud said there will still be areas on the island where the traditional manual collection will continue because not all of the areas can accommodate the new trucks.
The curbside recycling pilot program will begin on, or before, June 30, 2010, Daubert said.
Households in the central Lihu‘e region will be served during the pilot phase. That area is within the first region to be transitioned to automated refuse collection, and the pilot project will be used to determine the potential participation rate for curbside recycling and where areas for improvements can be cited before the island-wide implementation of the program.
The curbside recycling pilot project will collect co-mingled, or mixed, recycleables in a rolling cart provided by the county.
Residents in the pilot area will be issued one rolling cart with a black lid for garbage and one rolling cart with a blue lid for recycleables.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com.
