{"id":63725,"date":"2007-04-09T22:04:16","date_gmt":"2007-04-09T22:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\/concrete-construction\/article\/collection-correction_o"},"modified":"2007-04-09T22:04:16","modified_gmt":"2007-04-09T22:04:16","slug":"collection-correction_o","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\/concrete-construction\/projects\/infrastructure\/collection-correction_o\/","title":{"rendered":"Collection correction"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"> <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Solid-waste collection is just one area in which managers are called upon to do more (service an ever-increasing number of customers) with less (a constrained budget and a static or dwindling fleet size). Fortunately, with route tweaks and equipment advances, it&#8217;s totally possible.<\/p> <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mike Mee, a veteran solid waste administrator in Newport News, Va., advises that when you&#8217;re putting your own city&#8217;s program under the microscope, consider the following:<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li>Equipment: Look at your vehicles&#8217; density, cubic yardage, and capacity.<\/li> <li>On-street parking: Steering around curbside cars packs time onto drivers&#8217;daily routes.<\/li> <li>Safety considerations: overhead wires, safe turning routes, etc.<\/li> <li>Distance to and from the public works yard.<\/li> <li>Distance to and from the landfill.<\/li> <li>Handicapped collections: Drivers may need to go to the rear of a yard to collect from special-needs residents.<\/li> <li>Driver workload: If one vehicle is making more stops or covering more distance than others, adjust the routes and work schedules so that the burden is distributed more evenly.<\/li> <\/ul><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Is Automation Right?<\/b> <\/p>  <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After assessing routes and equipment, you may decide automated collection is viable (see sidebar on page 47 for available resources). But while automation conserves long-term costs by slashing fleet and staff size, the initial investment can be a tough case to make to city officials.<\/p> <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe devil is in the details,\u201d says Ana Stagg, public works director for Owasso, Okla., a town with a population of 33,458\u2014nearly double what it was in 1990. Stagg witnessed the challenges of switching to fully automated collection firsthand when she brought the proposal to its city council. Rapid residential, commercial, and industrial expansion made the town one of the fastest-growing cities in the state, stretching Owasso&#8217;s solid-waste department to the limit. Equipment was failing, the overworked staff was demoralized, and customer service was suffering.<\/p> <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To combat the problem, Stagg enthusiastically lobbied for funding a conversion of the collection fleet from semi-automated to fully automated. After a presentation comparing the benefits of manual, automated, and semi-automated vehicles, she convinced the council that an initial investment of $1.1 million would get the town on the right track. The plan: to introduce automation gradually.<\/p> <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the onset, the city has one automated and three semi-automated vehicles; by the fifth year, Owasso will have a fully automated fleet of four vehicles. According to Stagg, the recently implemented pilot program has already showed results; employee morale is at an all-time high, and turnaround has dropped.<\/p> <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you, too, can convince your officials to fork over funding for automating routes, you could end up with more money in the bank.<\/p><\/div> <!--nextpage--><div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\"> <b>Growing Pains<\/b> <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A good collection route plan should factor in rapid community growth\u2014both now and in the future.<\/p> <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cGrowth is challenging,\u201d says Keith Howard, deputy director of the solid waste division in Lee County, Fla., which serves 575,000 residents and adds around 30,000 residents each year. The department works closely with private haulers to examine and reorganize routes. \u201cOur haulers have to expand routes, and add routes and equipment in response to added properties.\u201d<\/p> <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Anticipating growth\u2014not merely reacting to it\u2014can help solid waste managers maintain maximum collection efficiency. Newport News, which adds an average of 30 to 40 new residences per month, is one town that looks ahead.<\/p> <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe conflict between allocation of resources and demand for public services is a constant,\u201d says Mee. \u201cWith proper planning, we can stay ahead of the budget curve and have adequate resources to provide those essential services demanded by the public.\u201d<\/p> <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">High-tech tools also help. Newport News uses a geographic information system (GIS) and a global positioning system (GPS) to track solid-waste operations and citizen calls; the practice helps them respond to service needs more efficiently, and to make informed decisions about when and where routes should be tweaked. Lee County is weighing the possibility of requiring private haulers to use GIS and GPS in future contracts.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Doing The Shuffle<\/b> <\/p> <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Creative thinking can help you do less with more in your collection efforts.<\/p> <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chicago&#8217;s Streets and Sanitation Department has its work cut out in collecting residential solid waste. The Windy City&#8217;s nearly 3 million residents generate 1.1 million tons of garbage and recyclables each year. Refuse drivers wind their way through the city on 350 daily routes. Like cities big and small across the country, the department has had to come up with inventive ways to stretch its budget and make the most of resources.<\/p> <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the past, drivers had to leave their routes in time to dump their loads and return to their assigned yards by the end of each eight-hour shift. Over the past year, the city has boosted the number of residential units each truck collects on its daily route by instituting a \u201cnight shuttle\u201d program.<\/p> <p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Drivers forego their final dumping to remain longer on their routes. Instead, they park their vehicles\u2014fully loaded\u2014at the end of the day, and the trucks are then driven to their dump sites by specially assigned second-shift drivers. The end result: greater productivity from drivers, and less strain on the budget.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pwmag.com\/industry-news.asp?sectionID=772&#038;articleID=473748\" target=\"_blank\">Click here<\/a> for classes, software programs, and other tools available to help give your collection routes a lift.<\/p> <\/div> ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Solid-waste collection is just one area in which managers are called upon to do more (service an ever-increasing number of customers) with less (a constrained budget and a static or dwindling fleet size). Fortunately, with route tweaks and equipment advances, it&#8217;s totally possible. Mike Mee, a veteran solid waste administrator in Newport News, Va., advises [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"scheduledNewsletterDates":[],"_scheduled_newsletter_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"zonda_content_type_url_append":"_o","zonda_dfp_zone":"","zonda_exclude_recommended_contents":false,"zonda_exclude_most_popular":false,"zonda_exclude_tagged_results":false,"zonda_eyebrow":"","zonda_last_newsletter_date":"2099-12-31T23:59:59.999-05:00","zonda_original_url":"","zonda_pdf_version":0,"zonda_print_headline":"Collection correction","zonda_promo_abstract":"Cities in Florida, Illinois, Oklahoma, and Virginia manage growth by juggling schedules and automating.","zonda_promo_headline":"","zonda_promo_image":0,"zonda_subheadline":""},"tags":[],"news_item_type":[28],"section_10":[83124],"subject":[29039],"organization":[],"award":[],"person":[],"product_type_10":[],"content-group":[],"event":[],"location":[238],"state":[313],"brand":[21460],"jlc-category":[],"year_tax":[],"sponsor":[],"coauthors":[84868],"class_list":["post-63725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","news_item_type-article","section_10-infrastructure","subject-311-call-centers","location-orlando-kissimmee-fl","state-florida","brand-public-works"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.2 (Yoast SEO v28.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Collection correction<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\/concrete-construction\/projects\/infrastructure\/collection-correction_o\" \/>\n<link rel=\"next\" href=\"https:\/\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\/concrete-construction\/projects\/infrastructure\/collection-correction_o\/2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Collection correction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Solid-waste collection is just one area in which managers are called upon to do more (service an ever-increasing number of customers) with less (a constrained budget and a static or dwindling fleet size). 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