Mayor Giammo, Councilmember Hoffmann, City Officials Get Started With Carts, Modified Trucks at 10 a.m. Monday
[Assignment Editor’s Note: Excellent photo opportunities available of elected officials wheeling new refuse and recycling carts on the Monument Street collection route to help crews using new semi-automated truck.]
ROCKVILLE, Md., March 16, 2006—Every week Rockville’s refuse and recycling trucks drive down Monument Street, between Maryland Avenue and Great Falls Road. But on Monday, March 20, at 10 a.m. the crews will be assisted by Rockville Mayor Larry Giammo and Councilmember Susan Hoffmann, who will be wheeling new gray and brown refuse and recycling carts to help “roll out” the first day of Rockville’s new Refuse and Recycling pilot program.
The rollout event also will include City Manager Scott Ullery, Public Works Director Craig Simoneau and other City officials available for interviews about the test program, which will be the first of its kind in the City.
The Rockville Refuse and Recycling Pilot program will test semi-automated, once-per-week, curbside only refuse and recycling pickup for 778 households in the City’s Hungerford and Monument neighborhoods. Currently, Rockville manually picks up refuse twice-per-week and recycling one-per-week. Residents now place recycling at the curb, but can place refuse either at the curb or in their back or side of their yards. The pilot program will evaluate how Rockville can increase cost-effectiveness, customer satisfaction, neighborhood cleanliness and recycling while reducing missed collections and worker injuries.
New carts—a gray one for refuse and a brown one for mixed paper recycling—and informational materials were delivered to each home earlier this week. An informational day at the Elwood Smith Recreation Center on Saturday morning, March 11, attracted 130 people who wanted to learn about the program and the carts.
During the pilot program (March 20 through Jan. 7, 2007), participating households will receive collection service once per week (on Mondays). On the weeks during the pilot period when holidays fall on Mondays (Memorial Day, Labor Day, Christmas and New Year’s Day), collections will take place the Wednesday following the holiday (May 31, Sept. 6, Dec. 27, and Jan. 3, respectively).
Customer experiences, collected through surveys at the beginning, middle and end of the pilot program, will direct the future of the City’s refuse and recycling collection program.
The new wheeled refuse carts will enable the City to use semi-automated refuse trucks, which utilize mechanical arms. Refuse workers roll the special carts close to the truck. Then, the mechanical arm empties refuse from the carts into the truck.
It is estimated that if all neighborhood refuse collections in Rockville were conducted under the provisions of the pilot program, the City would save approximately $381,000 annually. Refuse rates increased by 8.8 percent in Fiscal Year 2005 and by 6.3 percent in FY 2006 to $29.50 per month. Cost projections for the City’s refuse and recycling program will be reevaluated after the pilot program.
“The pilot program gives us the opportunity to evaluate and fine tune many aspects of our City’s refuse and recycling program,” said Simoneau.
The Mayor and Council approved the pilot program on Nov. 28 after a December 2004 survey of 2,200 households conducted for the City’s Department of Public Works showed that 72 percent of all respondents were supportive of the City making decisions that would keep refuse rates down. In the survey, 76 percent of respondents supported elimination of service other than collections at the curb to reduce rate increases and 55 percent supported once-per-week collections if provided with a special cart.
For updates on program progress, check the Rockville Web site at www.rockvillemd.gov/residents/refuse-pilot. Information also will be available through the City’s monthly newsletter, Rockville Reports, on The Rockville Channel (Cable Channel 11) and by calling the refuse/recycling line at 240-314-8568.
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