Two used automated garbage trucks are set to be bought from Kelowna. (Spencer Sterritt/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Spencer Sterritt

trash talk

City to buy extra trucks to ease Nanaimo’s garbage collection woes

Sep 18, 2019 | 10:47 AM

NANAIMO — A lengthy summer season of waste collection delays across Nanaimo will hopefully be in the past.

The City is set to purchase two used automated garbage trucks from Kelowna for $90,000.

One truck will enter service on Nanaimo roads while the other will be a reserve truck to fill gaps when other trucks come offline for maintenance and service.

The purchase comes after a significant number of garbage pickup delays and missed routes.

In early June, two garbage trucks went down at the same time for three days and hampered waste collection.

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Recycling manager Charlotte Davis told NanaimoNewsNOW having more stops along routes than anticipated is “quite challenging.”

“We projected growth of the City of Nanaimo at 1.5 per cent. In the last 18 months it’s actually been more like four per cent in terms of additional homes to stop at.”

When asked how the City-run automated waste collection program could have underestimated growth in the City, Davis said it’s secondary suites not requiring paper work which causes issues.

“You have people adding secondary suites to their homes, which aren’t brough through the development services department.”

Davis estimated roughly 60 per cent of newly built homes in Nanaimo suburbs feature some kind of secondary suite.

Complications picking up garbage at the curb is also delaying collection.

Davis said residents not flattening cardboard boxes poses difficulties for the packer within the truck. The packer must finish its job before the truck can move on to the next stop.

The two new trucks are expected to be in Nanaimo by the end of the year.

Each truck is already 10-years old.

They will join a brand new automated garbage truck, which was previously budgeted for and is expected to enter service in mid-2020.

A new route will also be introduced throughout Nanaimo in 2020, which was listed as a reason why user rates for automated garbage won’t decrease as promised.

Costs initially spiked to pay for the new trucks but City of Nanaimo staff promised the rates each household paid would drop in subsequent years.

The initial rollout of automated garbage in the City cost $440,000 extra.

A major factor behind the initial move to automation was to cut down on injuries to truck drivers, which cost more than $400,000 from 2012 to 2014.

Davis said year-to-date, delays and issues with automated garbage has cost roughly $84,000 in overtime.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit