Columbia officially begins automated trash collection with roll carts
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Bright and early Monday morning, Columbia began collecting trash in a brand new way.
The city's residential curbside refuse collection services with the newly distributed roll carts began for Monday customers at 7:30 a.m.
Matt Nestor, public spokesperson for Columbia Utilities, asks residents to give the trash collectors some grace as they get used to the new trucks and process.
"The guys are new to the trucks and the routes are different than what they're used to running, so it may take them a little bit longer today, but, give us a couple of weeks or a month and the more they get used to it, the faster they'll get," Nestor said.
Nestor said the city is still short on refuse workers and relying on people from a temp agency to make ends meet. However, the use of automated collection allows to city to work efficiently with fewer employees. The new trucks lower the required number of workers from 16 to 13.
"It gives us a solid enough foundation that we think we should be able to do this," Nestor said.
According to the city's website, roll carts should be placed at the curb no earlier than 4 p.m. the day before your collection and no later than 6:30 a.m. the day of collection. Once collected, roll carts need to be removed from the curb no later than 10 p.m. that day.
All trash must be inside the roll carts with the lid closed to be collected. If the cart is overflowing or there is trash outside of the cart, it will not be collected, the city says. On non-collection days, roll carts must be placed inside your home or close to it.
Roll carts are required to have their lids closed and all trash must be inside, any carts that are overflowing or any trash that is outside of the cart will not be collected, according to the city.
Any customers who need their cart emptied before their pick-up date can request additional cart collections - for a fee. A 35-gallon roll cart additional pickup will cost $7.70, 65-gallon will cost $12.20 and 95-gallon carts will cost a fee of $16.70.
Within the first 120 days, customers who require a different roll cart size can exchange them at no additional charge. After 120 days there will be a $25 exchange fee per cart.
The City of Columbia told ABC 17 News that at least 5,000 roll carts were distributed to residents.
Recycling collection will resume on March 18th and will run on a bi-weekly basis.
