One year of roll carts in Columbia boosts safety and efficiency

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

March 4 marks one year since the City of Columbia rolled out roll carts.

Columbia Utilities spokesman Matt Nestor said automated trash collection was a long time coming.

"Conversation started in 2012 and possibly even before that," Nestor said. "And then there was actually an election in 2016 where people voted to not have roll carts implemented. So we dealt with that for a little while."

Nestor said during that time, Columbia residents were able to put out as much trash as they liked.

"They were leaving couches and tables and that kind of stuff out on the curb and expecting our crews to pick them up. So we needed to change that," Nestor said.

So in 2021, the city introduced logo trash bags, limiting the number of bags per customer each week.

This system went on for a couple of years before the topic of roll carts re-entered council meetings. The Columbia City Council unanimously voted to get rid of city logo bags in December 2022.

The city asked the Solid Waste Utility Group to seek public opinion on the future of automated trash collection in 2023. That led to a curbside collection study to see if the majority of respondents were in favor of roll carts in Columbia.

And after years of debates and City Council votes regarding Columbia's trash issue, the results of the survey were released in February 2023, showing the majority of respondents were in favor of the idea.

The Columbia City Council approved roll carts on March 20, 2023.

Nestor told ABC 17 News in an email that the city spent about $2.1 million to purchase roll carts for customers. He added that the city does not make money back from roll carts.

The city has collected about $26.4 million in total solid waste revenue over the past year, according to documents provided in response to an ABC 17 News record request. The city's fiscal 2025 expected revenue for solid waste is $27.6 million.

The fiscal 2025 budget includes $2.7 million for vehicle replacement.

"The city owns the roll carts," Nestor said in an email. "Customers are not paying for the carts; customers pay only the collection fee."

He said while resident response was mostly positive this past year, there were some complaints made shortly after the transition to roll carts. He said one of the biggest complaints was bags being left out and residents upset that they were not being collected.

"We're not going to do that," Nestor said. "That's more of an understanding now. They've gotten past that."

Refuse collectors will not take overflowing carts or trash outside of carts. All trash must be inside roll carts with the lid closed to be collected.

Garbage collector Kerston Roberts worked on and off for the City of Columbia since 2012. She has been with Solid Waste Utility for a little over a year.

"I know this is the place that I want to be, I love," Roberts said. "When I heard about the roll carts, I was like, 'Yes, I want to be a part of it.' And so here I am today."

She said roll carts brought her back and keep her working for the city.

"The main thing is we did this for the safety of our crews," Nestor said. "For a number of years we were short staffed in collections, and that made it very difficult. So having a system where we could hire new people and get them to stay was very important to us."

Nestor said the Solid Waste Utility dealt with a lot of injuries before roll carts. The way collectors do their job is now entirely different. He said riding on the back of the truck and hopping down off the bumper to run and grab a trash bag was a danger in and of itself.

"Just landing on the ground, you could twist an ankle, twist the knee, hurt your hip, hurt your back," Nestor said. "And trying to pick up something you think it's a 10-pound bag. It turns out to be a 50-pound bag. Having the automated collection has been a lot better for our workers."

Nestor said the city has been able to keep workers on longer, helping with overall efficiency.

The new trucks also lowered the required number of workers from 16 to 13, according to previous reporting.

“It's been very exciting," Nestor said. "As with any new program, there's going to be some learning curves."

Roberts, the sanitation worker, said excess trash outside of roll carts was an issue early on.

"In the beginning, it was all new," Roberts said. "So people weren't quite sure, 'Okay, is this too much? Are they going to pick this up?' So it's come a long way. People are really getting on board and cooperating. That's a good thing.”

Residents have the option to upgrade their roll carts' size or request additional ones should they already have the 95-gallon cart (largest). The fee for each additional 95-gallon cart will be $13.50 per month, according to the city's website.

One month after receiving roll carts, 80-90% of April's roll cart exchanges made were for a larger size, according to previous reporting.

Roberts said residents use those upgrade options for several reasons.

“You have to consider the holidays," Roberts said. "There's different occasions where you may have excess trash. So why not have a bigger cart that would accommodate that? I think a lot of that also has to do with they have maybe a bigger family so they have to accommodate those things."

Now a year later, Nestor said the roll cart system has been a success.

"Talking with our workers, they seem to really enjoy the new program," Nestor said. "It's much easier on them physically. It's much more efficient. So we think this is definitely the best system for Columbia.”

Roberts said roll carts helped alleviate some of the stress of the job on day one.

“It was definitely much easier physically and much faster," Roberts said. "The other way was very physical. People were getting hurt and things like that. This was definitely better and more efficient.”

Roberts said collecting trash in a brand new way had its challenges, especially for collectors who were getting used to driving on the other side of the truck.

"I wasn't the only one who felt the awkwardness of the right hand side," Roberts said. "It was different."

She said she can remember how worn out and sore-armed she would be from physically lifting the trash into the truck before roll carts.

Roberts said the city's switch to roll carts has made trash removal easier for residents as well.

"We've had a lot of positive feedback from the community about the carts,” Roberts said. “They [residents] put it inside a container that's protected [from] the elements and they don't have to worry about animals necessarily tearing the trash up or spreading anywhere."

Nestor said it is nice to have collectors stay inside the truck, out of the elements on bad weather days.

“When people are having to get on and off the back, riding on the back of the truck and in these kinds of conditions, especially when there's snow and it's colder and icy, it's not fun for anybody," Nestor said. "We used to have people call out sick or call in a vacation day or something just because they didn't want to have to deal with the elements, putting more pressure on the staff who did show up."

Nestor said the new system has prompted more people to show up and boosted morale.

"I see the looks on these guys' faces when they're coming to work," Nestor said. "It's an awesome thing."

Nestor said as with any new program, kinks will continue to be worked out.

"The one thing now is when we had the snow and ice just a couple of weeks ago, we found that these new trucks don't handle those conditions as well as the older trucks used to," Nestor said. "So that's something we're going to have to evaluate and see if we can remedy that situation. But I think overall, for our workers and for the community, it's been great.”

Roberts agreed.

“I’m just thankful for the carts," Roberts said. "It's a wonderful idea. I'm so glad we converted to the carts."