Talkin' trash
Photo by JOSH MCDONALD The city of Kellogg’s new Autocar Frontloader Garbage Truck. The $300,000 machine will revolutionize the way garbage is picked up and transported in Kellogg.
KELLOGG — The city of Kellogg has a made a serious move toward efficiency with its most recent purchase of a new garbage truck.
The frontloading truck, made by Autocar, cost more than $300,000, but will quickly pay itself off by its efficiency.
“It really is a ‘one-truck does all’ kind of thing,” said Craig Lewis, Kellogg city superintendent. “It can pick up 32-gallon residential cans all the way up to 300-gallon dumpsters with the front and then we can do front-load dumpsters from 2-yard up to 8-yard.”
What they hope to accomplish is that with the bigger trucks, they will be able to dump bigger dumpsters, which means many of the commercial businesses they serve won’t have to be dumped as many times per week.
“It’s going to save us time, money and manpower each week,” Lewis said. “It will also hopefully allow us to tighten up our residential routes each week. I’m hoping to do our residential routes in just four days.”
The truck is a one-man operation, which will allow the city to not have to designate a second person to the garbage routes and that person can help in some of the other areas the city is working that day.
The city is now going to begin the process of replacing many of the dumpsters throughout the city to make it compatible with the new truck, and as that number of compatibility rises the truck only gets more efficient.
“With that one truck, it’s going to save money and time which should help us keep our prices down for our residents,” Lewis said. “The garbage receptacle on the back of the truck is twice the size of the old one, so we went from being able to pick up 20 yards to 40. Which will save on trips to the transfer station. It’s just way more efficient.”
With all of the upgrades Kellogg has been making in the city, this is just one more big move according to Lewis.
“This is another way for us to move into the 21st century,” Lewis said. “Everything is now automated. A few years ago, we made the move to the one-size cans and now we are moving into the one-truck does all. We’re pretty excited about it.”