Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
Neighborhood report
Big blue bins are plopped in Palma Ceia
Garbage trucks use a motorized arm to lift and dump. Regular trash cans can no longer be used.
By BRIAN WHITE
Published July 22, 2005
Palma Ceia is the latest neighborhood to receive blue trash bins as part of a city plan to relieve sanitation workers by taking garbage collection out of their hands and putting it into mechanical ones.
The large bins are designed to work with automated garbage trucks that use a motorized arm to lift and dump trash into the hopper, said Mark Wilfalk, the manager of residential services for the city's Solid Waste Department.
The city owns only one such truck now but will have 12 by the end of the year, he said. By 2010, the department plans to use automated trucks for 80 percent of its customers, which is about 50,000 households.
About 1,100 wheeled bins will be distributed by Saturday in the area bounded by W Palmira Avenue to the north, W Leona Street to the south, Dale Mabry Highway to the west and S MacDill Avenue and the Crosstown Expressway to the east, Wilfalk said. The first went out on Tuesday. Residents will be required to use just the blue bins for garbage disposal once they receive them, because the mechanical arm won't work with regular trash cans, he said. Yard waste and recycled items will continue to be collected separately.
The automated trucks are designed to work more efficiently than current trucks, so fewer will be needed to do the same work.
It will also be easier on the backs of those who remain in garbage collection, Wilfalk said. Workers will control the arm from inside the truck cab, perhaps resulting in fewer injuries and workers' compensation claims.
In 2003, five neighborhoods received bins: Belmont Heights, Sulphur Springs, Harbour Island, Davis Islands and South Tampa near MacDill Air Force Base.
Parts of North Tampa between Busch Boulevard and Fowler Avenue received 1,000 bins two weeks ago.
Residents who need a second bin can call 348-1111 to reach the Solid Waste Department's customer service line.
[Last modified July 21, 2005, 08:56:10]
Share your thoughts on this story
|
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Email editor
