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Automation eases life on trash route

The laborious work of garbage collection benefits from technology, making things easier for city workers like Luis Fernandez.

By ELISABETH DYER
Published October 21, 2005

SOUTH TAMPA - The wheels of progress are turning for Luis Fernandez.

For nine years, he heaved up to 20 tons of garbage a day into his truck. He worked Harbour Island or Palma Ceia, lifting one trash can at a time. By the end of his shift, he smelled sour and was 3 to 4 pounds lighter from sweating.

Once, in an alley off Bay to Bay Boulevard, he opened a can and a trapped opossum jumped out at him. Another time he stepped into a hole, twisted his ankle and was out of work for several weeks.

Heavy and dangerous labor used to be the norm for a city garbage collector.

Not anymore.

In July, technology gave Fernandez a lift: a fully automated garbage truck.

"I tell my wife, this truck, it does everything," says Fernandez, seated in his air-conditioned cab. "It's like a Cadillac for me."

On a recent Monday, he pulls up to two trash cans along San Juan Street. Two residents talking outside pause to watch.

Fernandez, 50, grabs what looks like a video game joystick next to his steering wheel. With a nudge to the right, a mechanical arm extends from the center of his blue truck. Fernandez presses some buttons and the arm closes around the can, lifts it and dumps the contents into an opening on top of the truck.

Fernandez watches the garbage fall via video monitor. Outside, the two men shake their heads in disbelief, then give Fernandez a two-thumbs up.

Automated trucks are part of Tampa's five-year plan to transform the way the city collects solid waste. The city has six fully automated trash routes. A seventh was scheduled to begin this week for residents bound by Bayshore Boulevard, Leona Street and Manhattan and Euclid avenues.

Automation starts with the delivery of a 65- or 95-gallon blue garbage bin. The containers are designed for the truck's automated arm.

Of Tampa's 80,000 residential trash customers, about 85 percent still have manual collection, said Mark Wilfalk, the city's solid waste manager of residential services. The remaining 15 percent have fully or semi-automatic collection. On semi-automated routes, the driver slides the trash container onto a lift that dumps the garbage.

The change has improved morale among waste collectors and reduced the number of workers' compensation claims, Wilfalk said.

The city hopes to transfer 80 percent of its trash customers to the fully automated system within the next four years, says David McCary, director of the city's solid waste department. Prior to coming to Tampa, McCary oversaw the change to automated collection in Houston and Durham, N.C.

Moving to an automated system costs the city initially but is expected to save money over time, he said. Two automated trucks, which cost $10,000 to $15,000 apiece more than the old trucks, can do the work of three manual trucks.

"It's a win-win situation," said McCary, who started his career as a garbage collector. "If someone goes 20 years working on the back of a garbage truck, their physical ability will diminish quicker than if they're working smarter with technology."

Fernandez upgraded to one of the new trucks by ranking third among 17 employees who trained to use the new technology.

"He is a consummate professional," says Walter Barrett, automated collection supervisor. "His main interest is doing his job well."

On Mondays and Thursdays, Fernandez winds through the streets of Palma Ceia. On Tuesdays and Fridays, he works in North Tampa. On Wednesdays, he's off.

"I'm a hardworking man," he said. "I like to do a good job."

When he delivered the new bins, he told customers how to place them on collection mornings: handles facing the house, 3 feet from recycling bins and other objects, and directly next to the curb.

Twice a day he takes his load to the McKay Bay Refuse-to-Energy Facility on 34th Street where it's burned and converted to electrical energy.

Fernandez was working as a chef in Tampa when he decided to apply for a job with the city. He picked up recyclables for five years, then switched to garbage, which pays more.

He learned his work ethic as a child living in his native Peru, where his mother owned a restaurant and his father fished. They would tell him and his nine siblings: "You don't work; you don't eat."

He enjoys his current job and feels privileged to be driving one of the city's new trucks. The only con? Since making the switch, he has gained 5 pounds.

But his wife doesn't mind.

"He comes home much cleaner," she said. "I don't mind so much wrapping my arms around him."

Elisabeth Dyer can be reached at edyer@sptimes.com or 226-3321.

AGE: 50

JOB: Garbage collector for the city of Tampa

FAMILY: Wife, Ruth; adult daughter Katherine; and stepsons Stefan Toro, 15, and Jonathan Toro, 13

HERITAGE: He was born in Peru and until recently wore his hair braided down to his waist as is customary for Incan men.

HOME: Forest Hills

FORMER JOBS: Sailed around the world five times as a merchant marine while working for Aristotle Onassis. Worked as a chef in New York City and Tampa.

LANGUAGES: Spanish, Italian, English and Greek

AFTER RETIREMENT: He plans to move to Costa Rica or Montana.

BEST CHRISTMAS: Last year he netted nearly $5,000 in cash gifts from customers on Harbour Island and used it to take his wife on a cruise to Puerto Rico and the Bahamas.

[Last modified October 20, 2005, 09:03:09]