Sam Scorup - Daily Herald | Posted: Thursday, November 13, 2008 11:00 pm
In an effort to become more environmentally friendly -- and to save time and resources -- the city of Salem is adopting a garbage pickup plan that will require some residents to move their trash cans across the street, a city official said.
Starting the first week of December, Salem, which is teaming up with Allied Waste Services to find ways to help the environment, will pick up trash cans only on one side of most streets. This means some residents will be unaffected, while others will have to cross the street and take their garbage receptacles to the designated side of the road, Salem city finance director Jeff Nielson said.
The new pickup method will allow garbage trucks to make a single pass on the road instead of going up and down to pick up on both sides of the street. Allied Waste has successfully performed this procedure in other Utah County cities, including Mapleton.
In Mapleton, the program began in early September. Residents were able to avoid a 75 cents-per-week increase in their garbage bill, thanks to the new program, Mapleton city administrator Bob Bradshaw said.
"It was extremely successful -- better than Allied Waste or the City Council anticipated," Bradshaw said. "We've had no complaints from residents; they were very wiling to participate in the scheme in exchange for avoiding an increase in utility payments."
Vehicle wear and tear and the time required for garbage collection have been reduced. With fuel and labor savings stemming from the one-pass plan, Mapleton may be able to arrange for cost sharing with Allied Waste, Bradshaw said.
Five or six of Mapleton's busiest streets still have double-sided trash pickup, in order to reduce potential danger for pedestrians moving their cans to the other side of the road, Bradshaw said. Just like in Mapleton, some of Salem's busiest roads will not be participating in the new collection format.
For the first week in December, Salem residents may place their garbage cans as they have in the past. Allied Waste will place cans where they need to be along with a note of explanation, Nielson said. From that time forward, residents should move their cans to their specified area in time for collection.
In a city newsletter, Salem city stated it was working on getting recycling bins in place, and thanked residents for cooperating with the change.
"Hopefully, we have the cooperation of everyone and it will be a good thing," Nielson said.
• Sam Scorup can be reached 344-2561 or sscorup@heraldextra.com.