The days of the garbage collector tossing trash into the backs of trucks could be numbered.
The City of Kingston is looking to automate the collection of curbside trash and green bins within the next few years, but says the switch will not result in any layoffs among the 32 existing staff.
An Aug. 1 staff report to the environment, infrastructure and transportation committee says the time is right to plan for a new system for solid waste collection, which is currently done the old-fashioned way – by hand.
The report says three-quarters of the city’s dozen garbage trucks are due for replacement over the next six years, making it the perfect time to abandon the manual collection system.
“The solid waste industry has been undergoing changes for the past 10 years, with many municipalities moving to automated garbage collection,” explains transportation and public works commissioner Brad Joyce, who oversees curbside collection in the city.
The switch to automated pickup requires vehicles that are equipped with a driver-controlled, mechanical arm that grabs the trash cart and empties it into the truck.
The transition will also impact residents as they would no longer place garbage bags on the curb for pickup. Instead, the city would supply residents with “collection carts” for solid waste and organics collections that are compatible with the automated truck.
Recycling bins will not be included in the change as the city is expected to exit the business of recycling collection and processing after July 2025, when the province shifts blue box responsibility to industry producers.
Councillors on the committee voted unanimously to support the phased-in changes, which are expected to go to council for a final vote on Sept. 5.
The motion supports the automation concept and instructs staff to begin planning for the transition, prepare future capital and operating budget impacts, and provide a report to council recommending required amendments to existing municipal bylaws to switch to a cart collection system.
“This feels like a really great opportunity,” Coun. Wendy Stephen says.
“I’m absolutely thrilled to be moving in this direction,” Coun. Connie Glenn adds.
But the plan is not without its skeptics.
Justin Hogan, an employee of the city’s solid waste collection department, told the committee that while automated collection will likely reduce the number of injuries on the job — an estimated 86 workers have reported injuries on collection routes over the past 10 years — the new system only requires solo workers to drive the big trucks and operate the mechanical arm that lifts the bins.
He says it’s a lot easier for collectors to carry single trash bags in between cars and over snowbanks rather than try to manoeuvre the much larger bins into the mechanical arm’s reach.
“All that extra pulling to get it to the truck’s arm, that’s a concern.”
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He also says having two operators — a driver and collector — is safer to watch for cyclists and pedestrians around the big trucks rather than turning the routes into a one-person job.
The proposed changes signal the biggest change to Kingston’s trash collection system since it brought in the one untagged bag limit over a decade ago.
The city says one of the biggest benefits is related to employee health and safety. In 2014, the waste management industry was ranked the fifth most dangerous industry, resulting in increasingly high health and safety coverage costs and claims, especially associated with the physical toll of the manual collection systems.
“Each driver manually handles approximately 3,400 kilograms of waste each day,” according to Joyce’s report.
Bringing in automated trucks would do away with the need for workers to manually lift bags and trash cans into the back of a truck, and replace them with a system using standardized carts.
As Joyce explains: “Automated collection systems feature a mechanical arm that the solid waste vehicle driver operates using a joystick and camera in the cab. The arm picks up a trash cart, dumps it and places it back at the curb. Rarely is the driver required to exit the cab while conducting their route pickup.”
Guelph has been using this model for almost a decade, while Peel Region and Toronto adopted the system about five years ago and Kitchener and Waterloo are in the initial phases of adopting an automated collection system, he adds.
Other pros and cons of the program are tied to the new, larger garbage carts, which the city would supply to every resident for free.
The wheeled bins are easier to place on the curb, more secure from birds, rodents and pets and may allow the city to increase weight limits for the amount of trash to put out weekly.
However, they also require more storage space and may be difficult to navigate on narrow streets, uneven terrain and flights of stairs.
“There will be some areas in the city which will likely be unable to utilize a full automated collection system, however, in those areas, the city could implement a semi-automated collection system,” Joyce explains.
He says a gradual rollout of this system over six years — phasing in one neighbourhood at a time — will ensure the city has time to deal with each unique issue that arises while relying on the experience of other municipalities.
Even though the system requires fewer staff to operate, the city says layoffs will not be required due to normal attrition rates within the public works and solid waste department.
“Over the six-year period, any staff that could be affected by the lower staffing requirements will be absorbed into the other positions in the public works department.”
Joyce says the city has consulted with its largest union, CUPE Local 109, and says it agrees with this approach.
On the financial side, Joyce estimates a total of $4.8 million in savings to the operating budget between 2024 and 2029, and a total of $3.9 million increase to the capital budget over the same period, mostly to purchase garbage carts for residents.
Staff estimates the 32 full-time waste collectors will be reduced to 16 as the automated service is phased in over the next six years.
The city would also have to change a raft of bylaws, such as property standards bylaw, to allow garbage cart storage in the front yard, front porch or side yard.
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