Vehicle tracking and route management systems are rapidly becoming mainstays in waste fleet operations, so it is only a matter of time before just-in-time (JIT) scheduling becomes as routine on our side of the materials management equation as it already is elsewhere in business. Those who deliver recycled materials back into production channels are well aware of the challenges and benefits of JIT, so we have a good starting point from which to expand the practice. Thoughtless scheduling routines that send trucks scurrying out of the gate simultaneously only to end up in queues at transfer stations, MRFs, or landfills—never desireable—are no longer necessary, or acceptable. The tools for JIT are in place, the operational model is well established, the economic advantages clearly are visible, and the only thing missing is the belief that the positive control over fleet activities can really work in the waste environment…that and the will to make it happen.
In the very near future, many jurisdictions might wish to look closely at the success enjoyed by most big-city commercial haulers in carrying out their activities at night when traffic impacts are minimal, and to adopt a similar strategy. Obviously, the transition from daytime to nighttime collection will stir up a hornet’s nest of objections, but the advantages—adequately presented—should help overcome many of them.
Already we are seeing strong, noise-cutting improvements in collection and compaction mechanical and hydraulic systems, and it seems to me just a matter of time before we see natural-gas and hybrid-powered collection vehicles becoming mainstays in the arena. While the principal driver for this might be the increasingly stringent emission restrictions, of equal importance will be the greatly reduced noise signature of both…especially the hybrids with constant-speed engines tasked with charging a suite of energy storage systems rather than having to meet peak demands cyclically.
Then if you have a dozen or so years of tenure left in your career, you’re liable to come face-to-face with rail haul…if not in your own jurisdiction, certainly in one just a short way up or down the track. Why? You name the reason or reasons, but among them are landfill closures coupled with persistent NIMBYism, transportation costs, highway traffic concerns, and environmental justice, along with a host of nonwaste issues that will change the face of our cities, many of which are at best barely livable and certainly not sustainable.
Although the public does not expect it to lead the charge in the makeover of its cities, waste management certainly has a role to play—and a crucial one at that. I think we have before us the opportunity to address left-behind issues that litter our failed experiments in community living in the industrial and postindustrial age. It seems to me solutions to the movement of waste in large cities everywhere—but particularly those severely hampered by traffic congestion—actually might help lead the way to the adoption of technologies that will revitalize the experience