The City of San Jose enters the mix with new split-body collection trucks.

By Ellen D. Ryan

A quarter century ago, many cities began addressing the growing problem of too much garbage and too little space in which to dump it indefinitely. As a result, the mantra that "less is more" has emerged in municipal environmental programs throughout the country and made its way to the City of San Jose, the third largest city in California and on the West Coast.

Since 1985, San Jose has used competitive bidding to drive down the costs of garbage and recycling collection, as well as the cost of landfill disposal, while expanding the categories of materials its residents could recycle. This has enabled it to become the first California city with a population of more than 500,000 people to exceed the state-mandated landfill diversion requirement of 50% by 2000.

Starting this summer, the City of San Jose will switch from source separation to commingled recycling for its 195,000 single-family and 85,000 multifamily dwellings. "Clean 'n Green San Jose: Services with Curb Appeal" is an enhancement of the city's successful "Recycle Plus" program that almost tripled recycling volumes when it was introduced in 1993. Under the new program, residents will place all recyclable materials into a single cart rather than separating them into four different containers.

A key component of the new program is the introduction of new split-body collection trucks to be used by the city's two haulers for garbage and recycling–Norcal Waste Systems and GreenTeam - for single-family-home routes. Powered by cleaner-burning fuel, the split-body trucks will pick up wheeled recycling carts (96, 64, or 32 gal., depending on customer preference) during the same trip in which they pick up the garbage carts.

Commingled recycling, a nationally emerging trend, has some clear advantages over traditional collection methods for the front-end user. It eliminates the need for sorting of recyclables and guesswork in the home and encourages greater participation, especially at multifamily dwellings. From a customer-service point of view, it's both a practical and an aesthetic improvement.

San Jose's curbside services will begin July 1, 2002, coinciding with the implementation of new multiyear collection and processing service contracts. The city's request for proposals, issued two years ago, contained detailed information about program objectives, service districts, and cost strategies, but provided significant latitude in determining modes of collection. Both Norcal and GreenTeam, selected from a pool of seven bidders and with well-deserved reputations for customer-service satisfaction, proposed the use of split-body trucks.

Norcal chose the 33-yd.³ Rapid Rail automated sideloader, custom produced by Heil Environmental Industries, for its needs. Wayne Grundmeier, district sales manager for Heil, explains that the vehicle's two compartments use a hydraulic sweeping panel capable of compacting commodities to about 25% of their original volume, significantly reducing the number of trips to material recovery facilities (MRFs) and landfills, while ensuring that the recyclables aren't compromised. The cycle time is fast enough for drivers to service the same number of homes even though the vehicle is handling two distinct commodities. The trucks can operate on conventional or alternative fuel (liquefied natural gas, compressed natural gas, or any of the new diesel mixes), with mileage largely depending on engine displacement and gross vehicle weight.

Norcal's trucks will use PuriNOx, a diesel blend that reduces nitrogen-oxide emissions by 14% and particulate matter by nearly 63%, according to John Nicoletti, the company's general manager. The fuel also is readily available and powered by cleaner alternative fuels, which were factors in its selection.

GreenTeam researched several vehicles and decided to go with the Automiser Cool Hand, manufactured by Labrie Equipment Ltd. of Canada, which "fit perfectly" with the waste hauler's co-collection strategy, according to Weslie Brandon, community outreach supervisor. GreenTeam currently services 87,000 single-family homes with 28 recycling trucks and 23 garbage trucks. The Labrie fleet can do the same job with 38 of the dual-purpose trucks.

The new vehicles run on B100-grade biodiesel, a cleaner-burning, fully renewable fuel made from soy and other grains, cooking oil, and sewer grease. Biodiesel is more expensive than conventional fuels, Brandon acknowledges, but GreenTeam's contract with the city includes financial incentives to use alternative fuels. The new trucks run much quieter because the engine doesn't rev when the collection arm is picking up the carts. According to Gil DeLaCerda, a driver for GreenTeam, a resident he spoke with remarked, "It's so quiet, how will I know when to wake up now?"

Both Norcal and GreenTeam say that driver training is not a significant concern since the split-body trucks operate largely in the same fashion as conventional automated collection trucks. The key difference is the packer paddle, or flipper gate, which sits inside the hopper and rotates 180º to seal off the compartment not in use, ensuring that recyclables and garbage are not mixed. "We installed a color-coded lighting system in the cab of the vehicle, which informs the driver which compartment is currently 'open' to be dumped into, and there is a monitoring camera in the hopper, which shows the operator the position of the paddle," Nicoletti explains.

Still, even if the vehicles and drivers operate precisely as they should, some residents might mistakenly believe that recyclables and garbage are going into the same compartment because the packer blade is out of view. That's where customer relations plays a key role, Nicoletti stresses. Because drivers will handle both collection functions and remain on the same routes, they will be expected to address concerns whenever they are raised.

The public has had a chance to see GreenTeam's new trucks in action on test routes in select San Jose neighborhoods, and Brandon reports that the reaction has been favorable. Those who wonder how the driver manages to keep the garbage and recyclables separate are shown the diverter joystick in the cab and taken to the rear of the vehicle, where the split compartments are readily evident.

At community meetings, attended by both city officials and representatives of the waste haulers, a few concerns have been raised about whether commingled recycling will require more sorting - and therefore more labor and higher costs. A brief explanation of MRF technology and the fact that increased recycling volume will generate more revenue have eased concerns.

Starting in November 2001, the city embarked on an extensive trilingual campaign to ensure that residents know all about the "Clean 'n Green San Jose" program and its goals. Numerous community meetings were scheduled to help single-family residents make informed decisions about selecting the right-size recycling cart for their households and to reassure residents that the program's enhancements (which include more frequent street sweeping and the option of using a green yard-trimmings cart in lieu of loose-in-the-street pickup) are environmentally sound. In addition, the city included information about the program along with the bimonthly garbage bills, developed a Web site (www.sjrecycles.org) that provides updated information, produced an infomercial for cable television, and advertised in local media. The initial response has been markedly positive.

The City of San Jose's outreach, combined with the waste haulers' efforts, should minimize angst about the new collection process. But nothing succeeds like success, and the city is confident that "Clean 'n Green San Jose: Services with Curb Appeal" will be a winner for everyone.

Ellen D. Ryan is deputy director with the City of San Jose Environmental Services Department.