|
By
John Trotti
 |
|
John
Trotti
|
For some,
the New Year is a time of reflection, but firmly into
my second decade with MSW Management, I find
myself once again saddled with the irresistible urge
to drag out my soapbox and talk at great length about
what I see lying ahead for waste managers. While I don't
expect what I propose here to evoke so much as a gentle
"gee whiz," still I'm willing - like the school
principal perched above the dunk tank at the homecoming
fundraiser - to suffer mightily for my self-indulgence.
The splash button is located at editor@forester.net
if you think I've gone bonkers.
Rising costs,
mounting fiscal deficits, security concerns: A host
of social, political, environmental, and public nuisance
issues - everything from justice, noise, odor, traffic,
and anything else that pits neighbor against neighbor - all
combine with the growing awareness of serious infrastructure
shortcomings to shred municipal budgets. It's
not so much that we don't know or care about the
situation. We as responsible citizens have to make hard
choices about where our money goes, so turning over
more of it to government does not rank high on our wish
list.
Show me
an adequately funded public program and I'll show
you one that has never heard of solid waste. Much of
the blame lies with you and how well you've been
doing your job since if the public does not sense catastrophe
right around the corner it is not inclined to dive for
the wallet to fix "what ain't broke."
You might see some chinks in your operation's
armor, but as long as garbage is picked up and disappears
with a minimum of fuss, you're nowhere near the
head of the line for the bucks.
Adding to
the problem is the fact that there is no aspect of waste
management not undergoing change, and it seems certain
this trend will do nothing but accelerate in the foreseeable
future. So it is important to ask ourselves where we
are headed in the hope that somehow we can have a positive
impact on events rather than constantly find ourselves
in a pursuit curve.
Just
in Time for the New Year
One has to look no further than collection and transfer
operations - the most expensive per-ton parts of
the system - to see where change can and must take
place and that indeed we are engaged in a waste-moving
revolution. Already automated systems have had a huge
impact on collection practices … a trend bound
to continue if no other reason than the well-understood
benefits of safety and economics.
More recently
vehicle tracking and route management systems have elbowed
their way into the field, 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
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.
Lights,
Camera, Action
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 hybrid-powered
collection trucks introduced into the arena. While the
principle driver for this might be the increasingly
stringent emission restrictions, of equal importance
will be the greatly reduced noise signature of constant-speed
engines tasked with charging a suite of energy storage
systems rather than having to meet peak demands cyclically.
The
Right-of-Way Stuff
Then if you have a dozen or so years of tenure left
in your career, you will see 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 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 drive the technologies for needed change.
Correction
In "MRFs and Transfer Stations on the Eve of Destruction"
in the November/December issue, page 48, Enterprise
Baler was the principal supplier of equipment, including
conveyors erroneously ascribed to Hustler Conveyor,
at Norcal's San Francisco MRF.
Send
John an Email
MSW
- January/February 2004
|
