Garbage pickup in the city will soon be limited to only what’s inside a resident’s trash can.
Mayor Tim Kyle said he has spoken with a representative with Waste Management who said the company will soon roll out fully automated garbage trucks in Kosciusko. A date has not yet been set. These trucks are already in use in the county.
The new trucks will only have a driver, and no one will be on the back of the truck.
“Their contract is by the can. So, anything they have picked up prior to that they have just been doing you a favor, because they’ve had someone on the back of the truck and they just grabbed it,” said Kyle.
With the new trucks, trash cans will need to be within 5 feet of the curb, and the metal bar on the can needs to be facing the curb. The new trucks will be able to pick up with the cans and dump the contents into the truck. Anything outside of the can will be left.
When Waste Management does a contract, the company looks at how many cans and how much waste each can holds to determine costs.
“When you’ve got another half of a can sitting out, it costs them a lot more money to depose of it,” said Kyle. “They are only responsible for picking up what’s in the can because that’s what their contract is.”
Those who regularly have more than a can full of trash should consider buying another trash can.
Kyle suggests that those who occasionally have extra trash to reach out to a neighbor to ask if they can add a bag to their can.
“The only thing I worry about is Christmas when we really have a lot of boxes,” said Kyle. “It’s a possibility Waste Management will let us set up a dumpster somewhere so people can throw away boxes. We’re talking about that, and I think that will happen.”
