It’s in the can: Rocky Top to receive new trash receptacles in June
Rocky Top residents will be getting new trash cans sometime in June according to an updated timetable announced during last Thursday’s City Council meeting.
But they won’t be picked up automatically as intended until the city’s new garbage truck arrives sometime in July. The truck’s chassis will be delivered in late May and sent to Texas for installation of its superstructure and automated equipment.
The new garbage truck and the special cans are similar to ones already in use in Clinton. The truck will have a powered side-loading feature that picks up each can separately and dumps it into the top of the truck.
It was supposed to have been delivered before now, but manufacturing delays pushed its completion to July, City Manager Michael Foster said during Thursday’s council meeting.
He had said earlier this year that the chassis was supposed to be finished in March.
As for the new trash cans, “The city will provide the first one as part of the garbage fee,” Foster said earlier.
Those cans will be distributed along with a letter to trash-collection clients with instructions on how to use them, he said.
“Everything’s got to be in the cans,” Foster said. “It will be just like what Clinton did. That’s the route everybody’s going.”
Clinton uses a third-party contractor for garbage pickup, but the city of Rocky Top operates its own service.
The automated truck will help the city save money, Foster said. “It’s less expensive than having to pay three people to operate the garbage truck.”
The city had expected to have to borrow money to buy the new garbage truck and cans, but instead is going to be able to pay for them out of the budget, Foster said.
“We had raised rates on garbage to pay for it, and were going to take out a loan, but we got enough money to pay cash for it,” he said. That’s because the truck has been on back order for several months.
The city has ordered about 700 of the new trash cans, Foster said. “We have about 660 customers right now.”