After spending nearly $16 million for 46 new, automated garbage trucks, DeKalb County said the new fleet would be deployed by December.
But many of the trucks have been sitting idle in a county parking lot, Channel 2 Action News reported. Ten have never hit the streets to collect trash and recycling.
The county said the new trucks will save money because they are more technologically advanced and use “automated side loaders.” The old trucks require a driver and two people that ride on the back, while the new loaders can be operated solely by the driver. Each has a robotic arm that can grab garbage and recycling bins, as well as cameras and steering that allows them to make tight turns in cul-de-sacs.
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In a news release in early November, the county said it planned to deploy the 46 trucks by December. But the news station found that a number of the new trucks — sometimes as many as 15 — have been sitting in a parking lot off Chamblee Tucker Road during regular trash and recycling pickup days.
The county commissioners previously approved the $15.8 million purchase for the trucks, which began arriving in November 2018. They cost about $340,000 each.
Credit: DeKalb County
Credit: DeKalb County
DeKalb CEO Michael Thurmond defended the use of the trucks, and a county spokeswoman said a training class on the new equipment was scheduled for this week.
“It was a matter of getting the trucks in, of course having some of them retrofitted, training staff,” Thurmond told Channel 2.
The county said in a statement that there is a shortage of qualified commercial driver’s license operators that has slowed hiring for the positions. Thurmond directed the county human resources department to do an assessment of starting salaries for the drivers, since some private waste management companies in metro Atlanta currently pay more than the county.
The county estimated the new system decreases weekly labor costs by $1,200 per truck. Tracy Hutchinson, the director of the Sanitation Division, said that will not lead to layoffs or a reduction in the workforce, because three-person crews still operate about 200 of the county’s older garbage trucks.
DeKalb officials found they could complete a full route of 800 to 1,200 homes in seven to eight hours with the automated trucks, compared to the three-person system that usually takes 10 hours.
Over the past year, the cities of Pine Lake and Stone Mountain switched from private providers to the public sanitation service run by the county. By the end of January, Doraville is expected to follow suit, the county said. Between the three cities, about 5,500 more customers will get their trash and recycling picked up by DeKalb’s trucks.
The county picks up trash and recycling for more than 170,000 customers; the cost to residents will not increase because of the new trucks.
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