Residents got a sneak peak at the city’s new automated trash collection trucks last week during a special ceremony where the winners of the naming contest received prize packages for their winning entry.
Just before the community headed in to City Hall to take part in the first commission meeting of the month a crowd gathered in the circle in front of the building to take in the new automated trucks.
Four trucks bearing four unique names were onsite for the event. As part of the Cart-To-Curb rollout the City of Plant City held a Name That Truck! Contest and received more than 100 entries as the community came out in force to have a chance to name one of the new vehicles.
“Our residents showed their excitement for Cart-To-Curb with their creative name suggestions for our newest trucks, and we were thrilled with their response,” Jill Sessions, director of Solid Waste for Plant City, said. “These trucks are great additions to our community. Cart-To-Curb will increase the efficiency of trash collection in the city and create a safer, healthier work environment for our employees. It also will reduce operating costs, help stabilize rates, and improve the cleanliness of our neighborhoods.”
The residents who won the Name That Truck! Contest attended the meeting and posed in front of the trucks bearing their clever names as commissioners and city staff applauded their creativity.
The winners and the selected names were: Michael Stanley (“Cart-Right”), Charles Haines (“Dumpasaurus”), Emanuel Espinoza (“Tippy”) and Sandra Ward (“Oscar”).
The names are displayed across the truck’s cab doors and each of the four winners received a prize package for their efforts.
The new automated trucks have a mechanical arm that is designed to life specially designated carts and empty them into the truck body on its own. This means the driver will not need to leave the vehicle, greatly reducing the risk of injury on the job and expediting the process in any weather. The carts (aka garbage cans) available to residents are in three sizes: 95, 65 and 35 gallons.
The process of transitioning to the fully automated system will come in phases.
The first phase includes approximately half of the City of Plant City’s single-family residential customers.
The conversion to the automated trash collection will start in August of this year and the other half of the residents will convert in August 2022.
The carts for Phase 1 will be delivered in late July and City Manager Bill McDaniel said there will be further communication closer to the initial launch for affected residents on when to use the carts.
There is a chance some people may have a day change for trash pickup, though the process of two-pickup days a week will remain the same. If that is the case the residents in question will be contacted well before the switch.
McDaniel said the city has relied heavily on its multi-media materials to spread the word on the Cart-To-Curb program over the course of the past year. Informative panels have been held that allowed the public to swing by with their questions, flyers and brochures have been passed out, multiple videos have been released regarding the new agenda for trash collection and the city has reached out to many of its partners to spread the news.
He added that it’s important that residents remember that the cart stays with the house. So if they move the cart remains at the home to which it is assigned.
To learn more about Cart-To-Curb and when it is coming to your neighborhood, visit plantcitygov.com/mycart, call (813) 757-9208 or email solidwaste@plantcitygov.com.