STONE HARBOR – The collection of solid waste and recyclables has become a countywide problem. While several municipalities are grappling with new demands from outside contractors, other municipalities, like Stone Harbor, which perform the collection task in-house, are seeking greater efficiencies.
After a year in 2021 when residents and property owners in Stone Harbor endured a less-than-satisfactory process caused largely by a labor shortage for seasonal staff, Borough Council has been wrestling with ways to improve the efficiency of the trash collection effort without sacrificing the traditional services that make the borough’s approach unique.
At a May 3 meeting, council members discussed a draft of the proposed ordinance amendments and approved the purchase of new equipment that they hope will facilitate a more efficient process.
Public Works Committee Chair Reese Moore presented the draft ordinance and obtained broad agreement from his colleagues. It will be introduced at the May 17 council meeting.
Changes were mainly focused on what is often referred to as the concierge service, where borough employees retrieve the trash containers from their storage locations on each property and return the cans to those locations after emptying them.
Residents are not required to place their containers at the curb and do not have the responsibility of retrieving the empty containers from the curb. This service will be maintained.
Under the new regulations, residents will be required to place trash containers outside fenced areas that contain pools or pet enclosures. This is the only substantial change to the collection process. Trash receptacles left inside the fenced areas on the day of collection will not be retrieved by borough staff.
There was some discussion at the meeting concerning the retrieval of cans inside a fenced pet enclosure as long as the pet is not present. In the end, the council asked for no change to the ordinance language, which indicates that the containers must be outside of the fenced area for collection.
The twice-a-week summer pickup schedule that was sacrificed in 2021 due to staffing limitations will be reinstated in 2022.
The meeting saw council vote to authorize the purchase of 16 tippers, two for each trash truck, at a cost of $123,000. The devices are essentially mechanical arms that do the job of lifting the containers and depositing the trash in the truck.
The containers must be ANSI certified and up to 96 gallons in size. Moore said data would be collected this year to document the efficiency gains from the tippers.
Since most of the rest of the collection process is unchanged in the new ordinance, a great deal rests on those efficiency gains to rectify the problems that plagued collection last year.
The borough appears to be expecting a return to something resembling traditional summer staffing levels, with any shortfall accommodated by the mechanical devices and the absence of the need to enter and retrieve from fenced areas.
Other changes approved at the meeting included an incentive plan for summer employees that will allow workers to leave with full pay after satisfactorily completing the collection process. This is subject to supervisor verification and approval.
Moore also announced that a convenience center for self-disposal of trash is now operational in the marina area.
Several members of council said they had received community feedback on the trash collection process. The changes outlined at the council meeting represent the response that officials hope will meet the expectations this summer.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.
