Cape recycling numbers up; trucks hit speed bump

After the first five months, Cape Girardeau's collection of recyclable material is up 57 percent over last year, which is almost twice the amount city officials hoped for when the new program was being dreamed up.

The one catch: The new trucks used for pickup have hit a mechanical snag.

A problem with rear wheel seals has at times caused grease to leak on the truck axles, causing overheating, said Public Works director Tim Gramling. Additionally, he said, the truck chassis, basically its lower frame, has also been grinding against the bed of the trucks while navigating the city's tricky terrain.

"More of our problems have been with the truck than anything else," Gramling said. "We thought we would have issues with highline wires, getting around parked cars, things like that. But those things have been as smooth as can be."

The manufacturer, Peterbilt, is fixing the problem by putting on smaller tires and making modifications to the chassis at no cost to the city, Gramling said.

"So we don't expect this to be an ongoing problem," Gramling said, noting that it has caused breakdowns fewer than 10 times. And those didn't cause work stoppages, he said, because of an extra truck.

Smaller wheels and a slight modification to the chassis will allow the trucks to navigate through town, which is especially hilly and has more rural roads than other cities, said Tim Blankenship, operations manager at Peterbilt of Sikeston, Mo., who has been assisting the city with the truck modifications. The larger tires are causing the chassis to be pushed up into the bed, especially on rougher roads.

"We have identical trucks at St. Peters, and they're not having any of these problems," Blankenship said. "What we're going to do is make some modifications that will allow the trucks to maintain the weight capacity to do their jobs, and also enable them to go around these cul-de-sacs and sharp turns without scrubbing the tires completely off."

One modified truck was given a test run in the particularly twisty Snake Hill area and had no problems, Blankenship said.

"It seems like it's working out," he said.

Overall, city officials are still beaming about their $2 million investment to overhaul its trash and recyclables collection program. From May 3, the first day of collection, through August, the city has picked up 585 tons of recyclable material, which is 57 percent more than during the same period in 2009.

Meanwhile, residential trash pickup is down 5 percent from the same period last year from 2,756 tons to 2,622 tons, which likely means at least some of that 134 tons is going into recycling instead of out to the landfill.

"I would never have dreamed it would be this successful," said solid-waste supervisor Mike Tripp. "And it's really surprising how quickly the citizens caught on. If we get 10 calls about people who are putting their bins in front of mail boxes or something, that's a big day."

Tripp also pointed to the 52 percent increase of recycling participation. In 2009, about 2,722 residents participated in curbside recycling from May until August. This year, with the new system, 4,147 residents participate.

Gramling said the new system will also save money and decrease the demand for rate increases. Fuel costs won't go up, despite the fact that the trucks have to go up and down the same streets to hit houses on both sides. That's because the trucks are bigger and, while more fuel may be used initially, they won't have to return to the substation as often to dump the material, he said.

"We really won't know what the total savings will look like until we get to about a year and can take a closer look," Gramling said.

Cape Girardeau City Council member Loretta Schneider has long been a proponent of recycling in the city, dating back two decades.

"I think we just have an outstanding program that other cities can use as a model," she said. "I think this shows that that people do realize how important recycling is."

smoyers@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address:

2007 Southern Expressway, Cape Girardeau, MO