Priority Waste reps address trustees days before July 29 rollout
Priority Waste will be unveiling 16 new high-tech trucks in Canton Township July 29.
Monday may be the most significant day in the history of Canton Township garbage collection — and that’s not exaggerated trash talk.
July 29 is the day Priority Waste unleashes its fleet of 16 new automated garbage-collecting trucks that are equipped with high-tech GPS features and cameras that record trash pick-up at each of its thousands of stops.
In an appearance that wasn’t part of the the official agenda, Priority Waste representatives Dan Venet and Paul Ruthenberg addressed the Canton Township Board of Trustees during the outset of Tuesday night’s meeting to answer trustees’ questions regarding a multiple-weeks stretch of shaky service that left yard waste sitting at curbsides for several days in some neighborhoods.
Headache-inducing issues regarding trash, recycling and yard waste will all be in the past once the new Priority yellow trucks hit the roads Monday morning, Venet and Ruthenberg assured.
“It is my goal, personally, that beginning Monday, Canton Township officials and residents will no longer have to think about garbage pick-up problems on a daily basis,” said Ruthenberg, a municipal relationships manager. “I am extremely confident that we will regain the trust of the community.”
More than ‘hiccups’
Trustees acknowledged they understood there would be “hiccups” with the monumental transition from GFL to Priority, but township employees — including those who worked in the clerk’s and treasurer’s offices — were inundated with complaint calls from hundreds of residents who wondered when their yard waste would be removed from their curbs.
Venet, Priority’s vice president of municipal sales, said the past few weeks’ transition has been “clunky” as Priority utilized GFL “assets” during the past couple of weeks, noting that GFL struggled to get to the finish line of their contract with the township.
The Priority representatives revealed that, beginning Monday, July 29, pick-up days for trash, recyclables and yard waste would return to a clockwork schedule.
They also shared that when holidays fall on a weekday — the next one being Labor Day — pick-ups will be pushed back to the next day, with Friday pick-ups pushed to Saturdays.
Important ‘bulk items’ reminder
They also emphasized that when bulk items — for instance couches and other pieces of furniture — are placed alongside the new blue automated trash carts, residents shouldn’t panic if the trash is picked up, but not the bulk items.
“The automated trash trucks cannot pick up the bulk items, but they will record the addresses where these items are situated and a separate truck will pick up the bulk items the same day, just a little later than when the trash is picked up,” Venet explained.
“So, instead of utilizing three trucks for trash, recyclables and yard waste, we will use a fourth for bulk items.”
The Priority reps emphasized that the trash and recyclables bins should not be placed in the road; rather just above the curb — and cars parked in the street should not block the bins.
Starting Monday, yard waste will be the only thing collected manually.
High-tech tools
Priority utilizes an elaborate GPS system that tracks what streets its trucks have covered so that it can deliver a report to township officials (if requested) at the end of each day.
Each truck will be equipped with a camera that will record if trash was placed at the curb at the required time.
“I recently talked to a fellow clerk whose community recently switched to Priority and he assured me that their service is amazing,” said Canton Township Clerk Michael Siegrist.
“The technology they use is top of the line. If, for instance, a resident calls in and says their trash wasn’t picked up, Priority can go back and find the image taken by the camera on the truck and determine whether the trash was actually placed at the curb at the right time. There was at least one instance when a resident called in complaining their trash wasn’t picked up; but the camera revealed they hadn’t placed the trash at the curb until 9:30 a.m., over an hour after the Priority truck had passed the house that morning.”
Venet told the trustees that Canton Township is on the verge of experiencing 21st Century garbage pick-up — a pledge that, if sustained, should eliminate daily worries regarding the removal of trash, recyclables and yard waste.
Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.
