I wrote the following for our local newspaper this week....
Great to hear that Golden Valley is considering reducing the
number of garbage trucks throughout their community. With an average truck weighing 64,000 pounds,
and getting extremely poor gas mileage, it would be a big win for the
environment to consolidate this service.
I sure wish we didn’t have so many loud, polluting trucks roaming
through the city of Crystal. Certainly it is also a safety hazard having these
many trucks starting and stopping throughout our neighborhoods.
Did you know that a single waste collection truck has the
relative impact of 830 cars? That’s a lot of additional wear and tear,
especially when you multiply that by multiple garbage haulers. A Roseville study on this topic concluded
that limiting the number of garbage trucks to only one hauler could extend the
usefulness of the street 5 to 10 years.
Wow, that offers a significant savings for us taxpayers.
I would also think that the collective bargaining power of a
city, versus individual households, could also be a big win for residents.
All the best to Golden Valley as you consider this
economically and environmentally beneficial decision to have a single garbage
hauler. I hope that the city of Crystal
will soon follow.
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