Solid Waste

Deputy City Manager: Mike Mathews Sanitation Director: Steve Miko

The Sanitation Department is pleased to present the 2019 Annual Operations Report. The Department is divided into three main Divisions; Collections, Landfill, and Recycling. All three Divisions are supported by a top notch Administrative Office.

The Sanitation Department team pursued the following three Goals and major activities:

2019 Goals • Keep Solid Waste Fund Fiscally Sound • Promote Continuous Improvements • Modernize Department Assets

Waste Collections Using Sanitation Department vehicles, the total tons of solid waste collected from City streets and alleys increased by almost 1% from last year.

The biggest gain was in grappler service. The collection of bulk items and yard debris from the alleys increased from 5,868 tons in 2018 to 7,112 tons in 2019. The increase is attributed to the Department being able to field four grapplers more often each month than in previous years. The chart below also shows a slight increase in commercial rear-loader service. The increase of 480 tons is attributed to more businesses opening in the City. Workload for the rear-loaders is at maximum now, so further growth in tonnage may require the addition of another commercial route.

Landfill Operations The total amount of solid waste coming to the landfill from city trucks, county trucks, residents, and private haulers increased almost 4.3 % from last year; a difference of 3,729 tons.

Over the last three years, the amount of tonnage coming to the landfill is slowly trending upward. The growth in private disposals at the landfill increases revenues.

The 16% decline in private disposals in 2018 from 2017 is misleading because in 2017 the landfill buried a large number of hail damaged shingle roofs that drastically increased the tonnage in 2017.

Landfill Reuse Operations. The City’s Landfill diverted or reused 1,278 tons of yard waste, mainly in chipping of green waste (wood) and reusing the wood chips on muddy landfill roads and on the dump areas. Tire recycling was static.

Solid Waste

Deputy City Manager: Mike Mathews Sanitation Director: Steve Miko

Recycling Center Output The items from our nine (9) recycling container locations in the city are brought to the Recycling Center for separation, bundling, and transportation to larger recycling centers in New Mexico. The chart below compares the number of bales leaving the center in 2018 and 2019. Overall, tons from the Recycling Center decreased from 307 tons to 208 tons. A vacancy at the Recycling center in 2019 contributed to the decline in the number of bales produced. The Center is currently fully staffed.

Administration The Administrative Office of the Sanitation Department received 10,181 phone calls in 2019; including 4,775 container issues reported by our own drivers. All calls, requesting departmental services, are converted to work orders for better tracking. Many customer service calls are received daily by the Administrative Office, however, customer information type calls (What time do you close?) are not recorded by the department.

4,775 - Driver Reported – When a driver reports a container that is blocked, or they are unable to service do to safety concerns.

3,336 - Grapple Work Orders - Include 498 Curbside pick-up requests and 1,075 Grapple calls to pick up Heavy Containers (HCs). Since we have been utilizing the NEW Curbtender Sideloaders, our Grapplers have been able to stay on steady routes. From Jan-May Grapple drivers taken off route for HC’s totaled 905, with March having 313 of those HC’s. With the addition of three Curbtenders in the fleet, from June-Dec, grapple drivers were only taken off route for 170 Heavy Containers. The older AMREP side-loader trucks can’t lift heavy 300 gal. containers.

1,953 - Container Work Orders - 649 containers (300 gal.) were repaired or replaced. Residents also called in 273 missing containers and 44 metal containers were repaired or replaced. In addition to tracking requests for service, the Administrative Office also tracks complaints and complements.

81 - Complaints - Most complaints received by the department were about drivers missing or not servicing containers (30). Some situations were taken care of by letting the caller know their days of service or that we are still in route. Others were taken care of by sending a driver back to the address. Grapple complaints totaled 22, with only 2 grapple complaints after June. The department received 14 complaints about drivers dropping trash; all were due to trash that is not bagged. There were 7 complaints of dropped containers; the containers were either replaced if broken or the office sent an employee to place upright. Lastly, 8 complaints were received about vacating alleys. Whenever possible, collections are moved curbside to get out of difficult alleys for driver safety. The remaining complaints are about residents complaining about their neighbors or illegal dumping; most of which are turned over to Code Enforcement.

36 - Compliments “Thank you for the follow up. You don’t see that anymore. Keep up the great work.” N. Heights Driver helped to alert the owner of dogs fighting in the back yard. She is very thankful, they were able to rush the dog to the vet and the dog is doing better. Fulkerson Dr. “Grapple Drivers are doing an awesome job.” Sycamore and Bland

The information provided in the report is configured to provide a clear and concise summary of the Sanitation Department’s 2019 workloads and major work accomplishments in comparison to prior years.