Cameras, iPads part of plan to improve garbage collection

 1636785067 
1669800931

César Mota, Pixabay

Birmingham is optimizing its trash pickup service.

The City Council voted Tuesday to approve a three-year contract with Routeware, a software company that will collect and analyze data to determine ways the city’s garbage collection can be more efficient.

“Each day when we have drivers and supervisors leave (work), that’s historic knowledge that walks out the door with them,” Joshua Yates, the city’s director of public works, told the council. “This system will (place) an iPad in the truck, where anybody can sit in that driver’s seat and know exactly the route they’re supposed to be driving. … Consider this the infrastructure backbone for our fleet.”

The software will also include an “accountability” component in the form of video surveillance.

“When we go by the house, there’s video basically showing that we did our job, or what was out there that may have hindered us from doing our job,” Yates said. “It’s an accountability tool for everybody, us as well as the citizens we serve.”

The software will also allow for an “opt-in” recycling program designed to streamline pickup routes.

“Basically, when we get our data on recycling and who wants to recycle, we can build routes around that so we can make sure that we’re picking them up in an efficient and effective manner,” Yates said, adding that the city’s current method “is a lot of waste and inefficient, and it leads to a lot of misses. We get a lot of complaints on that, and this is one thing that can reduce the volume of complaints we receive.”

The city will pay Routeware $491,254.60 for the first year of the contract, $303,495 for the second, and $327,894 for the third. The first year will be more expensive because of initial hardware costs, Yates said, while the city will pay Routeware only for software services in the second and third years.

The city has taken other steps to streamline its garbage collection program in recent months. In October, it kicked off distribution of new, streamlined garbage carts that are compatible with the city’s new fleet of mechanized trucks. Distribution of the new carts, which include GPS trackers so that they cannot be removed from their assigned households, will continue into 2023.

District 3 Council Valerie Abbott called the Routeware agreement “a miraculous change” and lauded Yates for “bringing public works out of the dark ages.”

 

Trump taps Musk to lead a ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ with Ramaswamy

President-elect Trump announced a "Department of Government Efficiency," or DOGE, that will be led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, focused on shrinking the federal government.

Georgia counties certify the election, as fraud claims dissipate after Trump win

Every county in Georgia has certified its general election results. There had been concerns about election certification, but with Donald Trump's victory, those worries have largely gone away.

‘Orbital’ by Samantha Harvey wins 2024 Booker Prize

Samantha Harvey has won the 2024 Booker Prize for her science fiction novel Orbital. The novel follows six international astronauts as they orbit the Earth for one day of their nine-month space mission.

Pentagon secrets leaker Jack Teixeira is sentenced to 15 years in prison

A federal judge sentenced Jack Teixeira, a Massachusetts Air National Guard member, to prison after he pleaded guilty to leaking highly classified military documents about the war in Ukraine.

A methane pollution fee on oil and gas faces a cloudy future under Trump

The Biden administration issued a new fee on climate-warming methane pollution, but the EPA regulation faces an uncertain future under President-elect Trump

Here’s who Trump has picked as cabinet members and key advisers

President-elect Donald Trump is building his team, filling out cabinet and advisory roles with those considered to be fierce loyalists. Here's how his new administration is taking shape.

More Front Page Coverage