Garbage pickup service revision on track

St. Landry Parish residents are to receive new trash carts beginning April 23 as the pickup service moves to trucks staffed with one person.
Katry Martin, St. Landry Parish Solid Waste District executive director, said the 96-gallon trash bins will first be delivered in Opelousas and to rural residents between Opelousas and Eunice.
Pickup schedules for the 35,000 curbside residential garbage customers will not change, he said.
The one-person garbage trucks are to begin operation April 27 and will be phased into use across the parish, he said.
The trucks are to use natural gas produced from methane harvested at the parish landfill, he said.
The change to using the carts and a one-person crew came about with a five-year extension of Progressive Waste Solutions’ contract, he said.
“Progressive selected which routes they wanted to convert first,” Martin said. “I suspect the next wave of trucks will go into service July 1 and the remainder shortly after.”
The changeover should be completed by September, he said.
Ten trucks are to service St Landry Parish fueled by natural gas.
A natural gas fueling station is planned at the parish recycling center on U.S. 190 in Opelousas. The station eventually will be available to the public, he said.
Progressive is to buy about 150,000 diesel-gallon-equivalents of renewable natural gas supplied by the district annually under the contract.
The parish pays Progressive about $5 million a year to collect residential solid waste, he said. The extended contract does not include any added costs to the parish, he said.
Garbage pickup is twice-weekly in incorporated areas and once a week in unincorporated areas.
Martin said the 96 gallon container, which holds up to 200 pounds, should be adequate for most residents.
“Usually 96 gallons will handle what a household will produce in a week,”he said. “Municipal areas are picked up twice a week so the likelihood of a problem is far less than those in rural areas, but if someone does need a second container those will be made available.”
If the extra garbage is intermittent, drivers will pick it up, he said.
“...if it gets to be routine they will be expected to obtain another cart,” he said.
An additional cart would cost from $60 to $70, but an exact price has not been set yet, he said.
Bulky items will continue to be picked up, he said.
The carts are wheeled and have heavy-duty lids.
If the are damaged or destroyed Progressive will repair or replace them at no cost, he said.
“It is a great benefit to the contractor to allow them to handle collection in this way,” Martin said. “Certainly because of the reduction in labor cost and as you know they have had serious problems with rear loaders particularly in Eunice.”
Martin said a rear loader on a garbage truck was killed in a wreck in Eunice.