Ask the PAC: Why is the same Recology truck picking up curbside trash and recycling in Petaluma?

Petaluma video raised some questions about Recology’s curbside processes.|
TYLER SILVY
ARGUS-COURIER EDITOR

Ask the PAC

This weekly feature aims to get to the bottom of Petalumans’ burning questions and provide insight into vexing daily curiosities.

If you would like your question featured in Ask the PAC, simply email askpac@arguscourier.com.

The video takes all of 27 seconds.

A large, white and green truck pulls into view from the left and screeches to a halt before shooting its mechanical arm out to grasp a blue recycling bin sitting on a curbside in north Petaluma.

The claw squeezes the bin, lifting it skyward before tilting, raining the recycled refuse into the back of the truck operated by Santa Rosa-based Recology Sonoma Marin.

It places the bin back down by the curb, and the truck lurches forward, putting another container within reach of the passenger side mechanical arm. Only this time, it’s a trash bin.

Quickly, that bin is also lifted and dumped, seemingly into the same container, and the truck carries on its way.

Question: Why is Recology using the same truck to pick up recycling and trash?

Answer: Celia Furber, the Waste Zero Manager for Recology, said the truck that appears in the video is one of the older models in the company’s fleet. Each of those models are “split-body trucks,” meaning they have two compartments that keep the recycling and garbage separate.

"The driver pulls a lever before servicing each cart, and the materials will then fall into the correct compartment,“ Furber said.

From the rear, it’s easy to see the split compartments, but from the side, the trucks look like any other trash truck - hence the confusion.

A close-up video of one of Recology’s trucks in action, posted on the popular YouTube Channel California Refuse Trucks, captures the compartment switch quite clearly. In that video, the gate-like separator can be seen lifting into place as the truck moves to collect another bin.

Unfortunately, the switch isn’t as readily visible in the video taken in Petaluma and posted to Twitter.

The single-truck curbside process has apparently raised eyebrows before, prompting Recology officials to put out an infographic a couple of years ago illustrating the two compartments.

Recology graphic shows one of the company’s two-chambered trucks. (COURTESY OF RECOLOGY SONOMA MARIN)
Recology graphic shows one of the company’s two-chambered trucks. (COURTESY OF RECOLOGY SONOMA MARIN)

For more information about Recology’s processes, go to recology.com/recology-sonoma-marin.

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