Pilot Program in Torrance Will Test Automated Trash Pickup

About 6,000 Torrance households will take part in a pilot program to test a system that uses automated trucks to pick up refuse.

The program, approved 7 to 0 Tuesday by the Torrance City Council, is to begin this spring in 10 areas throughout the city. The trucks are equipped with mechanized arms that pick up and empty specially designed garbage cans without the driver’s leaving the cab.

Torrance officials hope eventually to automate refuse pickup for 80% of the one- and two-family residences in the city. In fact, plans were under way for a citywide automated system until last month, when some City Council members and residents began questioning whether the concept needed further testing.

The pilot program is expected to cost $250,102 annually, compared to $318,158 for the manual pickup program now serving the 6,000 homes in the test areas, according to city projections. Although equipment for the automated system costs more than traditional equipment, the city anticipates saving more than $117,376 in labor costs in the pilot program.

The union representing city refuse workers favors the automated program, a union representative told the City Council.

“Some of our people are putting 10 tons of trash on a truck each day. That’s quite a strain on your body,” said Patrick Astredo, vice president of Local 1117 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents 400 Torrance employees.

Residents in the test areas will be able to choose from 64- or 101-gallon containers supplied by the city. They will be surveyed about 90 days after the program begins.

City officials hope to use the equipment and employee time saved in the automated program to expand the city’s curbside recycling program. The City Council on Tuesday also approved enlarging the existing 4,000-home pilot recycling project by 20% to 50% during the next few months.