Garbage contamination endangers workers, machinery in Raleigh

Wearing a neon yellow T-shirt, Alonzo Adams checked his truck tires, giving each a couple of hearty kicks. One had blown out on the road Tuesday, stealing an hour from his work day.

Wiping a bead of sweat off his forehead with a white towel, Adams climbed into the driver seat, heading out from the Wilders Grove Solid Waste Services Facility in east Raleigh on his morning route. The sun barely peeked over the horizon, but about half of the 77 trucks and 108 crew members that serve the city daily had already left the parking lot.

“Most of us try to get in and out,” Adams said. “Beat the heat.”

As he drove through winding, hilly cul-de-sacs, the 20-year veteran unloaded curbside garbage carts into his truck using a robotic claw attached to his truck, an automated side loader.

With just a few flicks of his wrist, Adams maneuvered a joystick to extend the claw, lock it on to a cart, then flip the cart’s contents over into the body of his truck. A metal blade cut through the trash to compact it into the vehicle.

He breezed through dozens of carts in less than 10 minutes, then hopped out to see why one had spilled trash all over the ground.

The culprit? A 5-foot palm tree that should have been put in a yard waste cart was tangled in the compactor.

But that’s far from the strangest piece of waste Adams has seen incorrectly thrown in garbage carts. He said some people have put toilets in their carts.

“You would be amazed,” he said.

8 hard-to-recycle items and what to do with them in the Raleigh or Durham areas

Trash that’s not trash

Raleigh’s Solid Waste Services department consistently sees incorrectly disposed waste in people’s garbage carts, operational supervisor Adrian Sykes said. Items include lithium batteries and cleaning supplies to paint and unfired bullets.

City Council member Corey Branch raised the problem during the council’s last meeting July 2 , saying the hazardous materials can endanger workers.

When disposed of incorrectly, such items can hurt machinery, the environment and sanitation workers, Sykes said.

Assistant City Manager Michael Moore said a small fire started in a waste truck because of a child’s scooter battery. Last week, a worker broke out in hives after coming on contact with an unidentified chemical that may have been used in cleaning supplies, Sykes said. She was still unable to work as of Wednesday.

“You see stuff like that, it really puts you on high alert,” Sykes said. “You never know what could set it off.”

The dangerous waste makes workers “more cautious, more aware and thinking about the safety of (their) crews,” Sykes added.

Other items and substances that shouldn’t be put in normal garbage include motor oil, propane containers, needles and construction debris.

Incorrectly disposed waste also affects the city’s recycling program.

Sykes said generally, about 80% of recycling loads are accepted by Raleigh’s recycling service Sonoco. That means they’re clean enough that hand-sorters can prevent non-recyclables from clogging up the machinery or ruining the recycling output.

Recycling from Raleigh’s Central Business District is different, however. No waste coming from the area can be recycled because of garbage contamination, Sykes said.

Search this interactive map to find the best places for hard-to-recycle items in the Raleigh area

How city seeks to improve recycling awareness

The city plans address the garbage and recycling contamination issues with increased education about proper waste disposal.

When workers see wrong items in garbage carts, they place labels on the uncollected container listing what items were incorrectly disposed of.

The department started using those labels, also called “oops” tags, in 2005, but they’re still a central piece of a larger city campaign to educate Raleigh residents about what to throw away where.

In early June, the city also launched an app called Raleigh Reuse, which answers user questions about collection schedules and where to dispose of different items — including hazardous waste.

“The best way to avoid these things going into the waste stream is to never put them in the waste stream,” Moore said. “And to make sure that folks understand the alternative disposal locations.”

Through these initiatives, Adams said the contamination problem seems to be improving.

“Everything’s a process,” he said.

Even as he hoisted the palm tree back to the curb, Adams’ soft smile didn’t leave his face. He said he loves his job and his customers, especially the kids who wave to him as he drives by.

Sometimes, residents will offer workers water and Gatorade, Adams said.

Serving customers and cleaning up the environment is why Adams’ job is important, he said — even if his truck occasionally breaks down or he finds a toilet in a garbage cart.

“Rain, sleet or snow — trash must go,” he said.

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It’s against the law to throw plastic bottles (& other items) in the trash in NC