Automated Trash Pickup Set to Sweep Into Simi : Waste management: New garbage trucks can work twice as fast as old, with no extra cost to residents, officials say. Council to review plan tonight.

Trash collection in Simi Valley is poised to enter the high-tech age with a new automated garbage pickup service scheduled to begin later this month.

Under an agreement up for review by the City Council tonight, trash collectors promise to dispatch a shiny new fleet of trucks equipped with hydraulic arms that grab trash bins from the curb and dump their contents into the truck.

The service, provided by Conejo Enterprises and Anderson Disposal Service, is scheduled to start for about 6,500 customers the week of Jan. 23, gradually expanding to include the entire city by the end of June.

As part of the service, customers will receive new airtight, state-of-the-art bins designed to reduce odors that seep out of loose-lidded barrels, said Joe Hreha, deputy director of compliance for the city.

The wheeled containers will also be easier to maneuver to the curb, Hreha said. And the new service will be provided at no additional cost to customers.

At peak performance, the automated trucks can work twice as fast as the old garbage-man-heaving-the-trash-bin-into-the-truck routine, he said.

“This is an all-around great, new service,” Hreha said. “It’s something the city has been wanting to do for a long time.”

Mike Smith, president of G. I. Rubbish, the parent company for Conejo Enterprises, said he bought six new trucks at about $140,000 apiece.

Smith said his company, which has been providing trash service to Simi Valley for about 20 years, will recover the cost by improving the efficiency of service. He said he expects no layoffs because Simi Valley trash trucks are now operated by only one person.

“There is really no need to increase the rates,” Smith said. “Automation is the wave of the future, and we’re committed to providing it at a reasonable cost.”

Trash rates for Simi Valley residents are about $15 a month, the second lowest among Ventura County’s 10 cities. Only Port Hueneme is lower.

Councilwoman Sandi Webb said she is pleased that residents will not have to pay an additional fee when their trash pickup is automated.

“In some places, when they’ve gone automated, the cost has gone up too,” she said. “Here, we’re getting this great new service, and it’s not going to cost anything extra.”

The automated trash service was written into a five-year contract signed by the trash companies and the city in 1993.

It comes about a year after the city launched a yard waste recycling program to encourage residents to sort their garbage and help the city meet state-mandated trash reduction goals.

The state requires cities to divert 25% of their trash away from landfills this year and half of all trash by 2000.

With the help of a 4-year-old curbside recycling program, Simi Valley should have no problem reaching those goals, Hreha said.

The city is wrapping up a study to determine what percentage of its waste is recycled.

“With all our recycling and yard waste programs, we’re in good shape,” Hreha said.