OXNARD : City Hopes New Trash Cans Will Add Efficiency

Oxnard is on the cutting edge of trash technology.

City refuse officials have begun a test program to try out a new split trash can that accommodates recyclables on one side and rubbish on the other.

The innovation, devised by officials in Visalia, would allow Oxnard to use its 16 trash trucks more efficiently. The city now uses some of the trucks to pick up recyclables and others to pick up rubbish.

The new containers are split down the middle and feature a special crown-shaped lid consisting of two triangular flaps, one for recyclables and one for waste. Each side can hold 55 gallons.

The special lids allow Oxnard’s automatic rubbish trucks to pick up and empty the trash cans without mixing the contents, Oxnard recycling officer Stan Hakes said.

With the consolidated rubbish cans, Oxnard could pick up the trash with fewer trucks, and the spare trucks could be used to haul yard waste at no extra cost to the consumer, Hakes said.

“If you have two trucks picking up recyclables, and you can do the same job with one, you’re going to save money,” Hakes said. “Our long-range goal is to have green waste pickup without raising costs.”

The new cans cost about $92 each, according to city officials. Traditional cans cost about $55 each, but the city expects the streamlined trash collection service to make up for the extra expense.

About 1,000 residences in Oxnard’s River Ridge, La Colonia, Wilson and Tierra Vista neighborhoods have been using the 110-gallon containers for several weeks.

So far, the results have been positive, according to Hakes. The program will likely be spread out to all of Oxnard’s 25,500 residences in the coming months, he said.

“The initial reaction is, people have a lot of questions. They wonder why we are doing this, they complain that they do not have enough room for their regular trash,” Hakes said. “But after a while, once we explain all the things they can recycle, people get used to it.

“We’re excited about this,” Hakes said. “If it works in all of these areas, it will work throughout Oxnard.”