Pickups even in a whiteout

John Howell
Posted 2/12/15

Tuesday was better than Monday. At least it wasn’t snowing, but Richard Oakes was still dealing with a form of whiteout.

Oakes is one of 14 sanitation and recycling truck drivers who, with the …

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Pickups even in a whiteout

Posted

Tuesday was better than Monday. At least it wasn’t snowing, but Richard Oakes was still dealing with a form of whiteout.

Oakes is one of 14 sanitation and recycling truck drivers who, with the exception of the day of the blizzard and the day afterward, are making regular pickups. Yet there are very few things “regular” about this winter or what these crews are going through.

The one constant is that there’s still trash and recyclables to collect, no matter how much snow we get.

“A lot of people are putting them [bins] out,” recycling and sanitation supervisor Christopher Beneduce said Tuesday morning.

On average, he said, a single sanitation truck collects 14 tons of trash per day. The daily average for a recycling truck is 5.5 tons. Routes consist of 850 to 900 stops per day.

Snow has made it challenging for both homeowners and those driving the collection trucks. For residents, digging out the bins and then finding a place to put them by the road already narrowed by plowing is often difficult.

That was obvious Tuesday as this reporter accompanied Oakes on his route to the south of West Shore Road on streets leading down to Brushneck Cove. Some bins were perched on snow banks, others were backed up against fences, which presents problems, and still others were stationed at the end of drives cleared of snow.

“This is the way we love ’em,” Oakes said pulling alongside a trio of bins lined up at the end of a drive, each about two feet from each other. Oakes eased the truck about seven feet in front of the first bin, all the time watching his alignment from a rear view mirror. Then, using his gloved left hand he worked a control module that could have come from the latest PlayStation. The truck shuddered and vibrated as he maneuvered a hydraulic arm, grabbing the bin with “fingers” before lifting and dumping in the truck. An onboard camera shows when the bin is empty of its contents. Notices are affixed to bins in the event that non-recyclable items are being improperly discarded. Sanitation crews do the same thing when they find recyclables in the trash.

The city requires residents to place recyclable bins at curbside as a prerequisite for sanitation collections, and that hasn’t been altered by the onslaught of snowstorms.

“Snow makes plastic magnetic,” Oakes says as he moves forward to the next house.

He explained: As soon as there is snow, homeowners seem to nudge their sanitation and recycling bins together, leaving little room for the trucks “fingers” to slide between them. At one property, the recycling bin was in front of the sanitation bin. Oakes dumped it. He then placed it further down the drive so the sanitation truck could make its pickup.

“I love my job,” says Oakes. “It’s fun. I’m very lucky to have a job I love.”

That may sound a bit overboard, but Oakes does drive a relatively new and technically advanced piece of equipment (it’s three years old); he can play the Cat Country music he enjoys and he gets to watch the kids grow up. Oakes has been driving trucks for 33 years, but not all of them in Warwick. Nonetheless, he said, since coming here he’s gotten to know people on his routes and enjoys seeing the kids who once waved to him driving their own cars.

“They remember me and say I haven’t changed,” he says with a smile.

While Oakes, with sunglasses perched above his cap, may not look different to some, snowed in neighborhoods can look a lot alike.

“Everything looks the same as everything,” he said.

That makes it difficult in neighborhoods where streets are narrow to start with and there’s no place to turn around. In those cases, he backs the truck. Oakes said he tries to avoid driving on people’s lawns. And there have been the occasions where he’s hit mailboxes. It happens, no matter how careful he is.

The day for drivers starts at 6:45 a.m. and ends at 3:15 p.m. Generally, they complete a route by 1:30 p.m., at which point they drive to the landfill and the Rhode Island Resource and Recovery Center in Johnston. On completing their run to Johnston, they return to the city yard, where they are responsible for cleaning their truck and fueling it for the next day’s run.

As for tips on assisting collections under adverse conditions, put the bins in driveways and not in the road, and pull them back in as soon as possible.

What was that?

“Well, if we get more snow, we don’t want to get them hit by plows.”

More snow? Ugh.

Comments

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  • patientman

    Good job

    Thursday, February 12, 2015 Report this

  • HerbTokerman

    .. and providence still hasn't picked it up for 3 weeks in some areas.

    goes to show how good, experienced leadership will make a huge difference in city services.

    Thursday, February 12, 2015 Report this

  • patientman

    Yeah maybe Providence Chief Operating Officer Brett Smiley will resign from the embarrassment of execution by his DPW.

    Friday, February 13, 2015 Report this