Republic Services details missed pickups, transload fixes and automation options for Peabody

Republic Services representatives told the Peabody City Public Services Committee on March 13 that the company logged 46 missed residential pickups in the city since Jan. 1 and has taken steps — including a transload agreement with Covanta — to reduce route delays while urging the city to move from manual collection toward automated carts and trucks.

The report came during a presentation by Dan Higgins, area sales manager for municipal sales at Republic Services, and Brian Skene, general manager for Republic's Northeast Massachusetts business unit. Higgins said the company's route records show 242,000 truck drive-bys in Peabody since Jan. 1 and a reported on-schedule completion rate “about 99.9098%.” He added the company typically recovers reported missed pickups the same day or the next day.

The committee was shown a packet of materials that included route and service data; the committee voted to receive the packet as a late communication. The packet, Higgins said, also documented operational challenges Republic faced last year at the region's disposal/energy-from-waste facilities — long wait times at the city's designated incinerator forced crews off routes and created federal-hours-of-service complications for drivers.

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