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Solid Waste plans expansion of household hazardous-waste hours, advances MRF design and deploys in-truck tablets
Summary
Solid Waste staff reported FY26 budget items including success expanding household hazardous-waste (HHW) facility hours, progress on material-recovery facility (MRF) design, a pilot tablet rollout for collection trucks, fleet and staffing updates, and a proposed fee increase for small multifamily developments.
Mesa Solid Waste Department leaders updated the City Council April 17 on the department's proposed FY2026 budget, operations and longer-term materials-management planning.
Director Sherry Collins said the department expanded hours at the household hazardous-waste (HHW) facility at 2412 North Center Street to 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.; that change launched in July and staff reported higher usage during the new midday hours, with January 2025 the busiest month on record for the facility. Collins said the HHW site also hosts a swap shop for usable donated materials and that the facility helps keep hazardous items out of the regular waste stream.
Collins and Deputy Director Joe Judice described other operational work: the city's MRF (material-recovery facility) design has reached 15% completion and staff continue to vet options with joint partners, including the town of Gilbert; staff emphasized the project remains years and many millions of dollars from final construction. Collins said the department has improved truck availability but continues to prioritize fleet procurement and maintenance.
The department also piloted tablet-based in-truck systems for route management and customer reporting. "We were actually able to kick off a live version of that for a small portion of our operation this week. And so far, it's going great," Collins said.
On budget items, staff identified two modest revenue actions and a small operating reduction: renegotiation of the school-district contract (Mesa Public Schools) produced additional annual revenue; a planned barrel audit (confirming container counts to match service charges) is expected to yield additional revenue when complete; and fuel forecasting tied to the compressed-natural-gas fleet supports a modest reduction in the fuel line. Collins also presented a proposed increase in a one-time multifamily residential development fee (2'4 units) from $62 to $109 to better reflect service costs for new small multifamily developments.
Council members asked about advertising use of the HHW facility and lithium-ion battery disposal; staff said the city has partnered with other Valley cities on education campaigns about battery disposal, and expanded HHW hours have been implemented cautiously to avoid overwhelming capacity.
Staff said they will return with additional details on the MRF planning timeline and the multifamily fee proposal if council wants further analysis.
