Infrastructure Committee to shift city trash pickups to four-day schedule, plans route overhaul

The Infrastructure Committee heard Tuesday that city staff plan to move municipal trash collection from a five-day to a four-day schedule (Tuesday–Friday) early next year, a change officials said would simplify holiday schedules, allow a major route redesign and reduce costs.

Matt Purvis, identified in the meeting as the council liaison for National Waste Services, told committee members the change is aimed at reducing holiday confusion and enabling a route modernization that will cut redundant travel, lower operational wear and tear, and give the city greater control over service delivery. "Early next year, we're shooting for...early February, we will be moving from a 5 day collections schedule to a 4 day collection schedule," Purvis said.

The committee was told the new schedule would make Mondays an in-service day for driver training and vehicle maintenance. Purvis said the shift can be executed with the city's existing vehicles and that the in-service day will allow regular maintenance and driver training that could reduce service disruptions.

Why it matters: Staff estimated that about 96,000 of the city's 144,000 customers will see their pickup day change under the new plan. Purvis also said consolidating routes would reduce the number of haulers handling city collections from four to three and increase the share of customers served directly by Metro.

Costs and savings: When asked whether the change requires new trucks, Purvis said it can be implemented with the current fleet. He estimated the move will save the city a minimum of $3.8 million a year on contracted hauling costs, a figure he said excludes fuel savings.

Public outreach: Purvis outlined a multi-channel communications effort before the change: three waves of media and social messaging, an online lookup tool and app updates, direct mailers to customers, stickers on affected carts and shareable newsletter copy for council members to distribute.

Next steps: Committee members discussed timing and communications; no formal vote on the schedule was recorded in the transcript. Purvis said staff expect to begin outreach in December and January and to implement the schedule change in early February, subject to final preparations.

The meeting adjourned without a recorded committee vote on the four-day schedule; follow-up details and a more detailed route optimization report were promised at a later meeting.