Last Friday, Oxford Solid Waste Department announced they would be trying a more efficient method of collecting rubbish to help better serve their customers by changing truck routes.
Amberlyn Liles, the Oxford superintendent of sanitation, said recycling and rubbish will only be collected once a week, as sanitation will continue to be collected twice a week for residents that put garbage cans at the curb.
“It will give more of a timed method to line up rubbish the same days as recycling and sanitation,” Liles said.
Rubbish is any kind of bulky waste like furniture, wood, sticks, leaves, grass and natural debris. The Oxford Solid Waste Department is responsible for collecting residential garbage and providing commercial dumpster service within the city.
The new method of cleanup is particularly beneficial to areas that have larger tree canopies like central Oxford and the older neighborhoods in the community, Liles said.
“This new schedule will allow not just one truck but several trucks to work together to get a neighborhood completely collected,” Liles said.
The new route will have all the trucks working in one area of the city on a certain day instead of them being scattered all around the city. One area of the city will be covered per day on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Wednesdays will be used to catch up on delays, clean areas backed up with rubbish and to make up for holidays. The effect of the new route in the city will not affect costumers too much, according to Liles.
“It will affect people on the coming holidays- Thanksgiving and Christmas. Their days may be pushed a day before or a day behind,” Liles said.
It is not yet determined what the cost difference between the new route and the old route will be.
“We do not know at this time the results, but we can compare our gas consumption in the coming months,” Liles said.
This past Monday, Nov. 10, was the first day the new system ran in Oxford.
“This is not cutting service. This is trying to serve the customers best,” Liles said.
