Automated arm picks up Calgary garbage

Taking out the trash has a high-tech spin in six Calgary communities starting Friday, as the city tests a new automated garbage collection system.

Instead of a sanitation worker lugging garbage into a truck, a giant mechanical arm controlled by a joystick will pick up special wheeled bins from the curb.

About 15,000 homes in Cedarbrae, Huntington Hills, Mount Pleasant, Citadel, Deer Run and Dover have been given the plastic bins with a hinged lid, which hold about three to four standard sized garbage bags.

There is no extra charge to residents or any change to the collection schedule, said the city on Thursday.

The automated system should make garbage collection safer for workers.

"In the last few years, we've been having a lot of trouble with some of the sharps, needles, et cetera, glass and nails, wood inside some of the bags and this is going to help solve everything," said Bryce Hill, who's been a garbage truck operator for 21 years.

"You have the weather to deal with. You have objects in the alleys, the ice, the snow, the rain, the heat. The bags that are overweight, that's another problem.The amount of bags, repetitive motion is a big one."

The six communities were chosen for the pilot project based on the need to test a combination of geographic details, including front street and back lane collection as well as inner city and suburban areas, said the city.

The garbage bins will be modified if they turn out to be too big for some alleys and garages, added city officials.

It's expected the same automated trucks, called Expert 2000, will handle the blue containers to be used next year for Calgary's curbside recycling program.