Automated trash collection in Bangor, Maine, to start June 29

Bangor, Maine, will make the switch to automated trash pickup beginning June 29, reports Bangor Daily News. Households that receive curbside pickup can expect a new trash bin in the next two weeks.

Following a move to “one bin, all in” trash pickup, with recyclable items being mixed in with the non-recyclables, Bangor last year also opted to use an automated side-load garbage truck.

According to the article, Bangor households will each receive a 96-gallon wheeled, lidded trash bin starting the week of June 15. The bins can hold up to 250 pounds of trash, and they will come with instructions on how residents should place them outside of their homes.

Any trash left outside the bin will not be picked up, and the lids must remain closed.

The Bangor City Council last year approved a new waste collection contract, in which residents mix their recycling and trash, so that it can be separated at Hampden, Maine-based Coastal Resources of Maine. The new waste trucks will use a robotic arm to pick up the trash bins and lift them overhead in order to empty their contents.

The contract will save the city an estimated $172,101 over five years by removing the labor that’s required for workers to manually empty barrels of waste into the backs of trucks, the article reports.