City Service Ride-Alongs Part 2: Waste Services & Transit Community Action Team
This is part two in a blog series about my experience this summer with site visits and ride-alongs to learn directly from our frontline city workers delivering essential services across a multitude of lines of businesses. I appreciate all of the teams spending time with me. I value learning about direct lived experiences, and it was incredible to see Council budget decisions translated into real-world applications, and how funding - whether adequate or inadequate - facilitates or hampers our staff’s ability to deliver on their job.
Curb Side Waste Collection
Riding along with waste collectors on their routes was eye-opening. I joined the crew for their opening shift, and hopped into Hayden’s truck for an entire morning collecting black bins from the curb in the Walker neighbourhood in Karhiio. For the afternoon, I had the chance to grab some recycling bags on Alan’s route in the Southeast. But like most things, accidents do happen, and his truck had an unexpected coolant spill. He and his leaders who were in the area acted quickly and professionally. Together, and with the help of a resident, we managed to keep the situation under control and cleaned up in an hour.
All in a day’s work for their team. Many things stood out to me throughout the day, and the collectors shared great insights.
The City’s entire residential curbside waste collection is split about 50/50 between City staff and private contractors, who cover the east and west side of Edmonton respectively. At the City, we have 100+ collectors who drive 11 rear-loading and 65 automated side-loading trucks to collect black and green bins, along with another 30 or so trucks for recycling. These staff work tirelessly in 10-hour shifts 4 days a week to keep up this essential service. The balance between contractors and City staff allows us to efficiently cover all of Edmonton, effectively leverage our inventory of vehicles, and get into all corners of the City to collect waste. For example, some contractors have special equipment like rear-loaders that can more easily get into tighter alleyways, which are characteristic of many central and core neighbourhoods. For waste collectors, a typical route covers between 900-1300 homes. In Walker, where we were collecting waste, there are about 900 homes in the route as a newer development neighbourhood. And these routes are getting bigger and bigger all the time as Edmonton grows; all the while gaining additional routes in new neighbourhoods.
With such a large area to cover, efficiency is important. Since the 3-stream collection policy went into effect City-wide in 2021, we have procured trucks with automated arms that grab the bins, allowing each truck to be more easily operated by one person. However, automation doesn’t necessarily make the work easier. As routes increase (both in volume and in distance), staff members have to keep an eye out for additional hazards on the road when operating such heavy-duty equipment, making the job more mentally taxing. Automation also doesn’t mean less collectors are needed in the City, since the fleet has grown to service the different sizes of bins that we see. With the introduction of 3-stream collection, there were a number of homes who switched to the smaller 120L black bin - it is great to see more and more Edmontonians doing their best to live a low-waste lifestyle.
On the recycling side, we have some of the oldest trucks that have seen sizable wear and tear with the constant stop-and-go motions. Despite their age, I heard a lot of positive feedback from staff members who like to use them because the motion of throwing the blue bags is easier on the body, versus taller, newer trucks with arms which can cause more strain on the throw. Regardless, many like the manual labour, being more out of the truck and having more interactions with residents.
When trucks are full (most can take about 8 tons), they head to the Edmonton Waste Management Centre on the East end for a dump, and then head straight back out to finish the route or pick-up a new route. If you haven’t been, I definitely recommend checking out the EWMC - it’s always fascinating to know where your garbage goes. Waste management is also where a lot of innovation is happening. The truck I was riding in was in the middle of a pilot with an emission tracker to estimate how much carbon is being released by the fleet. In another few months, the team will experiment with hydrogen tanks installed on these diesel trucks, and learn about fuel range and emissions, which will support the City’s efforts in energy transition.
When asked what is something that can make their lives a lot easier - whether it is policy, work configuration, or something else - I heard a few resounding answers from our frontline workers: cart placement, public education, and newer recycling trucks that makes it easier on the body. So please do your part and help the crews out by keeping your bins and bag 1 metre apart and free from parked vehicles or other obstructions!
Finally, I was struck by the strong team culture, seamless service delivery, the positive reception from members of the public, and the deep pride that our staff have for their job.
Transit Community Action Team (TCAT)
I had the chance to join peace officers from the Transit Community Action Team (TCAT) for a coffee engagement pop-up at the Churchill LRT station. These pop-up engagements happen at transit stations across the City on a regular basis, for the officers to connect with Edmontonians, answer their questions, and build a presence in our transit network.
TCAT is different from regular patrol Peace Officers on transit. Their team proactively goes to ‘hotspots’ around the City where there are more frequent calls for responses every day. This team operates in transit only, which helps them better understand the issues in our system, and also build relationships with people using transit and stations for different purposes. During our coffee, I saw officers greeting transit regulars whom they were familiar with. The approach for TCAT is to be a consistent presence in the transit network, with “high-visibility and high-engagement” deployment which aims to reduce and prevent disorder and crime in transit hotspots, and support safe mobility for all users.
Naturally, I was curious about their day-to-day roles and responsibilities. In Edmonton at any given time, we have two TCAT patrol teams (in addition to our regular Transit Peace Officers), with about 5-6 officers on a team. The officers talked about working in collaboration with many other players supporting transit safety - this includes other Peace Officers, security guards at transit stations (you might see them wearing a yellow/neon vest), Edmonton Police Services, the transit dispatch centre, and our Community Outreach Transit Teams (COTT) that pair peace officers and social workers. All of these teams serve different and important roles to help keep our transit system safe and intervene at different levels. TCAT’s goal is prevention, and when there are issues, de-escalation and providing resources. But with continued crime and disorder, their internal resources can be stretched thin. This is felt acutely in the winter when their role also involves supporting overnight warming buses as part of the City’s emergency response. And like other social service sector workers, TCAT and our transit teams are also impacted by burnout.
There has been good progress in information sharing with EPS in the transit system, who are responsible for responding to calls that involve either weapons or assaults, along with positive feedback on COTT, who provide support for vulnerable Edmontonians within the transit system for housing, mental health, substance use, and financial assistance. From our conversations, it is great to see collaboration happening in our system, although I do think there is space to grow and integrate with other players supporting vulnerable residents in transit stations like volunteer-run Mutual Aid Organizations.
On this visit, I even got to peek behind the curtain at the central transit dispatch centre to see how our many transit resources are triaged and sent out. Although TCAT cannot be across the entire City at once, our dispatch monitors all transit stations with cameras, and reaches out to the right resources to action a response - whether it be EPS, COTT, TCAT, Transit Peace officers or others. They handle all transit dispatch calls, including buses, LRT, and even opening the bathroom doors at stations which usually happens 1800+ times per day. They also help to collect data about what is happening in transit stations, helping us better understand how people use transit and the issues we are seeing, and in turn make better decisions about allocating our limited resources to improve the experience for everyone.
I know safety is top of mind for everyone - something I hear on a regular basis from Karhiio residents. Council has invested significantly in transit safety whether it’s enforcement, addressing the aftermath of social order (encampment, outreach), or strengthening our social support net. We need help from colleagues in other orders of government, and continue to work from a more coordinated ecosystem approach.
I want to give my thanks to our many amazing teams on the frontlines across the City, helping to make Edmonton safer, greener, cleaner and better for all. It has been a great recess, and I’m excited to dive back into Council and Committee meetings this week, and bring these new learning from the frontline to the decisions we make.
