Recyling Truck Violates City's Anti Idling Ordinance

The Laurelhurst Blog received many emails following a Recycling Truck that idled early Monday morning for at least 20 minutes from approximately 6:40-7:05am on NE 45th Street, near Children's Hospital and in the vicinity of many residences. This is in violation of City Ordinance. 

The City of Seattle has an Anti-Idling Provision which states: 

Why does the City of Seattle have an anti-idling provision? It’s basic common sense: there is already too much pollution in the air. Seattle wants to reduce air pollution. The goal of the City of Seattle Anti-Idling contract provision is to improve air quality by reducing unnecessary air pollution from idling vehicles. Limiting car and truck idling supports cleaner air.

The contract provision limits unnecessary engine idling to five minutes. No operator shall unnecessarily idle the engine of a diesel fueled car or truck that is stopped for a foreseeable period of time in excess of five minutes. Vehicle idling is the running of a car or truck engine while the car or truck is stopped for a foreseeable period of time and not in a PTO (or similar) mode.

The Laurelhurst Blog contacted Recology who said:

Thank you so much for your detailed email!  We had received another similar report and with the additional information you provided it will allow us to complete a more detailed review of the incident.  All of the details were passed along to our management team for review and follow-up.

The Laurelhurst Blog also contacted, SDOT Media, and a response  was received from Sabrina Register who said: 

Thank you for your email. We are addressing your concern with our contractor, Recology..

The Laurelhurst Blog followed up with SDOT Media to ensure that the City was aware of the Anti-Idling Provision and Katie, Senior Public Relations Specialist with Seattle Public Utilities said:  

Thank you for alerting us to the idling incident that occurred earlier this week. Please accept our sincere apology. Seattle Public Utilities & our contractor, Recology, strive to be a good community partners but at times we fall short of our own expectations. We appreciate you taking the time to bring this issue to our attention and for providing us with the opportunity to improve.

 

You are absolutely correct that excessive idling is unacceptable and in violation of city ordinance. Seattle Public Utilities has been in contact with Recology on this matter and have reiterated the requirements of the City’s anti-idling ordinance and collection time window provisions of agreement.

 

Please find below a summary of Recology’s investigation into the incident and corrective action plan:

• We have conducted a review of GPS data on all Recology trucks operating in the Laurelhurst area on the date and time in question
• We have identified opportunities to minimize truck idle time through driver training as well as an on-board automatic anti-idle system
• We have reiterated and reviewed our standard operating procedure regarding truck idling and collection time windows to the individual driver in question as well as all drivers who serve the Laurelhurst community

 

Through these actions, Recology hopes to prevent future incidents from occurring. Again, we apologize to the Laurelhurst community and appreciate you bringing this issue to our attention. 

 

Here also s the City noise ordinance on garbage/recyling/yard waste collections before 7am:

Commercial garbage trucks are not allowed to collect in residential zones or any property adjacent to residential zoned property before 7:00 a.m. or after 10:00 p.m. This section of the code is enforced by the Seattle Public Utilities.