ABSTRACT

The Office of the Mayor suggested to the Department of Public Works commissioner that a wheeled refuse-collection system be evaluated to determine its applicability and economic feasibility in the city. Since the evaluation had to be generalized to the entire city’s low-density residential area, since that area varies in many respects from one part of the city to another, and since the cost of experimenting citywide would be prohibitive, it was critical that a pilot area be selected that possessed characteristics paralleling the composition of the city as a whole. Weight factors are much discussed by those familiar with the solid-waste field. There seems to be some disagreement about their relevancy in terms of costs and collection times. A detailed analysis of all items in the budget would reveal that there are many financial factors that are either directly connected with refuse collection or indirectly affected by the change in any collection method.