‘Smart Trucks' to record trash bins over capacity, new fees coming for violators

A new year brings new fees for neighbors in Fort Worth, including for trash violations: You'll now be charged if your trash or recycle bins are spilling over and if you have loose bags around them.

"If you go out, right, and your lid is up an inch or two, that's not an overloaded cart," explained Christian Harper, Fort Worth's Environmental Services Department Contract Services Administrator - Solid Waste Division. "But typically, we will find ... the lid is completely open. There's a full bag or even two bags stacked on top of one another. And that's really what we're considering an overloaded cart."

Each overloaded bin will cost residents $6, and each loose bag is an additional $3 charge.

Harper said their contractor, Waste Management, had been charging the city for these violations.

"We probably had anywhere from, last year, 30,000-plus extra bags outside the carts and almost an equal number of overloaded carts," he said.

Harper said they saw increased violations at the start of the coronavirus pandemic as more people stayed home. Still, the number never really went back down, so city leaders decided to pass on WM's fees to customers.

Tracy Spence, who lives in Fort Worth, was unaware of the fee when approached by NBC 5 on Tuesday.

"What new fee?" he asked, upset that the city hadn't alerted residents by mail. “Why do I got to find out from a nice pair of strangers with a camera? That seems a little bit crazy to me."

Spence said neighbors shouldn't be shouldering those fees and that the city needs to sort it out with WM or find a new contractor. As a family of four, Spence told NBC 5 that his bin fills up fast and that sometimes it's past the brim.

“I’m all for keeping the streets looking clean and everything, but because the lid’s propped up? Is that problematic?” Spence said. “If you’ve got a family of four or a family of five or more than that, the large can doesn’t fit it," he said.

He doesn't think the new fees and system will go over well with many of his neighbors.

“Six bucks, $12, but when you start factoring in everything that’s gone up, I mean, that $6 and $12 means a lot more to people than it used to. Talk about the straw that breaks the camel’s back," Spence said. “How are you going to do something that dumb and not think it’s going to make somebody mad?"

Harper acknowledged that the city did not send out mailers but posted about the new fees online. He said he understood that the holidays are a crazy time and there will be a grace period.

"Probably this first week two, [you] may be billed but will be credited. Because, again, our goal is not to have a revenue source. Our goal is to eliminate these charges on the waste management side by better resident compliance," he said.

“They’re nickeling and diming us like, for everything, yet nothing is improving, it’s just costing us more," Spence said.

Harper and WM said services may also improve: New Smart Trucks are being used not only to keep track of violations but also to look into customer complaints.

Here's how it works, according to Harper: Trucks are equipped with cameras that face the curb. They take pictures and videos of every home. If a driver sees a violation, they'll flag it in the system. Then, someone from WM will review the footage from that home and determine if there is a violation. If so, they prepare a report and send it to Fort Worth, where someone else cross-checks the footage. Then, you can contest the charge.

"If there's any question on the residents' part of either, 'Hey, I got missed,' or, 'Why did I get a charge?' All of that information can be accessed and shared with the customer so they can see," Harper said.

Harper and WM said the information is secure and only sent to property owners upon request.

"WM will never share the images or customer information with third parties for those third parties’ own marketing or data mining purposes and use. The purpose of the photographs or videos is to educate and inform so we can improve collection service, diversion, and recycling. If there is a service issue, images are shared with the service address customer of record. Images may also be shared with the local jurisdiction to illustrate service issues or success stories in the community," a spokesperson wrote via email.