They’ll be talking trash, but these valuable demonstrations likely won’t be going to waste.
As part of the upcoming Florida City and County Managers Association’s (FCCMA) annual meeting in Orlando, civic leaders on June 3 will visit Kissimmee for a demonstration of the city’s underground waste container systems, in operation since 2016.
The City of Kissimmee has been in a public/private partnership with Underground Refuse Systems, also located in Kissimmee, for several years.
“We look forward to demonstrating our underground waste containers to Florida city and county managers,” said Jody Kirkendall, Franchise Coordinator for the City of Kissimmee. “This is a great way to show other government officials how the underground waste containers work … and the benefits they bring the city firsthand.”
Those benefits include using less space than traditional dumpsters, trash enclosures and recycling containers. Less space above ground equates to more vehicle parking and better pedestrian access, especially in built-up urban areas.
Another major benefit is less odor and a cleaner appearance, being much less attractive to animals and insects. The aboveground portions of the system are graffiti resistant and there are panels for art or messages. The company’s motto is “Greener, Cleaner, Healthier, Safer.”
“Our collaboration with the City of Kissimmee is so important because this is where we started, and now, we have a place to show other governments how this works and the benefits of keeping our communities environmentally safe one waste container at a time,” said Jay Wheeler, President of Underground Refuse Systems.
The company has an exclusive license for North America from Nord Engineering, an Italian “smart waste management” company that has systems in 20 countries on five continents with 1,100 vehicles in operation to service 200,000 containers, according to the company’s website.
As part of the partnership with the City of Kissimmee, the city’s Public Works Department obtains a suitable U.S. vehicle chassis, and the department’s Weld (welding) Shop assembles the hydraulic arm and other components, shipped from Nord Engineering, to complete the refuse collection vehicle, according to Wheeler.
Kissimmee’s first vehicle dedicated to the system utilized an available chassis from another city vehicle. The Weld Shop has been “open for business” for many years, repairing garbage trucks from other Central Florida cities and counties for a fee.
“The (Weld) shop will also assemble the refuse containers for customers that do not have that capability,” Wheeler said.
Currently, Underground Refuse Systems has multiple installations in progress in Clearwater, and a municipality in the Dallas area. Locally, in addition to the several downtown Kissimmee sites, the system was installed in the new Hamilton Lakeside Apartments complex off of John Young Parkway.
“Like everyone else,” Wheeler said, “we are just getting back to where we were just before Covid hit.”
For more information on Underground Refuse Systems, see http://undergroundrefuse.com/
