Manteca will spend upwards of $500,000 in refurbishing half of its 16 side-loading trucks used to collect solid waste from over 26,000 households.

An assessment of the solid waste fleet revealed  eight of the trucks are in critical need of replacement of hopper floors and grabber arms.

The floors have worn significantly due to corrosion while the mechanical stresses of daily operation has compromised the grabber arms.

The hopper floors are corroded from pooled liquids and have holes due to friction from compaction of waste and recycling materials.

Several grabber arms used to mechanically lift waste containers have deteriorated beyond repair and require replacement.

The work — which the City Council authorized spending $147,000 on Tuesday to get it started — will increase the lifespan of trucks by five to six years.

The trucks typically have a lifespan of usage of eight to 12 years. All eight of the trucks are near or have passed the expected lifespan.

The refurbishing cost per truck will range from $44,000 to over $60,000.

The stop-gap measure will allow the city time to collect enough funds from the recent solid waste rate increases to implement a vehicle replacement program.

Such a replacement fund was built into the adopted rate increases.

But because the enterprise fund was so depleted in terms of reserves and the need so great, new trucks can’t be purchased for a few years.

Even if the city could buy new trucks today, there is a lead time of 24 months between the time they are ordered and the time they are delivered.

Each truck costs in excess of $500,000.

Public Works Director Carl Brown indicated in a  report to the council if trucks are taken out of service because of the noted issues, the downtime would significantly disrupt the city’s waste management program.

As such it could potentially affect residents if service is delayed due to non-availability of service-ready trucks.

By scheduling refurbishment of these trucks, the Solid Waste Division will mitigate the potential of service interruptions, and thereby maintain the expected weekly collection of commodities. Additionally, refurbishment will help ensure environmental compliance through the prevention of fluid and material leakages on city streets and storm drainage system.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com