Surprise, AZ News blog

SURPRISE, AZ (January 2, 2008) Starting February 4, 2008, the new Surprise Sanitation/Recycle Collection Zone Schedule will divide the city into four zones, with the intersection of Reems Road and Greenway Road serving as the dividing line. This new schedule will affect about 75 percent of City of Surprise sanitation/recycling customers. Neighborhoods, north of Greenway and east of Reems, are in Zone 1 and will have their recycling collected on Mondays and trash pickup on Thursdays. Zone 2 (south of Greenway/east of Reems) neighborhoods will have Monday trash service and Thursday recycling collection. Zone 3 (north of Greenway/west of Reems) customers will have their recycling picked up on Tuesdays and trash service on Fridays. Zone 4 (south of Greenway/west of Reems) will have trash collected on Tuesdays and recycling on Fridays.“This is the first route change we’ve made and it was very much needed,” says Public Works Director Robert Beckley. “The rapid growth that the city experienced over the past decade created an inefficient sanitation pickup schedule. We’d have a truck picking up trash and recycling at one end of town and have to service another neighborhood the same day on the opposite side of town.”

The new collection schedule addresses that issue by creating zones that are close to one another, so that the trucks stay in the same area on the same days, saving time and fuel.

“Besides lowering operating costs and improving customer service, the zone system allows for manageable growth moving forward,” adds Beckley.

Surprise sanitation customers can learn more about the new collection schedule online at www.surpriseaz.com and clicking on the “Sanitation Zone” banner; via Public Service Announcements airing on Surprise 11; and by calling Public Works at 623.222.6000.

The new collection schedule is for city of Surprise sanitation customers only and does NOT apply to Arizona Traditions, Happy Trails and Sun City Grand, all of which are serviced by an outside trash collection company.