Answer Man: Waste Pro 'trash juice' issue?

John Boyle | The Citizen-Times

Today’s batch of burning questions, my smart-aleck answers and the real deal:

Question: Does Waste Pro pick up your garbage in your neighborhood? And if so, do they dump disgusting liquid and broken glass all through your neighborhood? It's gotten really bad this year. They say it is because of old gaskets in the rear of the trucks. The wastewater is thick like mud and mixed with broken glass, which attracts flies.

My answer: Trash juice, broken glass and flies ... sounds like the house I lived in my senior year of college. God, I wish I were kidding about that.

Real answer: I happen to know this person lives in a subdivision in southern Buncombe County, and Waste Pro Senior Vice President Ron Pecora did some pretty specific checking on the issue.

"To follow up, we did a close inspection of a recycle truck operating in that neighborhood and did in fact discover a rip in the seal," Pecora said. "That has been repaired, and we appreciate you bringing this to our attention."

Pecora also offered some fascinating detail about the issue of "trash juice," which is a real term, and a bit of a plague on the industry. To be fair, I've written about it in the past, with city of Asheville and some Buncombe County transfer trucks having the problem, so it can affect any of these trash-collecting vehicles.

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"In the industry this is referred to as 'juice,'" Pecora said. "No one likes 'juice.'"

That's because it can be really unsanitary and laden with various bacteria and viruses. When I wrote about this back in 2015, a reader sent me links to stories about trash juice in three different states containing E. coli, staphylococcus and listeria, respectively.

Some juice comes from household items, especially when it's compacted. But just think about what people throw away (dirty diapers, for instance), and it's not hard to imagine where the sometimes deadly microbes could come from, especially if they're stewing in their own juices in a nice, steamy trash truck.

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So, garbage companies do not want leaky trucks. Pecora explained how trash juice becomes a problem.

"Rear-load trucks open from the rear to dump loads at a landfill," Pecora explained. "There is a seal to prevent 'juice' from coming out while on route. Age of trucks only is only an issue if proper maintenance is not completed."

Waste Pro conducts a post-trip inspection on each truck daily.

"One item is to make sure no garbage hanging up on (the) seal," Pecora said. "Our drivers are also instructed to immediately report any leaks of anything from their truck."

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In this particular case, Waste Pro's division manager is ensuring that every truck will get "a close inspection of these seals," Pecora said.

"We are also sending a route supervisor to the neighborhood to inspect the neighborhood," Pecora said. "I have also reviewed our phone logs, Google Business and social tracing of customer comments and have not identified any specific complaints."

With these trucks on the road daily, seals can become worn at times.

"I am not saying it can never happen, with the enormous use these trucks experience," Pecora said. "We encourage customers to contact us and we will act quickly."

This is the opinion of John Boyle. Contact him at 828-232-5847 or jboyle@citizen-times.com