Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Where have all the flowers gone?

What a great title for today’s post!  The front entrance looks so barren and different without all the flowers there to greet us.  Annuals just can’t survive the hot Arizona sun so it’s time to pull them up and haul them away.  flowers gone 012
Where do they go???? To the garbage truck.flowers gone 001And how do they get to the landfill from here? Answer:  My Hubby takes them there along with all the other trash our maintenance crews have loaded from the dumpsters.
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flowers gone 003As top ace blog reporter, I begged to go along for the ride this morning.  Awesome!!   I’m betting this is an adventure not many of you readers have experienced.  Eat your heart out.
Upon arriving at the landfill, we stop on the scale to weigh the truck.  As we approach the dumping site, I am very surprised at how clean the whole area is kept.  The only garbage that is exposed is that which is brought in today.  As the trucks come in to dump, the big bulldozer is already covering and compacting it with fresh soil.  AND….that huge dozer is driven by a woman!  You GO girl!!
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Unloading only takes a minute or two and then we go back to the scale to check out.  Don goes inside to retrieve the ticket showing the total weight we dumped.  Today’s load was 10,750 pounds and cost $161.40.  During full season, he makes at least 4 trips every week averaging around 12,000-14,000 pounds.  Do some quick math here and it calculates that in season it costs at least $750 per week just to dump the truck at the landfill.  That doesn’t include the cost of the man power to collect the trash and load the truck, nor the fuel and maintenance.  Whew!  Add all that to the daily operating budget and you get a new perspective on what it costs to run this resort.


Oh yes….I don’t want to forget another point of interest.  As clean as the landfill appeared, there is obviously trash on a windy day that blows around the area and neighboring lands.  The guys in the orange jumpsuits are at work on perimeter cleanup under close supervision of the Sheriff’s vehicle.