It's a whole new world in the cab of the trash truck now, moving your garbage pickup into the next generation. Las Cruces Utilities is in the process of adding a new GPS (Global Positioning System) tracking system to every solid waste truck to save fuel, make trash pickup easier to monitor, improve new driver training, reduce idling time, and even view the street scene as the driver goes along on his route.

All those improvements translate into time and cost savings, as R. Jimmy Maese, Solid Waste supervisor explains, "Every driver works at a slightly different speed; this system helps us determine the time needed to complete a particular route and eliminate overtime."

Although time is money, the monetary savings are also adding up in fuel savings. "We've only had the system since the beginning of the year, but we anticipate saving somewhere between $3,000 and $5,000 a year in fuel costs just by reducing idling time," said Klaus Kemmer, Solid Waste administrator for Las Cruces Utilities.

The NexTraq system calculates the gallons being spent per hour and depending on the fuel cost at the time, it figures out how much idling is costing.

But the GPS system also allows the main office to monitor what's going on, to make pickup more efficient. The system is so precise, it shows the street view seen from a particular trash...