Watervliet native gifts truck to city

Garbage collection vehicle fills need

A new $270,000 garbage truck was donated to the city and will replace one of the aging vehicles in the city fleet, Mayor Charles Patricelli said Tuesday.

Scott Earl, president and CEO of Twin Bridges Waste and Recycling, gave the sanitation truck to the city. Earl grew up in the city and is a graduate of Watervliet High School.

The city had three garbage trucks before Earl’s donation, including one that was purchased a few years ago for about $200,000, Patricelli said. The two other vehicles were more than a decade old and increasingly unreliable when it came to collecting trash, Patricelli said.

“We were borrowing Green Island’s truck. We were borrowing Colonie’s truck,” Patricelli said about what it took to pick up garbage in the city.

The new garbage truck will allow the city to be self-sufficient, the mayor said. The donation comes as the city has made spending cuts to deal with falling revenues as a result of the local impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

“It is such a donation that helps during a time of uncertainty,” Patricelli said.

“Helping to provide local necessary resources allows us to move forward in our mission to continually service our neighbors,” Earl said.

Patricelli said the city doesn’t have a business relationship with Twin Bridges.

“This is a silver lining for the city to move forward as we begin to recover from the COIVD-19 crisis,” Patricelli said. “We are looking for ways to work with the business community to help rejuvenate our local economy as well get back to a level of normalcy.”