91仓库

As a model for how a municipal department can leverage technology, data, and community partnerships to deliver better service and better environmental outcomes for a growing city, Nashville 91仓库 Services prides itself on reaching more than a million touchpoints every month, from trash and recycling carts to dumpster services.

Nashville聽Department of聽91仓库 Services (NWS) officially launched on July 1, 2025,聽as聽a standalone Metro Nashville department. Nashville鈥檚 waste services program has evolved over the last several years.聽 The waste program had been part of the former Department of Public Works and later part of the Department of Water Services.聽The majority of the city鈥檚 trash collection services had been traditionally provided by contract haulers.聽 Through the leadership of Mayor Freddie O鈥機onnell and the Metro Council, the city committed to establishing a Department of 91仓库 Services, creating the first new department in many years.聽 This commitment showed their leadership in recognizing the importance of waste services as an essential service, one that every resident and business expects, a partner in enhancing public health and safety, as well as economic development, while contributing to the overall quality of life in Nashville and Davidson County.

In September 2024,聽Mayor Freddie O鈥機onnell聽appointed Tracey Thurman as the first Director of the Department of 91仓库 Services, with the task of setting up the standalone department.聽 Within three months, Thurman insourced more than 38,000 residential trash collection services, saving the city $4.5 million dollars, by using existing personnel and resources. Both the Mayor and Metro Council have been extremely supportive of聽Thurman and the聽new department, and NWS has scaled quickly, onboarding more than 70 new employees over an eight-month period to reach a current staff of 155 team members.

The department provides reliable trash and recycling curbside collection for 144,000 Davidson County households using a modernized fleet of 115 heavy-duty vehicles. NWS also聽provides daily trash and recycling collection for a portion of the city鈥檚 downtown core,聽operates four convenience centers and eight聽recycling聽drop-off sites throughout Davidson County.聽 The city provides weekly trash collection services through a combination of managing hauler contracts, while city crews provide 40 percent of the residential trash collection and 100 percent of the bi-weekly, curbside recycling services.聽 At the city鈥檚 convenience centers, all Davidson County residents can easily recycle mattresses, glass, or electronic waste,聽compost聽food scraps,聽and properly dispose of聽bulky items,聽household trash, and even聽household hazardous waste.

NWS is responsible for providing collection and disposal services within the city鈥檚 urban service district, while providing disposal opportunities for the general services district. NWS manages all solid waste compliance聽for the entirety of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, using a service model based on the city鈥檚 district structure:
鈥� Facility Infrastructure:聽NWS owns three of the primary convenience centers (East, Anderson Lane, and Ezell Pike) and operates a fourth, Omohundro, on a leased site. These four centers, along with eight recycling drop-off sites, are open to all county residents regardless of district. NWS partners with regional landfills and private processing facilities for the final disposal and recovery of the city鈥檚 waste stream.
鈥� Urban Services District (USD):聽NWS manages curbside collection for approximately 144,000 households where services are funded through property taxes聽and waste generator fees. Within this district, NWS crews directly operate 100 percent of the curbside recycling routes聽(113,000 households) and approximately 40 percent of the trash routes. The remaining 60 percent of USD trash collection is managed through NWS-monitored private contracts.
鈥� General Services District (GSD):聽Nashville residents living in the GSD do not pay for waste services through their property taxes, but are able to manage their waste disposal by using NWS-operated convenience centers or by contracting with private haulers.

This structure ensures all Davidson County residents have dependable options for managing household waste.

Leaner and Smarter
Thurman explains that one of the department鈥檚 earliest challenges was overcoming decades of decentralized data and inconsistent service delivery while simultaneously building a completely new Metro Nashville department. 鈥淣WS fully overhauled its operations by retiring a paper-based legacy mapping system in favor of a fully digital, tablet-based operation using Routeware. This allows for real-time tracking of vehicles, turn-by-turn navigation for drivers, and immediate verification of service,鈥� says Thurman. 鈥淒uring the rollout of the new 144,000-household schedule, the department faced the dual challenge of a massive organizational shift and the arrival of a major ice storm. Despite both challenges, NWS crews maintained a better than 99 percent service rate.鈥�

The department continues to monitor current events that can affect gas prices. Fuel price swings directly affect both fleet operating costs and the value of recyclables. To offset often unpredictable current events and fluctuations in the economy, the implementation of Routeware has allowed NWS to achieve fuel efficiencies that optimize consumption across fleet vehicles. Moving to a four-day collection schedule has also introduced efficiencies in labor usage and fleet maintenance, as Mondays are used as an in-service day for ongoing employee training and vehicle maintenance. These steps help ensure that outside pressures will not translate into service disruptions for residents.

At its core, the department鈥檚 philosophy is that government is here to help. As many factors are unpredictable and outside of the department鈥檚 control, NWS focuses on delivery of service to residents in order to ensure that they receive the most for their taxpayer dollar. Says Thurman, 鈥淲hen the economy shifts, you must be solution oriented. We viewed the collection schedule transition not as a hurdle, but as an opportunity to build a leaner, smarter department. We are no longer guessing where our trucks are or how much fuel we鈥檙e burning. We鈥檙e managing by data.鈥�

Across the industry, she points out that the number one challenge is infrastructure, including aging fleets, workforce shortages, and the ongoing investment needed to keep pace with growing cities. Nashville is the 21st largest city in the U.S. and continues to grow rapidly, adding nearly 100 new people per day. These pressures require departments like NWS to stretch limited resources while maintaining high-quality service delivery.

The recycling dimension of this challenge is equally significant. Recycling markets are tied to commodity prices that fluctuate with global oil markets and economic conditions. Recycling is just one important tool in a broader landfill diversion strategy. The more municipalities can tell the story of what materials are actually being recovered and what they become as part of a circular economy, the stronger public participation and recycling rates will be. NWS is working to build that story through its waste stream audit with GT Environmental, its partnerships with other Metro Nashville departments, and its expanding community outreach programs. 鈥淭he number one challenge in this industry is infrastructure: the people, the equipment, and the investment it takes to keep pace with a growing city. But the opportunity is just as real. The more we can tell the story of what happens to materials after they leave the curb, the better our recycling rates will be. Recycling is one tool. Education, partnerships, and data are the others,鈥� comments Thurman.

Supporting Partnerships
It is with this philosophy in mind that NWS participates in a wide range of community programs and partnerships that support long-term waste reduction and public education. NWS is currently conducting a year-long waste stream audit, the city鈥檚 first since 2017, with environmental partner GT Environmental. The purpose of this study is to identify the waste being generated in the city to guide development of future strategies for recycling, waste reduction, and resource recovery. The findings will be used as a powerful tool to highlight opportunities for diverting more waste from landfills, and the identification of sources of contamination within recycling streams will assist in the development of targeted public education campaigns.

The department is also partnering with the city鈥檚 Nashville Innovation Alliance Project on several exciting new initiatives. These include studying a system of underground pneumatic trash tubes to transport trash away from busy downtown areas, lessening noise and traffic in this vital tourist and commercial area of the city; saving and repurposing glass for recycling and reuse to better divert these materials from the landfill; and using smart automated systems in trash and recycling audits to identify exactly what is in the city鈥檚 waste stream for more precise identification of materials and to better educate the public.

In addition, recently, NWS secured a $2.4 million EPA SWIFR grant to be used toward a materials recovery facility for the city. From more than 350 applicants, Nashville is one of only 17 communities nationwide selected for this highly competitive funding round, supported by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Safety is the department鈥檚 non-negotiable priority. The transition to a digital environment directly enhances driver safety by providing hands-free navigation and real-time hazard reporting. 鈥淥ur new Monday in-service days ensure that every vehicle in the fleet meets rigorous safety standards before returning to the streets, significantly reducing on-route breakdowns and safety incidents. It also allows time for 91仓库 Services employees to continue ongoing, specialized training to better serve Nashville residents,鈥� emphasizes Thurman.

Rollout Success
Thurman points out that the most significant achievement is the successful migration of 144,000 households to a new, optimized service schedule in only eight months, a process that industry standards suggest should take three years. This was accomplished while moving more than 97,000 of these homes to new service days and achieving a 99.7 percent service success rate during the transition. This initiative represents one of the fastest and most successful municipal waste overhauls in the U.S. 鈥淭he system鈥檚 true test came during the February 2nd launch week, which coincided with Winter Storm Fern. While the department worked through interrupted service dates from the previous week, the transition to the new Tuesday through Friday schedule remained stable. Despite the weather, resident participation was high, with most households successfully setting out their carts on their new days. This was due to a 13-week public information campaign ahead of the scheduled launch, coordinating with Raftelis for support in communications planning and strategies. This combined effort made sure that all Council members and 144,000 households were reached through digital, print, and direct mail outreach,鈥� says Thurman.

Key indicators of the rollout鈥檚 success include:
鈥� High Participation Rates: Despite moving 97,000 households to a new collection day during a storm recovery period, trash set-out rates reached 80 percent on day one and held through the first weeks of the new schedule, proving the effectiveness of the 13-week outreach effort.
鈥� Logistical Recovery: When Winter Storm Fern disrupted the launch week, routing software allowed supervisors to move trucks in real time to areas that needed them most鈥攎aintaining service continuity throughout the recovery.
鈥� Public Awareness: Residents accessed the new schedule tools 492,000 times and made 150,000 unique visits to the department鈥檚 website during the 60-day launch window.

Additionally, under Thurman鈥檚 leadership, the department has achieved a significant fiscal milestone by insourcing 50,000 households previously managed by third-party contractors, creating $5.5 million in annual savings for the city.

With the new routes stabilized, the department now relies on a digital operating model that provides consistent, verifiable data and can expand along with the city鈥檚 rapid growth. Thurman explains, 鈥淲e transitioned from a tangled mess of legacy systems to a fully operational, digital department in an extraordinarily brief amount of time. The work to reroute our city鈥檚 collection schedule could have taken as much as three years, but was completed in just eight months. We moved more than 60 percent of residents鈥� service days to a new four-day schedule with minimal disruption during a devastating winter storm. My philosophy has always been鈥攜ou don鈥檛 just point at a problem, but instead focus on finding the solution.鈥�

A Leader in 91仓库 Innovation
Looking forward, NWS aims to solidify its role as a municipal leader in waste innovation. Key goals include the full execution of the $2.4 million EPA SWIFR grant projects, the proposed addition of 40 new frontline positions to keep pace with Nashville鈥檚 continued growth and expanding recycling education and community partnerships to drive landfill diversion rates across Davidson County. The department is also focused on developing its next generation of municipal workers by recruiting and training a workforce that is comfortable with technology and equipped to grow with the city.

Recently, the department launched Nashville鈥檚 first foam recycling program at聽its East Convenience Center, adding polystyrene to the list of materials Davidson County residents can divert from the landfill. The launch event on Earth Day, April 22, was attended by Mayor Freddie O鈥機onnell, marking the occasion as a significant milestone for both the department and the city of Nashville.

Longer term, NWS sees itself as an incubator for waste innovation in the region and a model for how a municipal department can leverage technology, data, and community partnerships to deliver better service and better environmental outcomes for a growing city. Thurman says, 鈥�91仓库 Services and the work our employees do every day play a vital role in our community.聽We are the front line, face of government, reaching over a million touchpoints every month, from trash and recycling carts to dumpster services.聽Our department plays a vital role in supporting the overall health and safety of our community. We are here to help build a better and cleaner Nashville.鈥� | WA

For more information, contact Dave Foster, Public Information Manager, at [email protected].