The Columbia City Council approved a pilot program for the controversial roll-cart system Monday night. The proposed pilot system was met with opposition from several city council members based more on the execution than the idea.

The pilot program would test how the new system would be implemented in Columbia. The proposal for the roll-cart system would replace several garbage trucks with newer trucks that would run on natural gas and could automatically lift and empty specially designed trash cans called roll carts.

The roll carts and automated system are supposed to make the job easier for refuse collectors, who can get injured easily.

The job is ranked seventh on a list of most dangerous jobs, three spots higher than a police officer, Columbia Public Works Director John Glascock said. There was even a fatality of a refuse collector in 2003. These workers’ safety is the biggest reason to implement the new system, councilman Fred Schmidt said.

The program would cost the city about $5 million to implement the system. It would also process about 200 more houses per day and would cut the number of refuse collectors in half, from 16 to 8.

Despite these potential benefits, several residents have shown opposition to the program, saying it is too costly and unnecessary. Councilwoman Barbara Hoppe said about 80 percent of the people to whom she has spoken about the system are against it.

Columbia resident Chuck Headley also presented the city council with a petition against the project.

Hoppe, along with other council members, said despite being against the roll-cart system, she supported the pilot program to see whether people like it, though she disagreed with the way the program was initially designed.

“This is not an acceptable and won’t be a good pilot program,” Hoppe said. “The pilot has to be designed right, and this isn’t it.”

The initial design had the program being implemented sporadically around the city in different neighborhoods for volunteers. It would occur from January 2013 to July 2013. It would also not include the automated feature of picking up and dumping the garbage.

To accurately enact the pilot program, the system would have to be implemented in one entire neighborhood to get an accurate representation, Hoppe said. Councilman Gary Kespohl said he thought six months was too long for the pilot program, and councilman Daryl Dudley said to get an accurate view of the system, the automated features would have to be included in the pilot program.

Though the city council approved the pilot program, the roll-cart system still faces opposition in city council. Council members like Hoppe and Kespohl are still against the overall proposal despite voting for the pilot.

City Manager Mike Matthes said the roll-cart system is not included in the 2013 budget.