A SEPARATIST MOVEMENT
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The move towards recycling and the separation of waste streams over the past 10 years has had a major impact on RCV design. Dennis Eagle's new Olympus body, for example, features a new valve permitting variable compaction control from the cab. This allows barrier set-back pressure to be reduced according to the type of waste being collected.
Twin-pack compaction bodies are available with two tailgates and two separate hoppers that operate completely independently of one another, and can transport, say, glass and cardboard without getting them mixed up. Mount a pod at the front of the body and you can collect food waste too; something local authorities increasingly want to do.
"Usually with a capacity of from 2.0m3 to 4.0m3, the non-compaction pod discharges by tipping sideways," says Thoday.
A number of councils and their contractors are, however, reacting to the need to separate waste by re-evaluating the make-up of their RCV fleets, says Collett.
"Some of them are now using 7.5-tonners fitted with 4.5m bodies to collect food waste, for example, rather than rely on pods on 26-tonners," he says. "They often specify an lsuzu chassis because, by doing so, they can usually achieve a payload of just over two tonnes."
Paul Brown, bodybuilder Heil Europe's regional sales manager, reveals: "Others are attempting to cut costs by running eight-wheelers if possible, rather than 6x2s, in an attempt to shift the same amount of waste with fewer vehicles and drivers."
As indicated earlier, limitations on an eight-wheeler's manoeuvrability can make this impractical, although they can be used to pick up trade waste.
"I really don't see how using a separate smaller vehicle to collect food waste rather than a pod on a vehicle you're sending out anyway makes environmental sense," Thoday remarks. RCVs that can collect three different types of waste on the same round, however, have to be managed carefully in case one compartment ends up full halfway through the collection cycle while the other two remain half-empty.
The suggestion that non-recyclable waste should be weighed before it is tipped into the RCV and householders billed accordingly is one that has not gone down well with voters. The technology is available and works it is already employed in the collection of trade waste despite the fact that it has to function in an extraordinarily grubby environment,