SURVEY: WASTE COLLECTION
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MUCK
Body type in fleets
This month we look at private contractors involved in waste collection, a sector which sees its margins being squeezed by what it feels is biased competition from local authorities.
• Competing against local authorities for refuse collection work is a cut-throat business say the private contractors who suspect that many councils are still getting away with working at a loss.
Our UK-wide survey of over 50 major waste collection companies, most of them members of the National Association of Waste Disposal Contractors, raised a fair amount of suspicion that there are councils which will manipulate figures to suit their own purposes.
Three-quarters of the waste disposal companies surveyed say that the local councils' pricing for tenders are very competitive.
Most believe however that many councils simply use the rates of private firms to calculate ways of undercutting them thus ensuring that refuse collection stays in-house.
One private firm, which was among the first to undertake such work for the councils back in 1959, has given up tendering altogether because of what it feels is biased competition.
NO PROFIT
According to its manager "We didn't make a profit then and things are no different today. The company doing the work now is still not covering its costs". Another private firm who's forty separate depots have all tendered for council work has only succeeded in two instances.
Several in the private sector are more successful however, some of them being UK subsidiaries of overseas corporations. Sitaclean (France) and Focsa (Spain), for example, have both won tendering ,competitions for street cleansing and refuse collection work as far apart as Brighton, Stockport and Torbay. The most recently announced privatisation being Wychavon in Hereford and Worcester, which has been awarded to Focsa.
One Lancashire operator in particular specialises in taking on councils and winning tenders, all due it says to superior management.
Most of the companies interviewed run fleets of up to 50 vehicles, several have 50-75 while another small group have over 100 trucks on the go. Almost all of them operate a full range of rigid, municipal-types of between 17 and 30.49 tonnes gross. The most common types used are skip trucks (82%) and rear-end loaders (61%). Four out of ten companies deploy roll-on/roll-off refuse containers and 18% also have front-end loaders and sweepers.
Although Dennis, D MacKrill Engineering, Jack Allen, Norba and Reynolds Boughton were the most commonly mentioned supplier just about every marque has its devotees, according to their perceived strengths.
While a 'horses for courses' opinion holds true for one third of those surveyed, nearly as many will shop around for a good deal.
One East Midland company travelled to Ireland to get hold of good vehicles for a good price.
Winning a contract however, can also mean inheriting a fleet which may not be entirely suitable as one Lancashire company found out.
All are affected by the present cold economic climate and have delayed their buying decisions where this is viable. Those who normally replace their chassis within five years are running them for up to seven while many of the five-to seven-. year group have also extended service lives.
LOSING MONEY
A Tyne & Wear manager who normally observes a seven-year rule warns against holding off until something goes wrong. "The chances are," he says. "that you will end up losing money."
Over half of those questioned replace their bodywork after six years with another 15% waiting a further year. Nearly all agree however, that a vehicle's life span depends on the task it is expected to perform. Carrying lowdensity waste increases longevity and makes eventual refurbishment a worthwhile proposition.
Heavy work over difficult sites reduces the viability of refuse trucks being rebuilt. Instead they are more likely to be sold off to become someone else's problem.
Despite the present hard times, over half of those surveyed buy their vehicles outright only turning to lease/ purchase during slack periods. Nearly 40% use this method constantly. "In the long run," says a West Yorkshire manager. "It's easier and cheaper with the present interest rates".
Ensuring that load limits are not exceeded is paramount in most managers' minds. They all stress the importance of driver experience and over half take added precautions. These vary from constant use of weighbridges to the use of on-board systems.
Some avoid trouble by ensuring that the sizes of their skips and bodies are carefully specified to limit the load.
There is a variety of methods employed to avoid overloading and the degree of concern mirrors this. One large, highprofile company for example, fits onboard devices to its new vehicles and aims to cover its entire fleet within five years. It values its licence to operate and works within the law.
In contrast a smaller West Midlandsbased firm sounds rather blasé in its approach to the problem: "It's not hard to make fairly accurate guesses, depending on the type of material we're carrying. We're only caught out once a year on average-.
Despite the councils' perceived edge, local authority work is high on the agenda of those firms contacted. Over half were optimistic about wresting more work from the LAs and are tendering for everything in sight. if only to guarantee regular work.
Most of the remainder anticipate a decrease in such contracts. the main reason being the councils' highly competitive tendering. An Essex operator could only see an improvement "when legislation is changed to stop this unfair situation".
When asked about any design improvements needed for the body work nearly half expressed complete satisfaction with their vehicles, although with many of them using contract hire, problems are simply passed on.
One in ten complained about leaky hydraulics especially on rams.
A Middlesex operator summed up the general feeling with "We're in a hard game and if your body work or chassis end up twisted after spending time on landfills, you can't really blame the manufacturer".
Vehicle movements and noise seem to be at the bottom of most environmental problems and all those interviewed say they pay a deal of attention to complaints from pressure groups.
IMBALANCE
Any perceived imbalance through compulsory tendering is likely to be corrected once the Local Authority Waste Disposal Companies are established. These will be privatly funded companies with limited council presence and will control both the collection and disposal of waste within existing boundaries.
Many LAs are well down the road towards setting them up, the first ones are likely to appear around April/Maytime. But, there is a strong suspicion that a minority boardroom presence will be unable to ensure effective public accountability against pressure from rapacious financiers.
However, according to NAWDC's director general Frank Argent. the new system will help to highlight the actual cost of collecting and disposal of waste and show what is being charged to the 'community'. "The whole business,he says, "will become much more professional, as it should be".