Boom business in bin rounds
Page 12
Page 13
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
The waste industry has weathered the slump and is set to grow rapidly. The hardware at Torbay showed enough innovation to gladden a binman's heart.
/ Sweltering Torbay looked spick and span for the Institute of Waste Management Show. This was only to be expected with a visit from HRH the Prince of Wales and 120 exhibitors showing off nearly £20m worth of refuse collecting vehicles, waste handling and recycling equipment.
While manufacturers demonstrated their engineering inventiveness with a vast array of waste collection vehicles, young boys showed off their entrepreneurial talents by offering "rescued" waste for demonstrations at a competitive price!
Casual visitors were heard to marvel at so many ways to empty dustbins.
The waste business is defying the recession. With a current value of around i3bn and forecast to rise by 40% in the next decade it has grown into a sophisticated business handling 120 million tonnes a year.
About 20% of this is household refuse, of which only 2% is recycled. This was reflected in the low number of vehicles built to handle recycled material.
• Education Many manufacturers feel that there is need for greater public education and impetus from the Government if progress is to be made in this area. But there was an interesting selection of recycling equipment on the Dennis SV stand, including a collection vehicle with twin side-tipping compartments for segregated rubbish.
It is based on the new Elite range of municipal chassis but with a new prototype scissordoor, dual-drive cab offering standard right-hand drive with stand-up driving position on the left to allow one-man operation for kerb side collections.
Dennis's . Elite range includes two lengths of stainless • steel crew cabs of narrow or standard • width on 4x2, 6x2 or 6x4 chassis with a range of wheelbases and a choice of 120 or 157kW (160 or 210hp) of power.
Larger eightwheeled versions with engines of up to 20IkW (270hp) are expected early next year, with other
models aimed at drinks suppliers and fuel oil distributors.
Director and general manager Barrie Mealing believes the Elite range will help Dennis build on its claimed 45% share of the market: The cab will undergo Swedish crash testing soon and as the new range is built to European standards, we are also stepping up our continental marketing activities.
Another dual-drive prototype vehicle was Jack Allen's Carry Can concept, also designed for one-man operation. It is based on a Seddon Atkinson 3-11 8x4 municipal chassis with front end loading (FEL). A detachable bin is fitted on the forks; a choice of front or side loading gear can handle wheelie bins from 120 to 1,100 litres.
When a driver has completed his street collections the front bin is detached via quick release, self sealing couplings and electrical plugs for the side and turn lights. Industrial waste collection can then continue.
Although it costs more than conventional FELs it offers savings in crew wages and productivity, says John Allen. UK Waste has ordered the first example and Allen reports "considerable interest" from other waste contractors.
Boughton International is another manufacturer which is pinning its faith on one-man systems. With most firms bidding on the basis of three-man crewing, Thomas Boughton believes its SMART arrangement is a winner. It's based on an LHD Volvo FL618 with front-mounted PT-0, and uses an extending arm that can lift bins from up to 2.0m, and tip them into the rear container body hopper.
Scooped
Waste is scooped back and compacted automatically. For offloading the rear door opens hydraulically and the load is ejected. The SMART system, says Boughton, might cost up to 15% more than a conventional rear end loader, but Like Jack Allen's Carry Can Colectomatic, it saves on wages_
With more than 20 of its twin side lifters in service, David MacKrill Engineering has added a variation which Castle Morpeth Borough Council will be trying out. On this Leyland Daf 60-180 4x2 chassis, the front 11m" section's side bin loader is recessed to keep its overall width within the 2.5 legal limit. The larger 13m3 rear compartment has its bin lifter fitted at the back. Both take bins of 120-1,100 litres.
When unloading a latching lever allows it to tip freely, the rear section first, followed by the front compartment once the inner separator has been released.
DME can also build in a split front section served by smaller lifts to accept brown and green glass on recycling duties.
One of the smallest side loaders on view came from Black Country engineer Acco, whose Nippa system costs £1,850, weighs 80kg and can lift 400kg in wheelie-bins up to 360 litres.
Addition
Acco's show exhibit was built on a Ford Transit chassis with a demount refuse body for Exeter City Council. It is a useful fleet addition for small collection rounds or for retrieving missed bins that can affect an operative's bonus scheme if left behind.
The Nippa can be used on chassis up to 7.5 tonnes. When not needed it stows either by hand or hydraulically against the chassis side.
Two truck manufacturers showed off ways to cut unladen weight, reduce tyre scrub and improve manoeuvrability with rigids.
Seddon Atkinson has produced a wide cabbed M25-P21 chassis with positive steering on the air-sprung intermediate axle. The result is a 1,360m axle spread on the rear bogie within a 5.23m wheelbase: 700kg more payload at 24.37 tonnes gross; and a 6x2 rigid that turns within a 19.2m circle.
Seddon also showed a wider version of its municipal cab on an 8x4 Strato chassis. This, it says. will allow an operator to step up to 32 tonnes when the limits are increased next year.
The other positively steered 6x2 at Torbay came from the Volvo stable. It is also designed to give better weight distribution and an extra 1.5 tonnes under the new limits.
The FL7 on show was developed jointly with Biffa Waste. It has an air-sprung rear bogie with a steered pusher axle within a 5.2m outer axle spread. The radiator and standard sleeper cab with Locomotors crew conversion have been moved forward 500mm to accommodate a front-mounted Hagland PT-0 driven from the crankshaft.
Like Seddon's 6x2 it gains on unladen weight, reduces tyre wear and is more manoeuvrable, but while the S-A has automatic air transfer as drive axle weight reaches its limit, the FL7 allows the driver to exhaust enough air to transfer up to 1.5 tonnes to aid traction.
At first these 26-tonners will have Allison's latest WS automatic transmisison, but later models will offer Volvo's R1000 synchro box as an option.
Marshall SPV showed stylish versions of its continuous and intermittent loading waste collection vehicles and reported considerable interest in them.
Smooth side panels and optional GRP side valances on both show models made them look good too. They are built to suit three chassis lengths and offer 15, 23 or 30m3. The design is ready for next year's payload increase; automatic lubrication is a delete option.
With a new factory, a new US subsidiary and new products on offer, Dorking-based Johnston is reminding operators of its potential. In addition to procuring and adapting an Iveco EuroCargo for UK sweeper duties — one of three for Newark and Sherwood — the company showed The Hy-Tip, a 600 Series sweeper with a hydrauli
cally elevating rear end ping into skips.
Among the throng of swap body systems on view, Whale Tankers exhibited a pneumaticpowered version of its demount system with air-operated support legs which is designed to make changing bodies a little easier.
Link Tip's Scottish operation sought help from Ray Smith when adapting one of its taillifts. By lengthening the torsion arms the lift can be stowed under the tail end of the chassis while the MP4 hook-type body is dismounted. It was built for Fife's health board on a Leyland Daf 45-130 and will handle 12 LinkTip bodies, half with moving bulkheads for operating general and clinical waste. Edinburgh District Council has taken five similar Link Tip body systems, converted for vacuuming duties. Tipmaster has developed a similar idea by adding a Honda aintillialy motor on the VacMaster.
Perhaps the smallest refuse collector on show came from Aspinalls of Heysham, Lancs. Its Mini RCV is based on the Bedford Rascal and carries a 2.3m3 body.
1=1 by Bryan Jarvis