Twice As Good? Dual sided bin lifters

Is a sideloader really an alternative to a traditional rear end loading RCV on domestic waste collection? To find out, Malcolm Bates tries the Translift ‘E-Maxx’ on a busy suburban collection route, then explains why the new ‘Varia-Twin’ could change the debate dramatically. Before understanding the concept of the driver-operated side loading refuse collection vehicle (RCV), we first need to explore the advantages - and disadvantages - of the traditional rear end loading vehicle (REL). The overall ‘package’ is quite simple - a cab large enough to take the driver and crew up the front, the main body - complete with ejector plate, or a tipping body - in the middle and a compaction hopper forming the rear overhang. It works well enough, throughout the world. Unfortunately, there are a couple of disadvantages. Rear end loaders work best with a crew of two, three or more. And while the provision of jobs - even manual ones - could be said to be one of the basic ‘must haves’ in a civilised society, current convention seems to view ‘labour’ as an element that is to be reduced at all costs. Which is why - at least in municipal fleets - the sideloader is such a political hot potato. The one that got away? This container was beyond the reach of the comb-lift - even on full teleboom. But the Translift girth grabber got it In contrast, the main sales pitch in favour of sideloaders is that they don’t require a crew. The entire lifting/loading process can be controlled by the driver in his cab. Indeed, side loaders were designed to facilitate one man operation in the wide open suburbs of the U.S. and Australia. But how about elsewhere in the world, where housing density is greater? Here we get to the biggest disadvantage to the sideloader system - the lifter has to be able to hook on to the containers in order to tip them. And that means double the route mileage as each street has to be worked up and back. Should we really be running a large three axle truck over a series of small neighbourhood roads twice? The only alternative is to employ at least one crew member - if not two - to ‘present’ the wheeled bins into line with the lifter. But if the main motivation to deploy side loaders is to reduce crew numbers, why bother? Where some care - or another pair of eyes - can be useful. Overhanging trees and bushes are likely to be found on suburban or rural rounds, so care is needed when lifting containers Changing operational priorities? But now, a new development could move the argument away from reducing crew numbers. To find out more, I’m out driving a Dutch-built E-Maxx side loader, mounted on a German-built Mercedes ‘Econic’ low entry municipal chassis in the UK city of Preston, Lancashire - working on a round usually fulfilled by a rear end loading RCV with a crew of three plus driver. After a quick introduction to the control functions, I’m soon picking up wheeled waste bins from the footpath in a typical 1970s suburban development by using only the in-cab hydraulic joystick control and the multi-camera CCTV. But I’m still not convinced driver-only operation is fast enough. In-cab control panel on the Varia-Twin is also simpler than one-man operated teleboom-equipped E-Maxx As an alternative, I have two crew members with me. One is the regular loader on the municipal REL - so he knows the territory. The other is Shaun Taylor, from CP Davidson, the Translift distributor in the UK. While they line-up the bins - and return them when emptied, I concentrate on the driving - and lifting process. Who controls the bin lifter is a fundamental difference between a sideloader and a traditional REL. So the first question we need to ask is: can the lifting process be driver-controlled using only CCTV images? Yes, I’d say in most applications, the process is entirely safe - especially as twin folding barriers help keep pedestrians away from the side of the truck while the lift is taking place. But there are situations where extra care is needed - firstly, lifting bins close to overhanging trees and bushes can result in a bit of a tangle. And secondly, the whole process can take longer when trying to get onto wheeled bins left on sloping ground as the bin will roll away when nudged by the lifter. Because the crew control the lift, the lifters on the Varia-Twin do not require the teleboom function, so are simpler in construction While I try to ‘catch’ a wayward container, Taylor draws my attention to a button on my control panel. “Use the girth grabber on this one,” he advises, after a laden bin scuttles out of reach of the ‘comb’ lift on full teleboom. In a flash the renegade bin - which was now also at an odd angle to the truck - is gently grabbed and emptied. The new Translift Varia-Twin was first shown in Munich, Germany at IFAT-Entsorga 2010. Using two split lifts, it can lift four containers at once - and retains the Translift demountable body system After a few hours work, I’m getting more confident and more able to ‘read’ potentially difficult situations. The ‘E-Maxx’ will pick up different-sized bins from 80 litres capacity. But while single 1100 litre units would be common around small shops and flats, here in the suburbs of Preston, we’re mostly on 240 litre or 360 litre units. I can get two of each of those on the comb lifter, but the ‘girth grabber’ only works on single 240s. But it’s still taking too long to thread this large - and tall - truck, down very tight and narrow residential cul-de-sacs. Twice as fast? With my crew working ahead ‘pairing’ the bins, I only have to leave the cab a few times. So can side loaders work on suburban domestic waste and recycling rounds? The answer is yes. But the loading process is faster - and safer with a crew. One issue is however still niggling at my mind - the need to go up each residential street twice. On major highways, busy traffic would make that essential, but in the suburbs, is there a better solution? So far the most time consuming part of my job has not been the bin lifting operation, but having to drive - and then reverse - the Econic up every narrow cul-de-sac because they were not designed to allow a 26 tonne truck to turn at the end. But the arrival of the new Translift ‘Varia-Twin’ changes that argument dramatically. By fitting a lifter assembly on each side, the same truck can pick up wheeled bins from both sides of the street in one pass. That’s twice the number of bins lifted in half the number of miles driven. As a result, Siegar Hornstra of Translift suggests the new Varia-Twin can pick-up 350 bins per hour bins an hour on suburban residential collections. But more significantly, tests have shown collection times can be reduced by a third when compared to a conventional rear end loader. The idea is simple enough - if one sidelift system is a good idea, make it twice as good with two! In theory, the Varia-Twin cab can pick-up four 240 litre bins (or even 360s) at the same time. Both lifters discharge into the twin-screw compaction hopper behind the truck cab without conflict. In suburban applications, operating two lifter systems is asking too much of the driver, so unlike the driver-controlled E-Maxx, the crew member presenting the bin can control the lift process on the Varia-Twin. However, in more rural areas, the driver could use whichever lifter was appropriate Collection operations in winter weather bring added safety issues. On conventional RELs the crew have to step from the cab, collect the bin, then take it to the rear of the truck - standing on the highway - before returning to the cab. In contrast, when using a side-mounted lifter, the crew are working within the wheelbase of the vehicle away from passing traffic. The most important bonus of all? But there is one more significant advantage; the body on sideloaders is a simple container, with the compaction system mounted outside ‘the box’. This makes the sideloader ideal for demountable/multi-modal operations as it can continue to work on collections, until the container is full. This is then demounted and swapped for a fresh one, left in the neighbourhood by a hooklift truck. As the hooklift takes the full body for disposal, the collection vehicle doesn’t waste any time ‘in transit’. In a rural situation, a trip to a waste transfer site, landfill, or recycling facility might take a couple of hours, so there are some considerable improvements in utilisation to be had here. Traffic congestion is increasingly holding up RCVs in urban areas, too. Yet oddly, the logistical advantage of a demountable container system is something our industry has been slow to recognise. But things are changing - and according to Siegar Hornstra, the demountable Translift ‘IES System’ (it stands for Integrated Environmental System) is attracting increasing interest. As improving recycling ratios becomes the key priority in waste collection, there’s another twist that favours sideloaders over RELs - one truck can go out in the morning to pick up one kind of waste faction, demount that body ‘pod’, then go out for the remainder of the shift with a fresh pod to pick up a different faction. That means the cost of sending part-loaded vehicles long distances to recycling facilities can be eliminated. And that could save a fortune on tonne-per-mile costs. The city of Dusseldorf, Germany, already has six Translift Varia-Twin sideloaders at work, while new units are due to be delivered to Pretoria shortly - bringing the total in South Africa to over 50. The key factor here is that the actual collection vehicle spends as much of its working shift as possible picking up bins - which is what it was purchased for - not wasting time driving across town to the waste transfer facility. In that respect, the Varia-Twin option could make the sideloader system even more productive. Even when a crew is employed. Malcolm Bates is the plant, collection and transport correspondent for Waste Management World.email: malcolm@automotivespecialists.co.uk More Waste Management World Articles Waste Management World Issue Archives