Trucks and equipment that maximize collection productivity demonstrate that semiautomated and manual methods still have their place-and full automation isn't always feasible.
Unless someone comes up with a way to completely standardize the way people contain and set out their trash and recycling, full automation will continue to be an elusive ideal. Technological advances have certainly given automated collection its place in refuse collection, but solid waste managers and collection equipment manufacturers alike are focusing their efforts on equipment and labor optimization with the realization that this is the best approach to maximizing collection efficiency, given the fact that many collections have “personalities” as unique as those of the individuals who set them out.
Increasingly, refuse collectors are specifying their trucks to handle every different type of refuse they collect—residential, commercial, and exceptional—in one trip. Additionally, they’re demanding equipment designs that maximize manual collection efficiency to the extent possible while maintaining worker safety in their all-in-one trucks.
Three MSW managers who spoke recently with MSW Management have upgraded their fleets with semiautomated and manual collection equipment in order to get the most from their physical assets and labor. Rather than striving to achieve full automation, their ideals are maximum asset utilization and flexible exception management.
Split Bodies
Using side-loading haulers with split bodies to accommodate multiple refuse types is nothing new to Ken Himes and Borden Waste-Away Service Inc. of Elkhart, IN. The company’s chief operating officer points out that Borden has used this configuration for the past 10 years or so, mostly to handle both single-stream and multistream recycling.
Most of Borden’s collection is highly automated, and most of the company’s fleet is composed of front-loaders and side-loaders equipped with automated loading arms. Himes needs something to fill gaps left by the combination of exceptional collections such as bags and furniture sitting on the curbside and fully automated trucks, though. These situations call for what Himes describes as a “Swiss Army knife”: various truck designs with a low enough loading point to allow workers to load items manually when necessary
In late 2006, Borden worked with the Labrie Environmental Group to specify several new semiautomated Expert 2000 side-loaders with several design features devised to maximize collection productivity. As many other MSW companies have discovered, side-loaders often allow Borden to reduce the number of workers assigned to a route to one compared with two or more that a rear-loader would require. Himes describes the Expert 2000 as a semiautomated side-loader with a split body like previous models the company used, except the engineering of the unit is more advanced. Most notably, the truck has a drop frame that enables the driver to load at a low height, dual steering wheels and controls to allow the driver to drive and exit the truck easily on either side, a tipper control only 18 inches from the cab door to minimize walking distance, a short wheelbase, and a speed-up packer panel control.
“The fact of the matter is that we do very little semiautomated work,” says Himes. “The only exception is the split-body or the rear-loader—I do have a couple of rear-loaders. If you’re going semiautomated, it’s because you don’t have the equipment to make the fully automated transition, or the market just isn’t dense enough that you don’t gain the benefit of going fully automated. For the user, a cart is a cart is a cart and how you tip it—they don’t really notice. Fully automated is really a benefit to us in the ability to maintain efficiencies and price.
“What we have done is, by having [the Expert 2000], we are able to rightsize our service,” he continues. “If you’re a user of my service, I give you the option of a small, medium, large, or extra-large type service. Let’s say I give you a medium service based on what you’ve told me, and if you’ve had a graduation party or if you’ve got additional trash during the holidays and you need additional service, you can throw additional trash next to your cart. I can get out of the truck and hand-load that into my drop-frame truck and bill you for the additional few bags. I think I’m more effective by having those low-entry options or that Swiss Army knife and being able to take the peaks and valleys of your service needs. I want to give you the best service you need for most of the time, and, if you go over it, I have the equipment that can service you.”
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Photo: City of Dallas Solid Waste |
For areas that do not accommodate the operating width of a side-loader, the City of Dallas uses compact rear-loaders specially designed for alleys. |
The automated front-loaders, automated side-loaders, split-body Expert 2000s, and even a few rear-loaders allow Borden to handle nearly every conceivable collection situation. Through the years, the company has even owned a few high-profile automated side-loaders that require all refuse to be in a container. Now, however, Himes and Borden have opted for the Expert 2000s because the local market is not ready to commit to requirements that would lend themselves to the use of an entire fleet of high-profile automated side-loaders.
The Expert 2000’s split-body often suits multiple recycling streams. “The streams of recycling have continued to narrow; we’re still recycling the same amount of product, but we’re doing it in fewer and few streams,” says Himes. “We’re down to two streams. Or we can run single-stream recycling in one side and trash in the other, or use both sides just for trash.”
The newer split-bodies offer Borden some advantages in flexibility over the previous models the company operated, notes Himes. “The split is 60/40,” he says. “On my old trucks, I always had to use the 40% for a certain product line and the 60% for larger items. This truck allows me to flip-flop that ratio, and it also allows me to run more wastestreams just because it’s got adjustable panels and engineering nuances that the other trucks did not have. The variability in the ability to use it is due to the engineering of the hopper … that allows us to flip the panel one way or the other.
“They’re really bought and built specifically for recycling,” Himes says of the Expert 2000. “It might not be as efficient as some of my other equipment, but what this truck will allow me to do is a mix of products. In the evolution from manual to semiautomated to fully automated, I can take these trucks and have them converted to fully automated trucks in the event that the work demands it.”
The versatility of the truck is further exemplified by the dual controls. “They can drive from either the right or the left so you can load that truck from either the right or the left,” Himes points out. “You can be either sitting or standing when you’re working curb.” The driver can get in and out of the cab easily with an 18-inch cab step. Himes notes that one set of controls, such as the gas pedals and turn signals, are deactivated when the controls on the other side of the cab are being used. The manufacturer can also equip either side of the truck with a tipper.
The manufacturer has also added some features to make compaction more efficient. The compaction controls are located both inside the cab and on the truck exterior. The compactor has a speed-up control for loads that would be difficult to compact at idling speed, and the driver can also compact the load while in transit from one stop to the next.
Accommodating Helpers Efficiently, Safely
A way to handle exceptional situations that arise in an otherwise fully automated scenario is to make it easy for a helper to get in and out of the cab for manual collections while the driver grabs and dumps containers from inside the cab. The City of Waco, TX, recently purchased a front-loading McNeilus truck that is specially designed to accommodate a helper so that crews can work routes with curbsides as well as the city’s alleys, which are narrow and populated with utilities. The new truck is part of the city’s strategy to eventually replace rear-loaders and automated side-loaders and is equipped with special design features to allow the helper to handle exceptional collections as efficiently as possible.
These design features include a Curotto Can front hopper-tipper that can be used in fully automated or semiautomated mode, a low-entry, right-hand cab door for the helper, and left-side steering for the driver—who controls the front hopper-tipper from that side while the helper steps out of the cab from the right side and onto the curb.
“We have a major portion of the city that is fully automated at the curb with roll-off carts, and a small portion that is alley collection,” says Robert Bederka, program administrator with City of Waco Solid Waste. “We also provide a bulky waste service where we use rear-loaders—that is a part of the normal residential package.” The front-loaders represent the beginning of the city’s consolidation of automated side-loaders for container refuse and rear-loaders for bulky refuse into one truck.
Bederka reports that the city intends to eventually phase out its 17 fully automated trucks in favor of the new semiautomated trucks; when the transition is complete, he adds, the total number of trucks the city operates should decrease.
The modified front-loader turned out to be a better choice for the city than specifying a similar configuration on a side-loader for a reason that might not be readily apparent to the MSW manager: a lower lifting height. “One of the things we looked at and one of the issues we had with the side-loader was lifting containers high,” Bederka points out. “You have windblown issues. On very windy days, we have a lot of issues as far as stuff blowing out of containers. With these front-loaders, you don’t lift the containers as high. It also cuts the dump cycle time down to about four seconds compared with nine to 12 seconds on the side-loaders.”
Bederka thinks the city has found a good combination of design features to allow consolidation of all collection into one truck. “We’re trying to improve our service at the curb,” he says. “We want to be able to give the resident the best possible service at a cost-effective level. But with the rising cost of fuel, being able to do multifunctional tasks with a single vehicle will be an advantage. Another thing is that we’ll specify our front-loader trucks so that, if we disconnect an electric plug, two hydraulic lines and safety chains on the hopper we have on the front, this truck can be used in a commercial setting. What the new truck allows us to do is streamline—we’ve got one truck that will do several different functions. Picking up those carts is about all a fully automated truck can do.”
“We’re just starting to make that transition,” Bederka says. With the new truck, the driver can handle accessible container refuse in fully automated mode and the helper can move past obstructions to toss bags or bulky items into the front hopper or attach a container to the tipper manually. “What we’re trying to do is combine our service and be as efficient as possible and use the smallest amount of equipment as possible. What we’re headed to with our front-loading style is to be fully automated with the carts but be able to pick up the small amount of bulky waste or the minor piece of furniture with the same truck as opposed to having to send the rear-loader behind it.”
“Normally, with a front-loader configuration, you’d have right-handed steering,” Bederka points out. “We ordered ours with a standard left-handed steering, but we’ve allowed our helper to be in a low-entry cab on the right-hand side, so it’s very easy for him to maneuver in and out away from traffic. He’s actually stepping out onto the curb where the waste is, doing rearranging, picking up any extra bags, and flowing back into the truck.”
The presence of a helper can improve safety for the driver and helper, as well as for customers.
“One of the other major factors that made us move in this direction is safety,” Bederka adds. “Typically, in automated collection, the driver is in the cab by himself. When he gets into a tight cul de sac, dead-end situations, things like that, he’s relying on backup cameras. The second person in that truck can be on the ground, helping the driver back up, getting any extra containers or bags and preventing the truck from getting into those kinds of situations in the first place. An extra set of eyes on a piece of equipment that big makes a big difference where you’ve got children, parked cars, things of that nature.”
Keeping the trucks out of those situations will also reduce the city’s liability, Bederka adds.
Alleyways Require Dedicated Trucks
A large city’s service area does not always allow consolidation into a single type of truck, particularly if the service area includes a high number of narrow alleyways that do not accommodate larger trucks.
A city the size of Dallas, TX, has enough residents and enough variety of collection situations to warrant the use of several different types of refuse haulers. Besides operating about 115 automated side-loaders, Dallas also has about 55 rear-loaders, including a total of 17 Wayne Engineering Alleycat trucks for areas that do not accommodate the operating width of a side-loader.
Whenever possible, the city uses 20-yard rear loaders in alleyways, but some alleyways necessitate the use of narrow-design 11-yard trucks. Although the capacity of these smaller trucks is less than ideal, the city maximizes collection efficiency with the use of tippers on the back of the 20-yarders, notes Gary Middleton, collection operations manager with City of Dallas Solid Waste.
“We have semiautomated trucks that we use tippers with, but we also have some alleys that are even too narrow for the roll carts, and customers are still using bags,” says Middleton. “We have the big 20-yard truck, and then we’ve got an 11-yard Alleycat that we use in the narrowest situations.”
Due to the small capacity and collection challenges posed by narrow alleyways, the Alleycats are dedicated to the alleyways for the most part. “We certainly would not use this truck—because of the capacity—if we could get a much bigger truck in the alleys,” Middleton points out. “This truck allows us to go with semiautomated in places we wouldn’t be able to otherwise. Because of that, it’s not used the same way as a regular garbage truck. We might have it in one alley and it might travel six blocks or six miles to another area that another truck might not be able to get to. We have to pick and choose where we use it.”
The trucks normally require crews of two, sometimes three. “Typically, [the helper] will ride shotgun, and, on these particular bodies that we have specified, we have a place for the helper to ride on the back of the truck—in some cases, we use two helpers on each truck.” The tipper controls are typically located within an arm’s length of the rear of the truck, which reduces the collection cycle time.
The city specifies the smaller rear-loaders at an 87-inch width, which allows them to fit into tight spaces. “The narrowness allows us to go places we otherwise wouldn’t,” Middleton says. “That allows us to put trash on a much smaller truck with a smaller turning radius. The negative impact is that we do have to bring the truck to the landfill more often.”