From: The Automation Ideal

Automating Bulk Collection

The collection of refuse other than trash and recyclables presents MSW companies with specific separation and scheduling challenges. But it is possible to automate pickup of bulk items to some extent, says Blair Petersen, marketing manager for Petersen Industries. The company manufactures “grapple trucks,” which consist of a hydraulic knuckleboom loader that includes outriggers and an all-purpose clamshell bucket, and, typically, a dump body mounted on a chassis.

Safety is at least as much of an issue with bulk waste collection as with trash and recycling, Petersen notes. “If you’re trying to do it by hand, you have the same risks as if you’re trying to pick up garbage by hand,” she says. “You can get run over, you can get backed over—all of those same things, except it’s even worse because it’s even heavier if you try to do it by hand.”

Once refuse is in the truck, separation challenges present themselves, Petersen adds. “It depends on what kind of bulk collection you’re doing. A lot of times, there is some kind of diversion agenda. If there’s brush and woodwaste, a lot of time they want to keep that separate from normal garbage, so you have different route for it. The same goes for white goods; they don’t want to mix that in with normal garbage and put that in a compactor. They have a separate route for that, anyway.”

The problem with collecting bulk waste of all types in a conventional rear-loader, she says, is that compacting some items is acceptable, but not acceptable for others. Grapple trucks, in contrast, allow commingling of bulk items on the truck bed and the dumping of the various items in different locations at a landfill.

From a scheduling standpoint, bulk waste collection can create enforcement issues. That is, bulk items may not be picked up on the same assigned day as trash and refuse; neither can residents expect a special collection that is included in the cost of service in many cases. Scheduling the collection of bulk items can create some challenges for a municipality or private hauler. Among Petersen Industries’ customers, “They all do it differently,” says Petersen. “With some, you just call in and give them your address, and they make a schedule that night and go around the next day and just pick up whoever called in, and that’s just part of your services. With others, say you’re in a certain zone, then you get picked up on Monday and Monday is your day, and if you need another collection you call in and schedule a special collection that you have to pay for.”