It can go unnoticed, but as the number of recycling material streams has grown, the design of vehicles to collect them has become increasingly sophisticated in terms of style, functionality, safety, comfort and user-friendliness. The days of the old dustcart are now seemingly long gone.

The design ergonomics of waste and recycling collection vehicles depends on a number of factors, crucially driven by the needs of the end-user. A ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach does not cut much ice any more.

“The advent of increasingly stringent recycling directives dictates that a typical local authority might collect in excess of six or seven different dry recyclable factions, as well as any residual non-recyclable waste”, notes Sheldon Hall, Marketing Manager for environmental equipment manufacturers Terberg Matec. “Therefore, vehicle design is driven by the waste and recycling strategy chosen to deal with these material streams and, of course, any post-collection sorting facilities they have in place.”

Similarly, most vehicle body and bin lift manufacturers have also had to diversify their products to match the varied recycling strategies employed. “The result of this effort,” adds Hall, “is a wide range of products designed to help collect dry recyclables and food waste from ‘sorted at source’, ‘co-mingled’ and ‘bring scheme’ collection operations in an efficient and
safe way.”

Trying to find a balance between this, efficiency and ease of use is crucial for all manufacturers. There is European safety legislation to be adhered to, regulations such as EN ISO 13849-1:2008 and EN IEC 62061 machinery safety standards, and the more specific waste industry related regulations such as EN 1501 and EN 840, which have both been amended and updated several times since the late ’90s.

The formalisation of EN 1501-5 in the last year has had several implications, one of which dictates that collection vehicles should be fitted with a rear protective device that halts an automatic lift and return cycle, should operators or members of the public walk underneath the lift during operation.

That said, while the European Union regulations aim to provide a harmonised Europe-wide standard for vehicles and lifting equipment, individual states are still allowed some flexibility. The UK does not allow waste operatives to ride on the outside of vehicles, so an opt-out from EU legislation has been secured that bans the fitting of riding platforms on British waste vehicles, a sight that’s not unusual in mainland Europe or Ireland.

On the efficiency side, recent innovations have included use of hybrid chassis and electrically powered bin lifts to reduce both CO2 emissions and fuel consumption. There is also the increased preponderance of low-level entry cabs. “They’re becoming more popular”, says David Buxton, Secretary of the Container Handling Equipment Manufacturers Association (CHEM). “The idea is to avoid operators having to climb up two or three steps to gain access to the cab. Most rear-loaded refuse vehicles are now mounted on low-entry cabs.”

As you’d expect, manufacturers undertake extensive consultation with the waste industry before new designs are ushered out onto the market. “For us, the customer shapes and drives a lot of our design innovation”, says Hall. “We have several base models in our range, but our customers might choose a particular variant from these models.

“We also see vehicles designed for one purpose being adapted or modified for other purposes”, he adds. “This is certainly true of our plastic-bodied vehicle the PBUV. Designed originally for food waste collections, we now see the PBUV finding its way into open space management, absorbent hygiene product (AHP) collections and canine waste collections.”

Looking forward, the expectation is that vehicle design is unlikely to undergo radical changes during the next few years, though Buxton leaves open the intriguing possibility of the so-called ‘smart vehicle’, a design that’s already in operation in North America. “It’s the next logical development, where you have just one driver with a side operated lifter. He can reach it out, lift the bin, discharge it into the vehicle and put it back on the pavement again”, he explains, adding: “Though I can’t honestly see it happening here. Our streets are too congested, there are too many parked cars and so on.”