The new truck in town

Alex Rankin provides a preliminary account of a new vehicle design for kerbside collection

Computer generated impression of how truck might possibly look

The future of waste collection is an issue that will significantly affect the quality and capacity of recycling in the UK. As the technology to recycle continues to grow, it is crucial that collection systems continue to develop alongside. Through collaboration between WRAP and a vehicle design company, this could be happening in the near future.

Ethical Innovative Solutions, a design and building company, has been chosen to deliver the design of two new collection vehicles, one for dry recyclables and the other for food waste. Although still in the conceptual stages of development, the designs seek to resolve some of the most common problems associated with existing collection vehicles and provide technology that can significantly increase the performance of kerbside recycling.

The new design is pioneering figreglass containers

A scoping study revealed that operators were concerned by the positioning of cabs, which, could lead to repetitive strain injury (RSI) in the knees, hips and ankles of workers. High loading points and noise were also common problems, as well as the limitations of only being able to load on one side.
WRAP found that, although demand for new vehicles is high, there was little sign of industry taking a lead in the issue. Ethical Solutions were chosen to deliver the project based on their experience in environmental product development. They have been involved in a number of vehicle build projects and are currently working to develop a modular micro anaerobic digester.

The design of the vehicles involves a number of stages. Following the study of existing vehicles and surveys of operator views, the challenge will be to design and build two prototype vehicles ready for trial. This will also include a manufacturing pack for manufacturers to build the design independently, as well information on parts and servicing. Ethical Solutions sourced the Isuzu NQR, as a model to test the prototype on. This was purely because of its dimensions as a 7.5 tonne chassis and automatic transmission, a priority for all operators surveyed. However, the idea behind the design is that it can be used for various types of vehicles and adapted to suit specific purposes.

In order to achieve this, Ethical Solutions have designed the units to be modular. These can be bolted on to a sub frame, which is then attached to the vehicle. Units can be added or taken off for specific loads and will not affect the overall performance of the vehicle if a single unit is damaged.
Health and Safety has been a major issue in the design process and a number of factors have been implemented to meet these requirements. The new vehicle will feature lift systems to ease manual loading and the design proposal includes enclosed units and use of sound-dampening materials to reduce noise pollution.
The estimated cost for the vehicles is £50,000, a price based on the Isuzu model and a standard module system. At present, Ethical Solutions are still in consultation with WRAP about certain elements of the project, but as soon as confirmation is given, the vehicles could be ready for assembly by the end of the year.