Nineteen new bin trucks to hit the streets of Bury

Bury Council is investing £3.5 million in a new ‘fit for purpose’, fuel efficient fleet of 19 waste collection vehicles to boost efficiency and improve the service provided to residents.

The Waste Collection Service collects general household rubbish and recycling from around 82,000 households and 1,300 trade customers across the borough.

The new vehicles will replace the existing fleet which, due to its age, is now inefficient, unreliable and costly to maintain.

All the new vehicles will have a Mercedes chassis with a body made by Faun Zoeller.

Fourteen of the new vehicles will be ‘state of the art’ Rotopress vehicles.

The main noticeable difference with Faun Zoeller Rotopress vehicles is that the main body of the vehicle is in the form of a cylindrical drum. This rotates while the vehicle is stationary and on the move, to shift the waste to the front of the vehicle. Once the vehicle is around 80% full the waste inside is compacted via an internal ‘corkscrew’ using the momentum of the drum.

The Rotopress vehicles have a range of other benefits including greater capacity, meaning fewer miles will be travelled and fewer trips made to the waste transfer facility.

They also offer lower fuel costs and C02 emissions, better manoeuvrability in narrow streets and less maintenance due to having 75% fewer moving components.

The first two Rotopress vehicles are now in service collecting brown bin waste (food and garden waste) for recycling.

A further ten Rotopress vehicles are due for delivery by the end of March and should be in service during April, after new livery has been applied and all necessary pre-delivery vehicle checks have been carried out.

Seven more new vehicles will be put into service around August/September: two Rotopress, four Variopress and one smaller vehicle to service the farms and properties in hard-to-reach areas.

Variopress vehicles are flat-sided and use a traditional compaction method more suited to collecting blue bin recycling (glass bottles and jars, plastic bottles, food and drink cans, aerosols and foil).

Councillor Alan Quinn, cabinet member for the environment, said: “Our collection crews are a great team doing an amazing job at keeping collections going throughout the coronavirus pandemic, but with tired and outdated vehicles service reliability has suffered in recent months.

“Having a brand new fleet that is fuel-efficient, more economic and enables our workforce to provide a better quality service to residents is a ‘win win win’ situation.”

As well as a better mechanical design, each of the new vehicles will feature low-entry cabs, 360-degree CCTV cameras, an audible reversing warning system for the safety of pedestrians and cyclists and an in-cab screen for drivers to monitor any potential hazards in blind spots.

The waste collection service offers residents a bin collection ‘reminder and alert’ service by email which, as well as regular reminders, includes updates if collections are delayed, for example due to heavy snow. Residents can sign up at www.bury.gov.uk/bincollections

ENDS

Press release issued: 10 February 2021.

Picture: Operations manager Carl Nieland and Cllr Alan Quinn try out one of the new waste collection trucks.