Transport


Tailoring vehicles to the Swedish market


In Scandinavia skips are regularly used for collecting waste. Andrew Christie of Dennis Eagle discusses the variations between the UK and Swedish refuse collection industry and explains how Dennis Eagle tailors its vehicles to meet the needs of this market.


Andrew Christie Export development manager Dennis Eagle


A


T DENNIS Eagle we work with a number of markets throughout the world and each comes with different challenges and


requirements. Every order we receive is unique, whether


it’s from the UK or elsewhere in the world, as every authority, contractor, or municipal hire company has different demands and we build our vehicles to meet those needs. The Swedishmarket is a particularly


interesting one as the country is more advanced in the way it manages waste collection and because of the conditions they have to operate in the vehicle specification is far more stringent than in the UK. An important difference is instead of a


local authority overseeing an entire region, either in-house or by sub-contracting it out to a third party, in Sweden a different contractor can service one street (or commune as it is known there) while another will look after the following street. Each commune has a committee that decides


which provider will serve their region, meaning that waste collection could be on a Wednesday


Dennis Eagle supplied Renova with a mix of Dennis Elite vehicles with the majority of them being rear-steers


The country is more advanced in the way it manages waste collections


for one street and on a Thursday for the next. One thing that is apparent when you start working in Sweden is the way businesses and communes handle their waste. It is common for Scandinavian countries,


such as Sweden, to commission waste collection companies to pick up their refuse from hired out skips. The skips come in a variety of different sizes


varying from six metres, primarily used for organic waste, to larger skips that are up to 22 metres long, and it is important that the vehicles used enable these to be emptied quickly and efficiently. Most of the RCVs ordered by Swedish


companies need to be versatile and able to collect waste from skips, as it is not just businesses that use skips but also communes, with RCVs expected to empty skips that are commonly used by an entire street. This is why it’s not uncommon for them to be fitted with a bin lift and a winch operation. This alsomeans the controls we fit are very


different to the ones installed in the UK. We put the buttons and joystick controls


RCVs can be fi tted with a bin lift and winch operation Recycling


& WA S T E W O R L D


on a panel so the winch and bin lift can be operated using just one hand, making life easier


www. r e c y c l i n gwa s t ewo r l d . c o . u k


for the operator. In addition, each winch we fit has been specially designed to allow the vehicle to lift up to five tonnes of waste at one time. All the vehicles fitted with this technology


have been designed to be as safe as possible, with a hydraulic function fitted to provide a safety mechanism that protects operators. This ensures that if the winch was to fail, a


locking mechanism would activate to ensure that the vehicle’s load is not suddenly dropped. The main advantage of using this skip waste


refuse system is that it allows businesses and communes to dispose of large amounts of waste all at once. This is particularly beneficial for businesses that regularly create large volumes of waste. The size of contractors varies too, from one-


man operations to large private contractors such as Ragn Sells, which is the largest private waste collection and disposal company in Sweden. In the past 18 months, Dennis Eagle has


supplied 10 vehicles to Renova, the largest publically owned waste disposal company in Sweden. This order was a mix of Dennis Elite 6x2 and 4x2 chassis’ with the majority of them being rear-steers, including a number with a winch operation fitted.


October 27 2011


RWW 23


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