VEHICLES
BFI’S waste management operations in the UK during the 1980’s and the 1990’s
BROWNING-Ferris Industries (BFI) Waste Systems, America’s second largest waste management company, entered the UK market in the mid 1980’s. Its expansion strategy for the UK market was to acquire regional waste management companies to develop its UK business portfolio.
The first acquisition was Grandmet Waste Services Ltd’s municipal waste services division, known as ‘Wastecare’. This was operating two waste collection contracts at the time: the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the London Borough of Wandsworth. After the acquisition, BFI rebranded its UK operation as ‘BFI Wastecare’ Ltd.
During this same period, BFI also expanded into the West Midlands area acquiring four regionalised waste management companies specialising in commercial waste collection. These were Adams Waste Services, of Cheslyn Hay near to Cannock, Dial-A-Skip and Weir Waste Services Ltd of Birmingham, and Potters Waste Ltd of Coventry. All four had similar dry waste collection fleet profiles, eg, Dempster Dumpsters, skip loaders, hook lifts (roll-on-offs), trade waste collection vehicles and industrial rear end loaders. BFI resprayed their vehicles and equipment into BFI’s global
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corporate navy and white colour scheme carrying BFI’s white coloured logo.
The company also expanded into the liquid waste business during the same period, operating a fleet of non- hazardous and hazardous 5,000-gallon articulated vacuum tankers.
Wastecare won the Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council municipal waste collection contract in the 1980’s. BFI deployed a fleet of Dennis Eagle narrow tracked Dennis Delta 4x2 Phoenix 2M12 waste collection vehicles to provide this service. These were either supplied in open back form for sack collection from households, or were fitted with Dennis Eagle’s pencil bin hoist type equipment for the emptying of one and a quarter cubic yard paladin type containers.
In the early 1990’s, BFI next acquired Packington Estate Enterprises Ltd (PEEL)’s controlled landfill site, situated close to Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre (NEC) and Birmingham International Airport. This was the largest controlled landfill site operating in the UK. It used its North American sanitary landfill operational expertise and knowhow to operate the site. This landfill provided a sustainable disposal route for Solihull Council’s waste, which
By TIMOTHY BYRNE was collected by BFI at this time.
In the same period, BFI acquired Thomas Graveson (Disposal) Ltd of Carnforth in Lancashire. This company operated a dry waste fleet consisting of skip loaders, hook loaders, roll-on-offs, rear and front end loaders and helped BFI to expand its operations into the North of the UK.
It was also during the early 1990’s, that BFI updated its dry and liquid waste collection fleets. The skip loaders were supplied by David Mackrill Engineering Ltd-Macklift while the hook loaders were either supplied by Reynolds Boughton or Lacre PDE. The trade waste collection vehicles and industrial rear and front-end loaders were purchased from Jack Allen (Motor Bodies Ltd) latterly Jack Allen (Sales and Service) Ltd.
Jack Allen supplied their range of Heil waste collection equipment to BFI which was already widely used in their operations across the States. Dennis Eagle supplied their range of Dennis Delta narrow tracked chassis with Phoenix 2M series bodies mounted onto them for BFI’S municipal collection contracts. Non-hazardous and hazardous articulated vacuum tankers were supplied by Whale Tankers Ltd of Ravenshaw-Solihull.
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