Initiative on show at Paignton parade

The waste industry took the opportunity at the annual IWM event presented at Torbay to reveal details of a major move to get its message across to the country at large. The National Waste Awareness Initiative (NWAI), which is backed by a steering group of around 50 public, private and voluntary groups in the sector, held a breakfast meeting during the conference under the auspices of IWM, to promote its aims and objects.


Speakers included NWAI Directors, Tony Hirons, Press and Parliamentary Affairs Manager for IWM, and Barbara McPhail, Senior Executive Director, Going for Green, plus Mal Williams, National Co-ordinator, Cylch (Welsh Community Recycling Network, who is a nominated Observer on the NWAI board.

The NWAI nation-wide campaign is targeted predominantly at the general public, with an ambitious programme aiming “to encourage and maintain positive change in public awareness, attitudes and, very importantly, behaviour, to waste production and management.”

The initiative aims to encourage people to adopt more responsible attitudes towards waste and to deal with it in ways that are more sustainable, eg, reduce it (at source), reuse it, recycle it, or dispose of it safely if no other alternative exists.

The NWAI will be working with a wide range of organisations to develop a unifying theme and umbrella brand which will be used at national level, but which is also designed to be used in support of local initiatives. The campaign will be working in partnership with key sectors such as local authorities, the waste management industry, retailers, Packaging Compliance Schemes and processors, plus other waste producers, community recycling organisations, central government, including the Environment Agency, NGOs and equipment manufacturers.

Work began last month on the National Waste Awareness Initiative consumer research with a grant from the ESA’s Research Trust (ESART). The research will identify the key campaign messages for creating awareness, encouraging attitude change and eventually leading to public adoption of more responsible actions on waste.

NWAI Chairman Bob Lisney said: “We’re developing a multi-million campaign, one which will make a real difference to UK waste management in the future, and this research will help ensure it is absolutely right.”

Focus on new developments

The industry’s public relations effort was matched by the wide range of new and developed equipment and services on show, many of which were included in LAWE’s IWM 2000 Preview in the May issue, while other innovations featured last month in our street cleansing and RCV special features.

Yet more developments on display from a bumper crop of new kit being paraded along the Paignton prom at IWM Torbay 2000, are highlighted in this LAWE Review.

At the big end of the market IWM Torbay 2000 saw the launch of the third new screening machine to be launched by Powerscreen this year in the shape of the 511 high capacity additions to its trommel range. Targeted at the smaller operation looking for a low-cost entry entry into the screening market, the compact machine is designed for fast set-up and is stated to be very versatile, tackling screening and stockpiling of construction debris, solid waste, soil, compost, wood bark, aggregates and quarry spoil. An optional crawler tracked, low ground pressure version is available for customers requiring total mobility around the site.

The Trommel 511 weighs in at 13 tonnes for the crawler-mounted version and 10.5 tonnes for the static model.

A relative newcomer in the waste field, MSM Vehicles Ltd, which began business six years ago as a partnership, operates in the specialised segment of the refuse market, providing refurbishment and repair of refuse and demountable vehicles. Equipment can be restored or supplied complete, for existing or new chassis cab units. MSM Vehicles can supply new and used parts and company hire vehicles under one roof. Alternatively, there are specialised mobile engineers to attend breakdowns all over the UK.

On show at Torbay, Cammko TruckweigherTM offered a range of on board weighing systems providing axle load information on four-, six- or eight-cell fixed body systems. The company’s “Terminator” systems cover waste management, articulated and rigid chassis tippers, general haulage and timber trucks and cranes.

The product range includes high strength, Double Shear Beam “short” load cells which are stated to be mechanically stronger and provide greater thread contact and safety margins than other “short” types. There are also high strength, Double Shear Beam “long” load cells for fixed body installations, five-inch wheel load cells and air pressure transducers.

Cammko displayed a standard truck, twin core cable in “daisy chain” format, with no junction box, which is stated to simplify installation and cut maintenance costs. Features include multi-lift automatic bin weighing, electronic bin ID, data capture, analysis, store and send plus printer and PC communications. The companyÕs in-house system design “Wastelink” is a co-ordinated package linking truck, customer, and operator, integrating collection, movement and billing.

French-based Legras Industries exhibited two versions of its FMA (alternative moving floor) Bulkliner trailers. One, supplied to Hampshire Waste Services, is fitted with a hydraulic sliding roof, hydraulic rear tailgate door and the Legras patented “Impact Plus Floor” for heavy types of waste. This brings the fleet of Legras FMA Bulkliners owned by Hampshire Waste to 16.

The second unit has been supplied to Greendale Haulage of Devon, bringing the total of the company’s fleet of Legras trailers to seven. It is fitted with a “moving bulkhead” to facilitate the rapid unloading of bulk materials, waste paper, woodchips etc. Air-operated safety latches are fitted to the rear “barn type” doors.

IWM Chairman Roger Hewitt, marked the launch at the Torbay event by bin washing equipment specialist LAROS of three new launches, with a visit to the company’s stand.

The new LAROS Hydro and Duplex offer new features, including a fully enclosed internal and external wash, hot wash, air drying and final clean rinse. All the company’s models follow the Environment Agency’s guidelines for the recycling of the water used, and have multi-stage filtration systems to facilitate recycling.

Commenting on the IWM show the company’s new Managing Director, Marius Coulon, said: “Enquiries for the purchase of the equipment, and for the LAROS GreenCleen service, surpassed all expectations. More and more companies have become environmentally aware of the unacceptability of dirty, smelly bins that harbour bacteria, and they now expect their waste collection contractor to wash the wheeled bins. We can provide the specialist bin washing equipment or, through the LAROS GreenCleen Network, we can provide either a regular washing service or one-off specials.”

In the container marketplace, Straight Recycling Systems announced that, in the biggest of three recent deals, it had acquired all the home composting and water butt activities from County Mulch Ltd. Straight, which has invested in new, substantially larger offices with a high-tech call centre, has also been appointed as UK agent for the Norseman Plastic Earth Machine and local authority distributor for Richard Sankey, manufacturer of the Convertabin.

Glasdon launched its new Topsy 2000TM litter bin at IWM Torbay. The litter bin hood detaches from the plinth base at the bottom of the bin which means that the liner only has to be lifted a short distance for removal and emptying and the base is easily accessible for fixing to the ground. With its enhanced specification, Topsy 2000 has a choice of two locking systems, a patented keyless lock and a new five-point locking keyed option. The new larger liner has full 90-litre capacity and new T-shaped handles.

Waste handling range extended

Materials handling equipment manufacturer JCB launched an extension to its wide range of machines for the waste industry at IWM 2000.

At the large end of the scale, the wraps came off a new Wheeled Loading Shovel, the 456 Wastemaster, which is purpose-built to meet the needs of waste transfer and civic amenity operators. Fitted with single piece High Lift Arms, it has a heaped bucket capacity of 4m3 and 3,430mm dump height. Another heavyweight addition to the waste sector is the JCB 714 articulated dump truck. The machine – with load capacity of 13 tonnes – will be followed by the introduction of its bigger stablemate, the JCB 718 (load capacity 16.5 tonnes), and is suitable for applications such as carrying top soil cover on landfill sites.

At the smaller end of range JCB unveiled its latest generation of Robot Skid Steer Loaders. The JCB Robot 170 offers improved visibility for operators working in restricted environments. These machines have applications in transfer stations and waste amenity sites.

MacLift officicially launched its new Hookloader Container Sheet Cover, the “Armadillo”, at IWM Torbay, following a two year development by a project team.

The system is stated to provide a unique panel concept, to give customers an integrated package from one source in the shape of a powered sheeting device for the Hookloader range. Chassis mounted, the cover is raised hydraulically to the top of the container, then meshed panels are extended to lay on top of the load. The entire process is powered and eliminates the need to fasten the cover to the container sides. Providing covering in 90 seconds the speed of operation of the Armadillo reduces the amount of time an operator has to be exposed within the high-risk zone, ie outside the vehicle.

Tipmaster displayed a range of vehicles including the new Ford Transit fitted with tipping bodies, refuse equipment, tail lifts and hydraulic crane. On show was the new Tommy Lift Van Lift which is capable of raising and lowering 300kg. The van lift is mounted on a swivelling platform to allow easy loading and unloading when the tail lift is not needed. The Tommy Lift is designed to suit most vans for fitting at the rear or side door on low, medium and high roof vans. Tipmaster used a Toyota Hi Ace van for its display.

Also on show was the new Ford Transit 350 MWB fitted with the Tipmaster composite body.

A special “Kerbside Collection (Recycling)” vehicle, based on a long wheelbase LT46 chassis cab with caged tipper body, designed for collecting pre-separated waste such as glass, cans and paper for recycling operators, was one of several vehicles on the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles stand aimed at the waste transportation industry. The conversion, by bodybuilder Brade Leigh, includes three separate compartments, each 1.32 metres long, by 2.2 wide and 1.6 metres high. Only the correct material goes into the specified “bin”.

A Volkswagen LT46 medium wheelbase chassis cab was also on show equipped with a combination suction and jetting unit by Wards Flexible Rod and access platform specialist Priestman co-operated with Volkswagen in building a 12 metre high access platform on the rear of an LT46 chassis cab. This unit is targeted at local authorities and contractors where access is required for the removal of waste and for maintenance purposes.

Mercedes-Benz showed a range of chassis and vehicles at IWM 2000, including the Atego middleweight truck, fitted with Welford tipper/crane bodywork, a Vito van, two Actros, including the new 3235K Actros eight-wheeler and 3331AK 6×4 tractor units and the new Sprinter CDI with common rail diesel. Also exhibited was the Econic specialist waste management chassis in 4×2 and 6×2 form.

On the vehicle safety front Vision Techniques introduced a new Talking Alarm kit, designed for applications where vehicles are reversing in city and urban environments or operating in congested pedestrian environments such as airports or rail terminals. For reversing applications, the system features automatic switching on and off after each reversing manoeuvre, thus avoiding the problems of operators or drivers forgetting to switch the alarm on and off.


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