Innovation and Technology For The Future

By Norman Thoday - CEO of Dennis Eagle

Increasing landfill taxes, rising fuel costs and tightening operational budgets, along with the Government’s proposals to make Britain one of the ‘greenest’ countries in the world, are all contributing  to a growing pressure to change the way we collect waste, but how is the industry going to meet these demands? Norman Thoday, managing director of Dennis Eagle, discusses the latest innovations and developments that the waste industry is working on and what is important to this vital industry.

100 years ago, the waste industry was just finding its feet, recycling hadn’t entered people’s minds and there were very few health and safety precautions. Refuse collection had only just begun to include businesses and local authorities, and households were just starting to see regular waste collections. Today the industry is vastly changed. Not only do we have weekly waste and refuse collections for households, local authorities and businesses, but the way we collect waste is far more economical, safer and efficient. However, with the new ‘green’ credentials the UK is trying to achieve, there is mounting pressure to revolutionise the way we collect our rubbish.

At Dennis Eagle, we have a strong history of innovation and pride ourselves on being at the forefront of new technology. Due to the niche market in which we operate, it’s vital that we listen to our customers and take into account their needs, are aware of the pressures they are under and legislation requirements they have to work within, and develop new products to meet those needs.

The manner in which we collect waste in the UK has been evolving over the years and the current drivers are strongly linked to recent budget cuts as well as the rising cost of fuel and the need for vehicles to be more fuel efficient and omit less carbon dioxide. The UK market is demanding vehicles that use alternative fuel sources or less fuel to do the same job. 

To help meet the current and future demands of our customers we entered into a strategic alliance with BAE Systems earlier this year, to develop a new heavy duty hybrid electric propulsion system that can be fitted into our low entry cabs. The system, named HybriDrive™, is a really exciting project and one which will bring significant savings to customers who adopt the vehicle when it is released next year. Based on parallel hybrid technology for heavy duty vocational application, it has an on-board electrical system, which works in conjunction with a self-propelled diesel hybrid engine. It has the same power as a standard 26 tonne refuse collection vehicle but because of the electric mode it is a lot quieter which is a real advantage in inner city areas where night time collections take place.

Further to this, the vehicle will also have new advanced fuel-efficient technologies and therefore lower operating costs, an important consideration in light of the fact that fuel prices are continuing to rise. At the moment it’s difficult to be specific in terms of expected emission reductions. However, we’re hoping the new system will save up to 20 per cent and when you consider a refuse vehicle can use up to £20,000 of fuel a year, this adds up to considerable savings over time – up to £100,000 annually for a fleet of 25 trucks.  

Currently we are preparing to begin field trials later this year, at a location near our Warwick headquarters. We are planning to monitor the trials as closely as possible to get a good idea of how well the vehicle is working. We will compare it to a normal Euro 5 refuse vehicle and to make the trial as fair as possible we will be using the same crew, same body and both trials will be carried out on the same route.

Another interesting system we’ve been involved with is the demountable side loading system, the HS Speedliner. This is a new innovative approach and a great example of Dennis Eagle working hard to combat future challenges facing the waste management industry. The HS Speedliner provides operators and local authorities with significant savings, reductions in environmental impact and improved operator safety.

This revolutionary system allows bodies to be demounted when full and replaced with new ones while out on collection. This means up to two bodies can be transported at one time to the refuse site, saving time and road miles while also reducing collection delays.  Because of the hands off nature of the vehicle, a maximum of two operators are needed per vehicle and this can be reduced to just one operator when they have been fully trained. This is because the system uses a side loading arm that reduces the amount of contact operators have with the lifting and packing mechanism, minimising the risk of accidents.

Since we introduced the system at Horsham Borough Council over a year ago, there have been significant savings and benefits to both the operators and the local community. This includes a 20 per cent reduction in mileage, a 67 per cent reduction in slips, trips and falls and a 28 per cent reduction in musculoskeletal injuries. They have also seen recycling rates increase by 56 per cent, a figure that continues to rise.

The partnership with Horsham Borough Council has been widely recognised and recently won the ‘Partnership Award’ at the Plant and Waste Recycling Awards 2011. This was a great achievement and was followed soon after with our win at the National Recycling Awards, where we won ‘Vehicle, Plant of Equipment Supplier of the Year’. Both of these awards demonstrate our ability to be at the forefront of the industry and provide solutions that meet the demands of the industry.   

The future of the recycling and waste industry is very exciting but we must continue to constantly work toward developing new technologies and systems that are going to meet demands of our customers and also ensure the impact on the environment is reduced. Fuel prices will continue to rise so it’s important that manufacturers like Dennis Eagle offer solutions which reduce consumption and assist the waste industry to continue to serve the communities who greatly rely on them.