LAWR

August 2015 Local Authority Waste & Recycling 9 RCV Spotlight at this moment in time. "We haven't seen this level of demand for the last couple of years," says Dennis' regional sales manager, Tom Fullerton. "Scotland has historically been an important market for our business and this will continue to be the case." Looking ahead as Scotland progresses with its zero waste agenda, Crowder sees growing demand for measurement. "As tonnages of recycling material continue to increase, together with competition to collect it, the need for accurate weighing of bins and containers has grown in order to charge customers by weight – particularly for commercial and industrial. More new vehicles are being specified with bin weighing equipment installed to monitor the weights of commercial bins being collected." McMorine says he is also seeing increasing interest in pay-by-weight solutions using certified, dynamic weighing and RFID bin-chip systems, especially from commercial operators. "This not only provides a fairer charging system, but also enables operators to identify customers with exceptionally heavy bins that may not be commercially viable to dispose of any other way. "I'm not sure if this type of system could work for domestic collections yet, though it clearly does in other European countries and Scottish ministers with ambitions to improve the country's green credentials could lead us in that direction," McMorine observes. Outsourcing on the cards? Scotland's councils, like their UK counterparts, are also having to cope with austerity measures and are under increasing pressure to cut costs. Waste collection is done mostly in-house north of the border with very little sub- contracted out, but Fullerton thinks this might change going forward. "Some councils are double-shifting waste and recycling vehicles with the aim of saving money, but this is potentially a false economy and is not expected to happen on a wider scale as vehicles will wear out faster, leading to increased maintenance costs," he maintains. "Going forward, we could expect to see authorities reversing the trend for in-house waste collection services and bringing in private contractors in an attempt to deliver further savings." McMorine says that while there is a case for certain authorities to think about combining operations and fleets to drive more efficient waste and recycling operations, this won't work in all areas. "In Scotland we are blessed with some large, empty spaces where people are thin on the ground and these will always put a strain on resources. Nobody has come up with a real solution to this yet, but when they do it will probably change the complexion of RCV fleets in Scotland." Advances in fleet optimisation should also see growing interest among customers. Fullerton believes local authorities will need to look at new ways to improve fleet efficiency once the low-hanging fruit such as fuel efficiency, payload and maneuverability have been picked. "From a vehicle perspective, this could include greater use of vehicle tracking and analysis tools to measure performance and deliver savings," he says. Designs on the future According to Crowder, with ever increasing demand to reduce environmental impact, from emissions to noise levels, there will be continued development in design technology. "Couple this with increasing separation of the waste streams and resulting tonnages of better quality material collected, both the chassis and equipment types will develop in harmony," he says. He adds: "With regards to driver, operator, pedestrian and cyclist health and safety, it is anticipated there will be continued requirement for more sophisticated camera and radar systems to aid better all round visibility and warning alerts in the working environment surrounding vehicles. "It is anticipated that vehicle GPRS tracking systems will become more common place, collecting information and data to allow fleet managers to make more informed decisions on vehicle specification, routing and scheduling, plus workplace activities carried out." Sean Heyburn, national fleet account manager at Volvo Group UK, says safety is also a growing priority with customers specifying requirements for active safety systems such as automated systems and checks, and visual aids including cameras, recordable devices and line of sight solutions regarding primary vision. Policy wise, it's fair to say the rest of the UK has some catching up to do if it is to match Scotland's ambition, but the unique landscape of the country will always result in different vehicle specifications, according to Fullerton. "Most of Scotland's population is located between Edinburgh and Glasgow, but there are also a number of remote villages and island communities. Although sparsely populated, many of these cover vast areas in terms of land mass. Vehicles for the Scottish market are therefore often geared towards providing maximum fuel and payload efficiency, while at the same time being versatile enough to cope with the demands of various types of terrain." Geesinknorba is seeing rising interest in pay-by-weight Maxine Perella is guest editor of LAWR " The unique landscape will always result in different vehicle specifications " Dennis Eagle doing the rounds in the Western Isles

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