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Grow your plant
02-APR-2006

Is it time we put more resources into mobile waste-handling plant?

With waste volumes rising and an urgent
need to recycle more, is there a strong case for using more mobile machines
and attachments as an alternative to expensive fixed facilities and manual operations
to handle waste, recycled materials and compost? 

The waste, recycling and composting sectors together form just about the harshest
operating environment that any machine can be expected to operate in, anywhere
around the world. Nobody is suggesting that construction or even agriculture
is `easy¿ but, while mining and quarrying are really tough, at least such operations
have dedicated machines designed without constraints on power, size or weight.

In waste, the ravages of abrasive dust and extremes of temperature still have
to be met, but within a specification that must be compact and light enough
to deliver a multitasking capability that might change by the hour. And because
waste is often handled in urban environments, machines must also produce minimum
noise and other emissions, so as not to impact on the lives of local residents.

Mission impossible, then? Surprisingly, no. Against a long list of necessary
attributes (to which we must add the need for a 24/7 aftersales service cover),
the leading manufacturers of mobile hydraulic plant and machinery are currently
lining up to win a greater share of budgets for new equipment. Even though waste
is such a tough market, these firms have spotted that, whatever happens to the
world economy, it¿s highly unlikely that there will be a `recession¿ in the
amount of waste we produce. 

In fact, recent statistics suggest that, despite our best efforts at recycling,
the volumes requiring disposal will continue to rise rather than fall. Add in
the European view that the percentage of waste destined for recycling needs
to double over the next decade (and then some) and combine that with the current
US stance that commercial markets should be left unregulated (e.g. not imposing
controls on excessive and unnecessary packaging), and we¿re left with, at best,
a set of stimulating waste handling issues to solve. Or at worst, a nightmare
of our own making because clearly any alternative technologies need to be in
place ¿ and proven ¿ before landfill space runs out.

So where does the market for mobile plant and machinery fit into this story?
At present, it could be argued, it doesn¿t much. You could argue that most of
our efforts ¿ and budgets ¿ have so far centred on improving collection systems
¿ in other words, new vehicles. To put things into context, we should compare
the waste industry with the construction industry.

MECHANIZATION IS THE NAME OF THE GAME

Interestingly, the manufacturers of machines such as hydraulic excavators,
wheeled loaders and telescopic handlers are active in both these markets. In
construction, however, the latest designs of mobile plant are central to increasing
profitability and improving site safety. Trucks are secondary. Contrast that
with the waste and recycling sectors. Here, collection technology is king but,
at the same time, many still advocate waste-picking by hand using conveyorline
sorting systems inside expensive, fixed facilities.

And then there¿s composting. Everybody agrees composting is a good thing and,
if asked, most householders would like to see more of it. But the only way that
composting is ever going to be able to make a real difference on a global scale
is by using a lot more mobile machinery ¿ and harnessing the process to local
heat and power generation.

WHAT'S IN IT FOR THEM?

An expanding market for `lots more machines¿ is the main attraction for the
manufacturers, and explains why so many of the world¿s top machinery manufacturers
are keen to win a greater percentage of the waste market. The current guess
is that the market for hydraulic machinery will at least double as the need
to pick and process waste replaces the far simpler landfill option. I predict
it could grow even more.

But some key decisions need to be made by potential customers. Should market-specific
modifications be added as extras to a standard production machine such as those
used in construction or agriculture? Or should they be an integral part of a
purpose-built design? Is a one-stop-shop approach preferable or is it best to
deal with specialists?

But before we get specific, there are some other factors to take into account,
such as timing. Apart from Austria, Switzerland and Sweden (the current top
recyclers), just about every other country worldwide still has a long way to
go.

Get your plan for a fixed facility wrong, and you could have an expensive mistake
by the time it¿s all built and commissioned. But use an independent waste stream
collection system with mobile mechanized materials handling and it can grow,
or change, as future conditions dictate. `Mobile¿ is an argument that has considerable
merit.

A collection system with mobile, mechanized materials handling can grow or change as future conditions dictate

WHAT'S IN IT FOR YOU?

If these suggestions are helping to paint a picture that the future will belong
to ever more powerful, larger and therefore more expensive machines to handle
waste, you might be surprised to discover there is already some strong evidence
that this might not be the case ¿ at least not where shredding plays a part
in any materials-handling process. Over the last three years, I have travelled
extensively both to test new machines and to examine those in operation. I had
indeed assumed that any new generations of machine would be more powerful and
heavier than the models they replaced. But several recent case studies have
indicated otherwise. Where a typical 20-tonne 360º excavator might well have
plenty of power and stability at maximum outreach, it encourages the driver
to grab an ever larger `bite¿ of material when feeding a shredder hopper. On
mixed household waste such a load could include unseen concrete posts, metal
brackets or brick rubble ¿ which could cause serious damage to any shredder.

I don¿t know whether the alternative was discovered by accident or through
extensive scientific analysis, but there¿s growing interest in using new generations
of compact or midi-sized machines to work as feeders. A machine with an operating
weight of 8 or 10 tonnes might need more `bites¿ per working shift, but it¿s
cheaper to run, has a lighter footprint on the stockpile, and is more agile.
The bottom line is that any foreign objects that are picked up are far more
likely to be felt by the driver of a smaller machine than by one of twice the
weight. And that can save expensive damage.

Unfortunately, previous generations of compact machines tended to have compact
cabs as well, without enough space for the driver to stay comfortable throughout
a shift. Engine cooling and reliability issues didn¿t favour long-term reliability,
and hydraulic power was also often not up to the job of powering selector grabs,
clamshell buckets or shears. But now CAMbus wiring, new generations of energy-efficient,
mid-horsepower diesel engines and progressive servo controls have opened the
door.

What are the advantages of smaller machines to the waste industry? As we move
towards recycling the majority of our waste, surely the incentive is there for
manufacturers to develop this theme? If small machines prove cheaper to buy
and run and can help cut down-time cost on a shredder, it might be worth considering
operating two `midi¿ machines rather than one traditional larger machine.

CHOOSING YOUR MACHINERY PARTNER

To gain an insight into how the suppliers are shaping up to this challenging
future, Waste Management World looked recently at three contrasting manufacturers:

• Italian manufacturer, Merlo, is known to date as a producer of telescopic
  handlers primarily for the agricultural and construction markets.


• The German-based Sennebogen is a specialist brand which, although sold in
  70 countries, is not as well known as its 55 years of production experience
  suggests it should be.


• UK-based JCB once focused on manufacturing construction equipment such as
  backhoe loaders, but is now very much a global brand with a wide range of
  products covering all markets.

Hydraulically raised cabs are a key feature in reducing driver fatigue and improving site safety

But even though each has a different place in the market, all three manufacturers
predict that `waste¿ will play a major part in future expansion and production.

Merlo comes to the waste sector from a strong position in both agricultural
and construction markets. Although a number of other machines are produced (including
the interesting ¿ for recycling ¿ compact crawler skid/demount body/attachment
Cingo System), it is through the production of keenly priced, telescopic handlers
from 2.6 tonnes up to 10 tonnes lift that Merlo is best known.

To see what these distinctive bright green machines have to offer the waste,
recycling and composting sector, I visited sites near Bournemouth in the UK
and at Mechelen in Belgium. In the UK, Eco Composting employs several types
of machine from more than one global brand on a vast site. While heavy-duty
Volvo wheeled loading shovels and 360º excavators are needed to handle the reclamation
of builders, waste and soil recycling, Eco uses the newer of its two Merlo telehandlers
(a P61.10K) on its green waste shredding operation, working with a Vermeer HG6000.
A smaller P33.7 KT is used mostly in conjunction with a Doppstadt AK-430 Profi
shredder on wood waste recycling. Working with a Doughty 3500-litre bucket,
site manager John Burchell comments the Merlo is `twice as productive¿ as a
previous machine from a major competitor thanks to the smooth hydrostatic transmission
while being `a third of the price¿ of a wheeled loader (giving the same loading
height) previously used to load wood waste bulker trailers.

The combination of low cab entry, good all-round visibility and a tight turning
circle even when heavily loaded (thanks to four-wheel drive and four-wheel steering)
enables both machines to play a key role in the production process without the
need for extensive modifications. The driver of the Merlo is able to work alone
¿ and without the need to constantly get in and out of the cab ¿ by controlling
the Vermeer using a remote console kept in the cab and adding further to site
safety.

TELESCOPIC HANDLERS IN CONTROL

In Belgium, the situation is entirely different ¿ even through compost is still
the name of the game. Rather than a vast open air site well away from inhabited
areas, the Dockx & Co operation is based off a residential street and, at first
glance, looks like a typical garden centre. Indeed, the main role of the business
is to supply professional landscape gardeners and contractors with all their
needs, including the supply of compost.

How much compost does Belgium need? Well, the Dockx operation alone supplies
over 50,000 tonnes per year in both conventional plastic sacks and in bulk throughout
the country. And in contrast to the Eco operation, apart from a couple of small
forklift trucks, every mechanical handling requirement is handled by a fleet
of three Merlo telehandlers. No wheeled loaders or 360º machines are used.

In the UK, Merlo dealer Mid West Machinery (also a Komatsu distributor) was
able to source high-capacity Doughty buckets, specifically designed to handle
wood waste and refined compost ¿ not to mention grapple/buckets with a hydraulic
clamping action to hold lose material being loaded into the shredders. In Belgium,
national distributor Merlo Benelux NV produces its own line of special buckets
for waste and recycling duties under the DeLille brand. According to general
manager Stijn (Stan) DeLille, these are sold not only throughout Belgium, but
exported worldwide in flatpack form for welding up locally if required. In both
examples, the ability to source specialized attachments was one of the main
factors in Merlo dealers winning the business. That many farmers are now looking
at starting composting operations also puts Merlo in a strong position.

While Merlo diversifies into the waste, recycling and composting markets with
an existing product line, diversification in the town of Straubing in Germany
near the border with the Czech Republic means something else. Sennebogen is
well respected in the scrap metal and porthandling markets, but is less familiar
in other sectors.

All that is about to change as this privately owned, specialist manufacturer
with an annual turnover of ¿250 million has decided that, after a history
of building machines for other brands in joint ventures (most recently Caterpillar,
previously Hanomag and the still well respected Zeppelin range), it¿s now time
to refocus and expand production of Sennebogen-branded machines. Thanks to the
vibrant metals market and continued growth in construction, the demand for Sennebogen
high-cab port handlers and telescopic mobile cranes remains strong. But in the
Green Line range of materials handlers introduced in 1996, the company has started
to build a strong and loyal following in forestry ¿ and the waste market ¿ as
well.

IN A UNIQUE POSITION

This all gives us some clues to that success. With hydraulically raised cabs
now very much in vogue in the waste and recycling sectors as a key feature in
reducing driver fatigue and improving site safety, Sennebogen can claim to have
`been there, done that¿. The company first fitted such a feature in 1976 and
today is in a unique position of offering an entire product line, including
the Multihandler telescopic handler, with this feature as standard equipment.

So why has the Sennebogen management come to the conclusion that the waste
industry needs a high-quality, bespoke product designed for a longer-than-average
lifespan and maximum reliability? According to marketing director Alfred Endl,
it¿s whatever increasing numbers of customers are demanding. `Our products come
from a background where reliability and a long service life are essential. In
quayside bulk materials handling, nothing can be allowed to delay the sailing
of a large cargo ship, while from our products working in the construction and
scrap metal industries, we have plenty of experience of building machines that
have to work in demanding environments. As many of our customers in the
scrap metals sector have now moved into materials recycling, so they have wanted
to continue operating machines built to these standards.¿

Is it as simple as that? Yes and no. After the contract to build Cat-branded
machines ended, Sennebogen found itself with both the original production facility
at Straubing and a very large, modern site at Wackersdorf, 50 km away that needed
something else to build. The prediction that the market for machines in waste
handling, recyclable materials reclamation and composting was about to expand
was a major factor in deciding to not only increase the production volumes of
existing products but also to add to the Green Line range by introducing brand
new concepts, of which the 305 Multihandler is the first.

So what next? According to Alfred Endl, once production is up to speed in a
few months, Sennebogen will develop further new designs for waste handling operations.
The demand for a new generation of heavy-duty specification, but midi-sized,
machines is certainly on that list. The current best-selling Green Line machine,
the 22-tonne model 821M, is currently the smallest machine in the 360º wheeled
excavator line.

Could a smaller machine be a viable proposition? Or could a larger-capacity
lift Multihandler with more reach take on the big artic loading shovels offered
by most of the global brands such as Cat, JCB and Volvo BM? Or is there a market
for a more compact Multihandler with that hydraulically raised cab feature?

`Because we employ a modular production technique, it¿s quite easy for us to
consider such requests¿, said Alfred Endl. But one thing is for sure: the company
has the will and the production capacity to succeed. A new cab generation and
control console is already being planned, underlining the principal that this
specialist manufacturer sees no reason why the `creature comforts¿ of a built-to-order
machine should lag behind those coming from volume producers. `We will be building
more than 1000 machines this year, so we can afford the tooling for a new design,¿
Alfred Endl confirmed.

A BROADER RANGE

But what of the mainstream, big-volume producers? Now claiming close to 10%
of worldwide market share, UK-based JCB has developed very much in that mainstream,
while at the same time repackaging its waste and recycling sector machines under
the Wastemaster branding.

JCB has progressed rapidly in the last five years from a successful UK manufacturer
with some strong export markets to a truly global brand. It has achieved this
thanks to an impressive range expansion, diversification into other market sectors
and new production plants in emerging markets like India. The company was also
one of the first major manufacturers to recognize that ecological and climatic
pressures would drive up the demand for new machines to undertake a broader
range of tasks in waste and recycling than had ever been needed before.

There is demand for a new generation of heavy-duty, but midi-sized, machines

Keen to provide a one-stop-shop capability, JCB has recently added `own brand¿
diesel engine production. But, while it is thought to be planning both larger,
heavier 360º excavators as well as heavier-duty 6x6 dump truck models, it¿s
in the medium and compact sectors that much of the company¿s success has been
forged.

With its existing range of compact and midi machines, JCB is in an ideal position
to add further new machines to its waste sector portfolio. This is already happening
as machines such as the 8080 tracked 360º excavators (8 tonnes operating weight),
the agile Robot skidsteer loader and a number of essentially agricultural marketfocused
machines such as the five-metre TM300 Telemaster telehandler and the 525-55
Compact Loadall have recently been made available in the Wastemaster specification.

At the same time, core production machines such as the larger Loadall telehandlers,
the JS wheeled 360º machines and the 436/456 artic wheeled loaders ¿ together
with the unique JCB Teletruk telescopic forklift truck ¿ have been creating
strong sales in the waste and recycling sectors.

The availability of products like the TM300, the 8080 and the Teletruk serve
to underline the emergence of the trend towards smaller, faster-moving machines.
For example, in twin-wheeled 35D Wastemaster specification, the 2-tonne lift/2-metre
outreach Teletruk with rotating carriage is far better suited to handling end-of-life
vehicles (ELVs) in often crowded yards or on decommissioning rigs than larger
traditional rough-terrain forklift trucks (RTFLs) or heavier, conventional telehandlers.

That the Teletruck can also load heavy bales of recycled paper onto a truck
or trailer loadbed, with access from just one side, helps explain why purchasing
the latest designs of machines can make sound economic sense. In fact, product
specialists at JCB France have already demonstrated that, rather than plan fixed
waste-handling and recycling facilities along traditional architectural lines
(around the actual site), considerable savings in construction costs can be
made by saving up to 50% of floorspace by designing the processing areas around
the capabilities of specific machines like the Teletruk instead.

CONCLUSION

Improvements such as a 50% increase in loading cycle productivity claimed by
the Merlo telehandlers, the advantages of specifying high-quality machines built
to adopt a double- or treble-shift working pattern claimed by Sennebogen, and
a 50% reduction in unproductive floorspace claimed as a key advantage of machines
like the JCB Teletruk underline the benefits for the waste, recycling and composting
sectors by re-equipping with new materialshandling equipment. If the promises
of 50% more production, let alone a doubling of productivity or trebling of
utilization, are achievable, they could be a lifeline in helping to meet demands
to double recycling ratios and to reduce the volumes of waste sent to landfill
by three-quarters over the next few years.

Malcolm Bates is Transport Correspondent of Waste
Management World.

e-mail: wmw@jxj.com

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