by Malcolm Bates
It wasn’t that long ago, that if you wanted to display a message down the side of a municipal vehicle such as a refuse collection vehicle (RCV), or highway sweeper, your only solution would be to find a skilled sign-writer with plenty of paint and a head for heights. Unfortunately, not only did such a job take rather a long time – time which would be better spent with the vehicle working, rather than stationary in the yard – even when the job was completed there was always the risk that in-service damage would require the whole operation to be undertaken all over again.
While we all complain about the way in which modern society has turned its back on many skilled trades that were once highly regarded, I have to tell you from personal experience, that sign-writing the side of a large truck in either very hot, or very cold weather is close to torture – so doing a whole fleet would constitute a crime against human rights!
True, very few vehicle operators use real sign-writing today. Self-adhesive technology has come on in leaps and bounds in recent years, hasn’t it? While this is true, pre-cut, pre-spaced lettering is still expensive, still takes skilled labour to apply it properly and it’s still a problem to replace when damaged. And while ‘all over’ self-adhesives can look stunning when applied to a new panel van, or distribution truck, they don’t tend to look so good after a few weeks when covered in refuse, dust and stains.
So just what is the best way to get your message across? And what happens if you want to vary or change the message after a few months? Self-adhesives don’t work in this respect – they actually create more problems, in that while they’re far from easy to stick onto the often complex surface of an RCV, they’re even harder to get off! Even after several hours with a hot air gun, some fragments are likely to remain, or worse still, you’ll find that even with the old graphics removed, the glue etch has created a ghosted image, or the surrounding paintwork has faded in the sun.
Clearly, a simple, easily removable ‘sign system’ would be the ideal solution. The recent trend towards smooth-sided RCV bodywork and highway sweeper hopper designs has created an ideal space for carrying a strong visual message to residents. Most residential and commercial streets in a city are visited by a council truck at least once a week and such is the size of a modern RCV that any lettering or image on its side is going to be readable from the other side of a major six-lane highway.
A mobile message
Why is this such an important issue? Well, consider the alternative options, such as renting billboard poster space, taking ads in a local newspaper, or using local TV, or radio. They’re all expensive. In comparison, using the sides of vehicles that already exist and will be out on city streets every day and all year round, has the advantage of being ‘free’ – aside from the actual production costs of the artwork that is. Plus, unlike a poster site, the message would be mobile and therefore likely to be seen by more people.
Having established what a great idea it is, let’s look at the kind of message that city authorities, or commercial contractors, might like to transmit to their customers. Recycling policy can be enforced by local laws, but the best recycling results seem to come from cities that have a clear recycling policy that explains to residents exactly what should be done and the benefits of doing it. The simpler the message, the more chance it has of getting results, so surely a visual representation of what should go in the bin – and what should not – is a good place to start.
That means any system that can use not only lettering, but graphics and photographic images as well, is a real bonus. The American Kwik Zip system has all these features. Yet as Kevin Murton, managing director of Epic Media, the UK-based distributor of the system explains, just about the last type of vehicle the American originators of the idea had in mind was a garbage truck!
 Message artwork printed on flexible panels can be simple, bold lettering or more complicated images – Kwik-Zip panels can be easily changed to meet changing demands |
Over in sunny California, Kwik Zip was conceived as an ideal way for independent truckers to carry revenue-earning advertising on the sides of their semi-trailers. As independent truckers could be hauling for different customers, the ability to change the advertising message easily was considered essential for its success. The system also ensures that a high residual value of the truck or trailer body is retained, as the message system panels can be removed altogether when trucks are sold, leaving no trace – something that self-adhesive lettering cannot claim.
So how did an idea designed to meet the needs of the independent American trucker and the consumer society end up as the ideal way of advertising the latest recycling project in the rest of the world? The answer is – completely by accident!
 David Beckham of Verdant, who is responsible for Waltham Forest, reports the Kwik Zip system has played a part in boosting recycling ratios in this London Borough |
After half a lifetime in the commercial vehicle service and refinishing trades, Kevin Murton, decided to realize his dream and visit a major American truck show. While there he spotted the Kwik Zip system and it got him thinking. European Health & Safety legislation was making it increasingly difficult - and expensive - to paint trucks, because it was no longer possible to expect sign-writers to apply self-adhesive lettering from the top of ladders, or steps. Proper elevating platforms had to be rented and, against a backdrop of constantly increasing fuel prices and taxes in the UK, few operators were satisfied with a truck being off the road for a single minute longer than necessary. As the lettering and graphics application was always at the end of the process, it had to be done under pressure, which could then lead to expensive mistakes or accidents…
The Kwik Zip system, in contrast, is a flexible canvas (actually made from PVC) that can be pre-printed to just about any size and to just about any design, rolled up and attached to the new truck when it’s ready. The flexible panel is slotted into place and held securely by a special extruded aluminium section that gives the system its name. If, after a while, the message needs to be changed, the panel can be replaced. If a panel gets torn or damaged in service, it’s a simple job to ‘unzip’ it and replace it with a new one. As the panels are completed off the vehicle, they can be printed in quantity and easily stored until they’re needed – all this for a price, per vehicle, of around 1500 to 2000 Euros, depending on the complexity of the original artwork. The system certainly seems ideal for municipal vehicle application.
 Message panels are fitted to both sides of Dennis-Terberg recycling units and have to be tough enough to withstand close contact with crews |
That’s the theory, so what does the end result look like? The answer is excellent! To check things out personally, I spent the day inspecting a fleet of Dennis-Terberg recycling units operated in the London Borough of Waltham Forest by its contractor, Verdant. These side-loading, multi-compartment vehicles feature a recycling message down both sides of the vehicle and have already been in service for more than a year. Even after a tough life in a busy London Borough, the lettering panels have remained clean and easily readable. As fleet manager David Beckham (sorry football fans, he’s no relation) explained, all twenty units were equipped with Kwik Zip panels when new, but some had their message panels changed when the Borough made recycling compulsory late last year. This just wouldn’t have been economical with sign-written panels, or self adhesives.
 Terberg bodies are designed to tip to discharge, so Kwik Zip message panels must remain safe during high winds on exposed sites. There have been no safety issues in service |
Has the use of Kwik Zip panels done any good? A tough one to gauge, but already 13 recycling collection rounds have been boosted to fifteen and the tonnage of recycled materials collected each month has grown by 400 tonnes – pretty impressive considering how much recycled plastic or beverage cans are needed to make an extra tonne.
 An entire fleet of recycling units fitted with message panels makes a distinctive statement about the importance of good communications |
With an increasing number of city authorities using the system in the UK, including the city of Bristol, Kevin Murton of Epic Media is helping to look for agents in other European markets, while Waste Management World understands that Kwik Zip’s American head office is seriously thinking about relaunching the system to the garbage contractor market in the US and the Pacific Rim region.
It seems to be a case of message received.
Malcolm Bates is Transport Correspondent of Waste Management World
