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There have been many changes in the UK waste and recycling industry, ranging from the development of trade waste collection vehicles to improvements in safety systems making for a more efficient and safer business.

Timothy Byrne

The development of mobile compaction vehicles for the collection of commercial and industrial waste for the UK goes back to the 1970s. In this period, the economy was buoyant and large quantities of waste needed collecting from industry and commerce. In this era, many smaller waste management companies existed and over the coming decades, national waste management companies acquired them.

There were two national waste management companies in existence—Biffa and Redland Purle. There were other regional waste management businesses such as Cleansing Service Group, Grundon, Hales Containers and Haul Waste as well as smaller waste management businesses such as Cartaways, Clugston Reclamation and Waste Plan in the West Midlands; Mix Concrete and Waste Disposal had depots in Great Billing, Northampton (its headquarters) as well as in Coventry, Swindon and Bristol in the Southeast and the Southwest; Sam Hemmings with depots in Bristol, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire in the South, and Haul Waste which had depots across the Southwest, e.g. Taunton, Bristol, Plymouth and Liskeard.

Biffa and Commercial Waste Collection Using Paladin and Wheeled Containers

Biffa started using their first Paladin collection vehicles in the late 1970s when they purchased some Norba Hippo intermittent rear loaders with pencil bin hoist from Norba Ltd. mounted onto Seddon Atkinson S34 4×2 chassis.

In the early 1980s, they purchased a wide variety of trade waste collection vehicles from Dennis Eagle of Warwick. These had a variety of chassis and body sizes. In 1985, the company purchased Dennis Delta two axle chassis with Phoenix (1) Series bodies of 15 cubic meter capacity complete with a Zoeller high level trade lift. Biffa was a forward thinking company so all of the Paladin containers purchased for its commercial clients had a comb bar fitted to them, so that they could be lifted by the comb bar on the Zoeller trade lift. This was opposed to the traditional pencil bin lift or later the girdle clamp option which was available for emptying Paladin containers. The Zoeller high level trade lift could also empty wheeled bins from 120 – 360 litres and four wheeled containers of 660 and 1100 litre capacities. The comb bar fitted on the Paladin bins helped Biffa to streamline its collection fleet, so that the vehicles’ lifting equipment could be multifaceted and empty a wide range of trade waste containers.

In 1987 and 1988 Biffa acquired more Phoenix (1) Series bodies from Dennis Eagle with the Zoeller high level trade lift fitted to them. These were of 18, 20, 23 and 28 cubic meters capacity mounted onto either Leyland Freighter 6×2 chassis of 24 tonnes gross vehicle weight with a mid lift axle or Scania 2 Series 6×4 or 8×4 chassis. Biffa also acquired a Scania 2 Series 6×4 chassis with Lacre PDE ‘Vulture’ bodywork of 22 cubic metres capacity for their contract at Gatwick Airport, a contract that Biffa still operates to this day. This, too, has a Zoeller high level trade lift.

In 1993, Biffa replaced some of its commercial waste collection fleet. The company purchased a mixture of Scania P93 two, three and four axle chassis and Dennis Eagle mounted their Phoenix (1) 15, 18, 20, 23 and 28 cubic metre bodies to them. Biffa moved away from using the Zoeller high level trade lift and instead purchased Dennis Eagle’s Beta bar lift which was capable of emptying containers from 120 to 1,280 liters capacity.

Biffa also purchased some Scania P93 6×4 chassis complete with 22 cubic metre Jack Allen Colectomatic 4100 Series with Eurohoist one and two-bin lift as well as some Norba RL35/22 bodies of 22 cubic metre capacity complete with the L422 bin lift at the time. Biffa also purchased some Norba RL35/25 25 cubic metre capacity bodies with the L422 bin lift that were mounted onto a Scania P93 8X4 chassis for their municipal collection contract at Didcot in the period of 1993 and 1994. The lifting equipment on the Jack Allen and Norba bodies could lift containers from 120 to 1,280 liters capacities.

Cleanaway and the Use of Paladin and Wheeled Containers

Cleanaway was formed in 1981 through the acquisition of Redland Purle by GKN Brambles from Australia. Cleanaway had its UK Head Office at the former Redland Purle Head Office at Rayleigh until a new purpose built Head Office opened in Brentwood in 1986. The company consolidated the operations of Redland Purle into Cleanaway and all of the Redland Purle vehicles were repainted into the ‘Cleanaway’ blue livery.

The first Paladin waste collection service started in Cosham in the early 1980s. Cleanaway purchased a second hand Dodge 500 Series 4×2 chassis complete with Jack Allen Colectomatic Mark 3 equipment and Paladin pencil bin lift. The vehicle was only used a few hours each day, while Cleanaway’s sales team built up the Paladin commercial waste collection service, selling the service to commercial businesses and light industry.

Eventually, the service became very profitable and Cleanaway rolled out the Paladin service to all its commercial waste collection depots across the UK.

New Paladin vehicles were purchased in the early 1980s and were mounted to Leyland Freighter two axle chassis as well as Volvo F6 two axle chassis and Volvo F7 three axle chassis. The first new Paladin collection bodywork was supplied by David Mackrill Engineering from Bury St Edmunds. This equipment had a body capacity of 22 cubic metres and was equipped with a pencil bin lift for emptying 880 liter Paladin containers. Waste could also be loaded manually into the hopper of the collection vehicle, if the collection was from a shop or an office and the waste was placed into plastic sacks. The first one purchased replaced the Dodge 500 Series 4×2 Jack Allen Colectomatic Mark 3 operated at the Cosham depot.

Norba Ltd also supplied the Norba Rhino, Norba ‘Ki12’ and Norba ‘R’ Series complete with pencil bin lift for paladin collection mounted on the above chassis for ‘Cleanaway’. In the late 1980s and 1990s, more trade waste collection vehicles were purchased. These were mounted onto Seddon Atkinson 201 Series with crew cab in 4×2 configuration as well as Volvo FL7 and Mercedes SK 6×4 chassis. These had bodywork fitted by Jack Allen (Motor Bodies) Ltd who supplied their Colectomatic 4100 bodywork in 16 and 22 cubic meter capacities. These collection vehicles were fitted with their Eurohoist one and two series lift which consisted of a girdle clamp to lift Paladin containers as well as a comb lift to empty 120, 360, 660 and 1280 four wheeled containers which Cleanaway had started to introduce for use by its commercial and industrial clients in this era.

Skip Eaters

Skip Eaters were used to collect waste in larger volumes from industry and commerce. The first Skip Eater purchased by the private sector was a Jack Allen Big Bite of 25 yards (22 cubic meters) capacity. It was mounted on a Dodge 500 Series three axle chassis and operated by Waste Plan, a West Midlands waste disposal contractor which had depots in Birmingham, Brownhills and Kingswinford. After the success of the first Jack Allen Big Bite, Waste Plan purchased two more. The second one was identical to the first e.g. it was mounted onto a Dodge 500 Series 6×4 chassis; the third was a Jack Allen Big Bite body of 25 yards (22 cubic meters) but mounted onto a Leyland Bison (2) 6×4 chassis. All three Big Bites had the early roll up type arms, which were mounted onto the sides of the roof canopy. Jack Allen designed these and they could lift five tonnes. Waste Plan was later consolidated into the Leigh Environmental business.

Other contractors followed suit: in the Northwest, the first Skip Eater was sold to E&A Metals of Wigan. This was a Big Bite of 25 cubic yards (22 cubic meters capacity) with roll-up arms but mounted onto a second hand 1970 AEC Mammoth Major 6×4 chassis.  Hargreaves Clearwaste, a member of the Coalite Group, also purchased their first Skip Eater from Jack Allen. This was a Big Bite with roll up type arms of 25 cubic yards (22 cubic meters capacity) and was mounted onto a Foden S39 6×4 chassis. This truck operated from their Leeds depot.

Jack Allen eventually became the market leader in supplying Big Bite rear end loaders up until the late 1990s. In its era, the company supplied them to all of the national waste management Plcs such as Browning Ferries Industries (BFI), Biffa, Redland Purle, Cleanaway, Shanks and Mc Ewan etc.

The 25 cubic yard Big Bite body was mounted onto a wide variety of 6×4 chassis such as the AEC Mammoth Major, Dodge 500 Series, Foden S39, Seddon Atkinson S34, Seddon Atkinson 300 Series, Leyland Bison (2), Volvo F86, Volvo F7 etc. In the mid 1980s, Jack Allen also launched a 32 cubic yard body of 27 cubic meters capacity. Most Skip Eater operators switched to operating these because their 6×4 Big Bites were only plated at 24 tons. This was so that they could carry more weight, up to 30 tons. In the early 1990s, gross weights were increased to 32 tons. In 1992, Jack Allen introduced a 31 cubic meter Big Bite body which required a wheelbase 500mm longer than the conventional 27 cubic meter body. Some customers opted for the 31 cubic meter, but some operators down rated their 32 ton Skip Eaters to 31 tons gross vehicle weight to save on road tax. This negated the purpose of buying the large capacity body because it could not carry any additional waste or weight. The 27 cubic meter and 31 cubic metre Big Bite body has been successfully mounted on all types of British and European 8×4 chassis including the Scammell Routemann and the Hino FY Series for the Southern Irish waste management market.

There were other suppliers of Skip Eaters. Lacre Ltd of St Albans imported the Leach 2R rear end loader product from the States and named it the ‘Skip Eater’. It was a very rugged product, of a tough design and simple to operate. The operating controls were two levers on the rear of the tailgate, one to operate the skip hoist and the other to operate the packing mechanism. All of the national waste management companies purchased Skip Eaters from Lacre Ltd, for example, Biffa, Cleanaway, Hales Containers, Hargreaves Clearwaste, Haul Waste, Leigh Environmental, Shanks and Mc Ewan (Northern), Waste Management Ltd, Wimpey Waste Management etc. The Lacre ‘Skip Eater’ was available in two capacities 25 cubic yards to 22 cubic meters and 32 cubic yards to 27 cubic meters capacity. The 25 cubic yard units were mostly mounted onto Ford D’ Series, Leyland Bison (2) 6×4 chassis, Leyland Constructor 6 6×4 chassis, Volvo F7 6×4 chassis and also Seddon Atkinson 300 Series 6×4 chassis. The 32 cubic yard units were mounted onto Foden Haulmaster 8×4 chassis, Scammell Routeman 8×4 chassis, Leyland Octopus 8×4 chassis, Leyland Constructor T45 8×4 chassis, Volvo F7 8X4 chassis, Seddon Atkinson 400 Series 8×4 chassis and DAF 2500 8×4 chassis.

The idea of mobile compaction using Skip Eaters boomed in the early 1980s with many smaller waste businesses all over the country using them. In this era, Jack Allen and Lacre were not the only suppliers of Skip Eaters. Scapa Engineering from Blackburn started to import the Garwood LP900 rear end loader from the States. This product had Dyna action swing link compaction and was very robust and solid and perfect for collecting large volumes of commercial and industrial waste. The controls for operating the equipment were simple—they consisted of two leavers similar to the Lacre ‘Skip Eater’, e.g. one to operate the skip hoist and the other to operate the packing mechanism. Customers who purchased these were A. Smith and Sons Waste Disposal of Great Bridge in the West Midlands, E&A Metals of Wigan, Long Ing Skip Services of Barnoldswick, Melling Ltd of Preston, Ryewood from London and Safeway Sludge Disposal Ltd. (part of Leigh Interests Plc/Leigh Environmental) from Stockport. The bodies were available in two capacities 25 cubic yards (22 cubic meters) and 32 cubic yards (27 cubic meters). The chassis the Garwood LP900 Skip Eaters of 25 cubic yard units were mounted onto were Leyland Bison (2) 6×4 chassis, Leyland Constructor 6 6×4 chassis, Volvo F7 6×4 chassis and Mercedes SK 6×4 chassis. The 32 cubic yards unit was mounted onto a DAF 2500 8×4 chassis or a similar, suitable chassis.

The Big Bite, Lacre ‘Skip Eater’ and Garwood LP900 rear end loader products had different benefits. The Big Bite used a swing link packing mechanism that reduced service and maintenance costs and, due to its enormous hopper, could eat all kinds of bulky waste. The product was supported by the superb Jack Allen after sales service, with the saying, ‘the salesman sold the first Big Bite and the after sales service would sell the rest’.

The Lacre Skip Eater used the conventional slide block packing mechanism commonly found in standard intermittent loading waste collection vehicles used for the collection of domestic and light commercial waste. The product was very strong, rugged and reliable and had already proved itself in the states as a market leader for collecting industrial and commercial waste.

The Scapa Engineering Garwood LP900 used the Dyna action swing link compaction mechanism patented by Garwood Industries in the States when the product was first launched in the 1970s. In the UK, the private waste management contractors who purchased it said that, it achieved exceptional payloads, with Scapa Engineering guaranteeing that the LP900 of 25 cubic yards (22 cubic meters) would deliver a 10 ton payload on a 24 ton 6×4 chassis. This was taking into account the body was fitted with a skip hoist, which added a few tons to the body’s unladen weight.

In the mid 1980s, Lacre Ltd were taken over by Powell Duffryn and the ‘Skip Eater’ product was integrated into their waste management portfolio. Shortly after the takeover, Powell Duffryn dropped selling the Leach ‘Skip Eater’ product, but instead imported the Schorling 2R industrial rear end loader from Germany for a short period, with one being sold of 30 cubic meters capacity and mounted on a Mercedes SK 8×4 chassis to Leigh Environmental, operating out of its former Sheffield Depot. Later on in the late 1980s, Powell Duffryn dropped the Schorling 2R product and offered their ‘Vulture’ refuse collection vehicle product to an industrial specification naming it, the ‘Vulturel’. This was available in capacities of 22 cubic meters for a 6×4 chassis or 30 cubic meters for an 8×4 chassis. The product having a swing link packing mechanism compared to the Schorling 2R, which was a conventional slide block design, became very popular with a large number being sold to BFI, Drinkwater Sabey Ltd, Hales Waste Control, Haul Waste, Leigh Environmental, Patersons Waste Disposal, Shanks and Mc Ewan (Southern) and Wistech Plc.

The UK sales and marketing of the Garwood LP900 rear end loader and FL3000 front end loader transferred from Scapa Engineering in Blackburn in the mid 1980s to T.P Aspinall and Sons Ltd at Morecambe in Lancashire. T.P. Aspinall gained exclusive rights from Garwood in the States to manufacture their FL3000 front end loader product in the UK. Sadly, T.P. Aspinall did not continue to market or offer the LP900 rear end loader, but put all its efforts into marketing the FL3000 front-end loader product. The LP900 was phased out from the UK Skip Eater market.

In the 1980s, other refuse collection vehicle manufacturers started offering a range of Skip Eater equipment. David Mackrill Engineering from Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk offered their ‘MACREL’ product, an anglicised version of the Haller X1 rear end loader product manufactured in the UK under licence from Haller of Stuttgart. It was available in capacities from 25 cubic yards (22 cubic meters) for a 6×4 chassis and 32 cubic yards (27 cubic meters) for an 8×4 chassis. The first one was sold to Hales Containers in 1982 of 25 cubic yards (22 cubic meters) capacity, and was mounted on a Leyland Bison (2) 6×4 24 ton chassis.

Dennis Eagle started offering a variant of their Phoenix (1) domestic and light commercial waste product, but to a tougher specification for Skip Eater application. It was offered in 23 cubic meter capacity for mounting to a 6×4 chassis and 28 cubic metre capacities for mounting to an 8×4 30 tonne chassis. The product became popular with national waste management contractors such as Cleanaway and Shanks and Mc Ewan (Southern).

Norba also offered a variety of rear end loader products, e.g. the Alligator of 25 cubic yard (22 cubic meter) capacity in the late 1970s, with equipments being sold to Biffa and Shanks and Mc Ewan (Northern), and later on, their Norba Rhino, Ki12 and ‘R’ Series products as a Skip Eater option too. The company took on the distributorship of the Schorling 2R rear end loader product in the late 1980s and in 1993 dropped the Schorling product and became agents for the Leach 2R II rear end loader product for the UK market. The first one was sold of 30 cubic meter capacity mounted on a Leyland Constructor T45 8×4 chassis to Leigh Environmental. Cleanaway also purchased a considerable number of these mounted on Volvo FL10 8×4 ‘T’ Ride chassis for their Southern Operations.

The decision on what kind of Skip Eater equipment, its size and the kind of chassis configuration it was to be mounted onto was down to either the national or regional fleet engineers if it was one of the national waste management Plcs, or a personal preference if it was a smaller waste management company.

Mergers and Acquisitions in the Waste Sector

The usage of mobile rear loading compaction fleets has led to an expansion of fleets of collection trucks in both the smaller and medium sized waste management businesses over the years, all fighting for a bigger market share of the market. This has led to their acquisition by the national waste management Plcs who wanted to retain and expand their market share. Browning Ferries Industries (BFI) acquired Adams Waste in Cheslyn Hay in Cannock, Dial A Skip in Birmingham, Thomas Graveson Ltd (Waste Disposal Division) in Carnforth and Drinkwater Sabey from the Attwood Group in the South East in 1995.

Biffa acquired all the Hoveringham Waste Control businesses as well as other companies such as Exclusive Cleansing from the Brengreen Group. This formed Biffa’s municipal division providing waste collection contracts to local authorities. Biffa also purchased E&A Metals of Wigan, Hargreaves Clearwaste, which had seven depots spread across Leeds, the north east, Scotland and the East Midlands; and Peter Andrew from Manchester.

After Cleanaway was formed in the UK by GKN Brambles after acquiring Redland Purle in 1981, it carried out many acquisitions. For example, the waste disposal division of Mix Concrete in 1984 which had a big Skip Eater fleet comprising Jack Allen Big Bites and Lacre Skip Eater equipment. In the same year, Cleanaway aquired Clugston Reclamation, which had a fleet of three Skip Eaters; a Jack Allen Big Bite and two David Mackrill ‘MACREL’ vehicles working from its Brierley Hill Depot in the West Midlands. Clugston Reclamation also had an operating centre in Scunthorpe – Lincolnshire. Over the following years, Cleanaway carried out many other acquisitions nationally.

Hales Containers, later known as Hales Waste Control, came into existence in 1898 and celebrated its centenary in 1998. The company carried out acquisitions of smaller waste management businesses over the years such as A1 Waste Services of St Neots in 1983, J.C. Waste Ltd in Warwick in 1987 and Tidiways Ltd in Coventry in 1988. All three companies acquired by Hales Containers operated Skip Eaters.

West Midlands based Leigh Environmental acquired waste disposal business Cartaways in 1986, consolidating its fleet of Skip Eater Big Bites into its West Midlands operations. Cartaways had two depots, one in Stourbridge and the other in Birmingham. Other local acquisitions included Salop Waste Disposal in Shropshire, who operated David Mackrill MACREL Skip Eaters as well as Containerway Ltd in Hereford, which operated a Lacre Skip Eater, when Leigh acquired the business in the early 1980s.

Leigh Environmental spread its wings, acquiring waste management companies across the country in the 1980s and mid 1990s. In the early 1980s, the company acquired Gibson Waste in Nottinghamshire which had a Jack Allen Big Bite Skip Eater of 25 cubic yards (22 cubic meters) capacity mounted on a Dodge 500 Series 6×4 chassis.

Another company Leigh Environmental took over in the 1980s was Thomas Black in Sheffield. It was renamed as ‘Black Leigh’. Other acquisitions included Safeway Sludge Disposal Ltd in Stockport in the early 1980s as well as Ellis Davis from Mostyn – North Wales and in the South East, PGR Waste Management in Essex in the mid-1990s.

Shanks and Mc Ewan, originally from Scotland, formed their Southern Division by acquiring London Brick Landfill Ltd in the early 1980s. Shanks and Mc Ewan bought other waste management business over the 1980’s and early 1990s era too.

UK Waste, a joint venture between Wessex Water and Waste Management Inc., formed their business in the UK in the early 1990s. In 1992, they acquired Wimpey Waste Management with depots in the North West, Scotland and the South East. UK Waste also acquired Waste Management Ltd in the same year who were from Cheshire but had municipal collection operations on the Wirral as well as in Taunton and Deane, Wiltshire and Woking Borough Councils. This acquisition helped UK Waste to expand its private sector municipal division having already acquired Leigh Environmental’s municipal division known as ‘Leigh Clean’ in 1990, which comprised three municipal collection contracts West Oxfordshire, East Staffordshire and Leominster.

Health and Safety

The Health and Safety of mobile rear loading waste compaction vehicles has improved over the years in order to reduce accidents to operatives and members of the public. There have been many fatal accidents with mobile rear loading compaction equipment, with reports of tramps sleeping in waste containers being either cut in half or decapitated when emptied into the rear of a mobile rear loading compaction vehicle.

In 1995, the CE mark was introduced for all refuse collection vehicles manufactured in the European Union. The use of levers to lift the skip hoist and operate the packing mechanism were no longer allowed, unless they were used in the ‘hold to run’ procedure when operating the packing mechanism.

All mobile rear loading compaction equipment had the operating controls modified so that they would achieve a ‘dead man’ action if the buttons were not being operated e.g. to operate the bin lift, rear end loading skip hoist or to operate the packer blade. Trade waste collection vehicles could have a rave extension fitted, which would exceed the height of 1,400mm the legal requirement for ‘hold to run’. Once a rave extension is fitted over this height, the packing cycle can work automatically. Anything below this height e.g. 1400mm ‘hold to run’ applies the button will have to be held in permanently to operate the packing mechanism until the packer blade has passed the pinch point. Alternatively, the blade can open automatically with one push of a button leaving a distance between the tip of the packer blade and the loading rave of 500mm. Hold to run will have to be activated to complete the packing cycle until the blade has passed the pinch point. These modifications under the CE mark have helped reduce fatal injuries when using rear loading compaction equipment.

With a Skip Eater, the loading rave height is 1100mm to allow for the pinning tubes of a rear end loader skip to fit into the pivot pin pockets. Hold to run still applies when operating the packing mechanism as well as ‘dead man’ controls when operating the skip hoist.

Through the Years

In conclusion, there have been many changes in the industry, ranging from the development of trade waste collection vehicles and Skip Eaters to improvements in safety systems making for a more efficient and safer business. Although the smaller waste collection companies have disappeared from the national scene, swallowed up by the nationals, they made a valuable contribution to the waste management industry and should not be forgotten.

Timothy Byrne is a worldwide waste collection and transfer systems consultant and a freelance waste management technical writer based in Birmingham, UK. He has worked in the waste management industry for 20 years. He lives in the UK and has carried out a lot of work and research into waste collection and waste transfer systems in Mediterranean countries. He has also visited New Delhi to carry out research into waste collection and waste transfer systems in India’s capital city. He can be reached at 0044 1384 211001 or 0044 7545 616110 or via e-mail at [email protected]