It’s only human nature to pity those poor old, decrepit garbage trucks. After all, few, if any, go on to retirement after their working lives end.
Many go from route to ruin. But wait … there’s some good news. Plenty of trucks get a chance at a second life.
“We take some trucks and rebuild or remanufacture them entirely or major parts of them like the cab, body or chassis, and we create a new truck from that,” said Jennifer Andrews, director of communications and corporate affairs for Waste Management Inc. “If it was originally powered by diesel fuel, we also figure out at this point in its life if we can convert it to natural gas because our goal is to drive all of our trucks on natural gas.
“Things that are usable are removed and either reused or repaired or rebuilt so we can use them on other trucks. What remains from there is recycled through a metal recycling facility.”
At Rumpke Consolidated Companies Inc., decrepit garbage trucks go straight to the scrap yard to be recycled, said corporate fleet manager Jeff Lay.
Garbage trucks that are scrapped at Rumpke have pretty close to a million miles on them, said Lay, who added that several factors go into the decision to end a vehicle’s life.
“Our biggest factor is safety of the vehicle,” he said. “For our drivers and for the areas that we service that is our number one concern. Other factors that we look at is what it would [cost] to bring the vehicle back to life.”
If a vehicle has reached the end of its life, Waste Management considers another option.
Source: Waste & Recycling News
By Mark Fisk