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MARCH/APRIL 2009
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Route Management Technology Keeps You on TrackR t M t T h l K Y
Playing the
Routing Game
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By Don Talend
N
ow more than ever, MSW managers are trying to squeeze
costs out of their collection processes. Several industry
experts recently shared with MSW Management their
experiences with an increasingly relied-upon tool for this
purpose: route-mapping and vehicle-location technology tools, which
are improving the collection efficiency and profitability of both resi-
dential and commercial collection.
Over the past 10 years or more, these fleet-management tools
have become all the more sophisticated. The first generation of route-
mapping systems, one expert points out, was an improvement over
moving pins around a map to represent trucks on their routes. The
next generation of route mapping is allowing optimization of routes
via the ability to tweak the finest logistical details, and this component
of fleet management promises to make further technological leaps in
the future. More and more, vehicle location is being utilized to provide
MSW managers with flexibility for dynamic rerouting of trucks and the
attainment of next-level customer service.
From Pins to Computer Icons
One company that has grown its routing-efficiency capabilities in
phases in recent years is Republic Services Inc., which consists of 427
companies in 42 states and was moving to merge with Allied Waste
Industries Inc. by the end of 2008 to create the second-largest US
trash-hauling company. If you asked what level of technology adop-
tion Republic has attained, Joe Burkel, the company’s vice president of
operations support for its southern region, might reply, “Routing Effi-
ciency 3.0.” The first phase was moving pins around a map, the second
was developing route maps with the help of software—and the third is
that of improving upon the efficiency of developing the computerized
maps and maximizing the collection efficiency on routes via the use of
rich, specific data inputs.
“In the past,prior to the computer-assisted routing,when we wanted
to develop a new commercial or residential route, we resorted to paper
maps and each stop was designated on a map with pushpins designat-
ing the customers and the size of the containers,” says Burkel. “From
that, it was a matter of selecting an area that looked like an appropriate
route, adding all the container sizes up for a given day and determining
if that was the appropriate amount of work for a truck or a route in a
given day and manually building the routes.”He acknowledges that this
method was not ideal in terms of flexibility. “When you’re pinning the
maps, you can’t take into account certain things like customers’ desired
time windows or a customer needing to be serviced at certain times of
day due to loading-dock situations. So what tended to happen would
be that you’d build a route and then the driver would go out and fix the
sequence himself as best he could to honor those time windows. There
As computerized route-mapping
and vehicle-location systems
become more sophisticated,
so do the MSW managers
who are gaining customer-
service and profitability
benefits from their use.
Next-Generation
OPTIMIZATIONOPTIMIZATION
MARCH/APRIL 200940 ● MSW Management
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would be a lot of extra driving time, because
some drivers would double back to honor
those time windows rather than just building
the route to service them in order.”
In the early 1990s, some Republic com-
panies began to explore computer software
for routing, Burkel says. One program, he
says, was based on a system used for routing
military transport planes. “It was a similar
process to pinning that map, but you would
designate a spot on the electronic map and
that would give the routing software the at-
tributes needed to route longitude, latitude,
the street, and the side of the street,” he says.
But computer technology was not charac-
terized by efficient processing back then,
Burkel adds. “It could take overnight for the
computer to be able to process a routing so-
lution for even a small division. It was a big
improvement over the maps, but we were still
not where we needed it to be.”
By the early part of this decade, some
Republic companies were using computer-
ized routing and others were building pin
maps using either a grid system or geograph-
ic boundaries. Burke reports that Republic
started looking at routing software that could
be implemented on an enterprise-wide basis
so that more powerful servers could be used
to run the applications on an enterprise
network. “We call it ‘geocoding,’ or pinning
of new stops,” he adds. “It’s pretty much
automatic; when we’ve got changes in the
routes, the systems talk to each other and au-
tomatically geocode those customers so they
can be automatically rerouted. It can’t make
the truck lift the container any faster—and,
certainly, we don’t want the drivers driving
any faster—and it doesn’t change the loca-
tions of the landfills. But what it does is save
miles, because it helps us find the most effi-
cient travel path from customer to customer
to the landfill. Where the efficiency comes in
is just in reducing the amount of miles that
a truck has to drive to service a given set of
customers.”
Burkel reports that Republic has inte-
grated its billing and route-mapping system
from RouteSmart, which has reduced the
amount of time needed to alter routes; new
customers entered into the billing system
are automatically geocoded into the routing
system. Running the software to map a route
used to take perhaps eight or nine hours, and
now it might take only five to 10 minutes,
he says.
Significantly, the RouteSmart system pro-
cesses more detailed inputs for better route
optimization, Burkel adds. “All the system
needs to know to route is just a few pieces
of information: how big the container is, the
frequency or days a week, and—to locate
that container—it needs to know the lon-
gitude and latitude, which side of the street
it’s on, and which street you service it from,”
he says. “The geocode uses those four pieces
of information and then the system runs the
algorithms and goes through 25 to 30 itera-
tions of the solution to find the most efficient
path between it. It’s a tool that processes the
information to find the most efficient route,
the one with the fewest miles for the least
amount of work.”
An example of the system’s level of so-
phistication is how it can improve safety,
Burkel argues. “We can put time windows in
a commercial route to make sure a truck will
be in an area when it’s less congested or in a
business complex when there are fewer cars
around,”he says.“In a residential area, we can
honor school zones during early morning
hours or in the afternoon, when the school
is being dismissed. For residential routes,
we can make all of our routes right-hand
collection only, so you don’t have guys cross-
ing the street to service residential locations.
Service-wise, it really benefits us because it
gives us much more predictable routing and
we’re able to meet a much more consistent
standard on what time we’re servicing cus-
tomers.”
When discussing the overall productivity
impact of Republic’s latest routing technol-
ogy, Burkel notes that the impact varies
from market to market. However, he says, he
can quantify the companywide productiv-
ity improvement at about 10%. Will Flower,
Republic’s executive vice president of com-
munications, adds that the productivity im-
provement varies from company to company
because of the varying skill levels of the route
mappers who previously used the pin maps
to develop routes.
“The computer is the great equalizer—it
allows that skill set to be brought to everyone
within the organization,” Flower says. “In
some cases, maybe, the improvement is half
a percent—and in our business even a half
a percent is a big deal. There are also things
that can’t be measured, such as the safety
improvement. How do you know, just by
making all right-hand turns or by rerouting
for safety, that you didn’t end up saving some
kid’s life? That’s tough to quantify, but we do
know that there’s a value in that.”
Western Oregon Waste of McMinnville,
OR, helped FleetMind Solutions—a partner
of Soft-Pak Inc.—to beta-test its GPS-based
fleet-management system for the MSW in-
dustry and has implemented use of the sys-
tem over the past three years in different areas
of the business. Lisa Rodgers, information
systems manager, reports that the company
implemented Soft-Pak’s i-Pak accounting,
billing, customer service, dispatching, and
inventorying system back in 1993 and began
working with Soft-Pak a few years ago to
apply to the MSW industry the capabilities
of a system that was originally developed for
long-haul trucking.
Rich Kuehn, operations manager, reports
that Western Oregon Waste first implement-
ed the use of the add-on FleetMind module
for roll-off collection routing because, he
argues, long-haul trucking and this type of
trash collection are similar. From there, the
company used the system to develop routes
for commercial front-load and residential
collection, each of which constitutes one-
third of its business among about 30,000
customers.
Western Oregon Waste’s drivers push in-
cab buttons to time-stamp such activities as
lifts, while the system’s GPS network marks
their locations and ties customers to these
activities. The time-stamped data is stored
for potential use in analyzing route costs and
profitability.
Kuehn points out that converting from a
“When we’ve got changes in the
routes, the systems talk to each
other and automatically geocode
those customers so they can be
automatically rerouted.”

paper route book to computerized mapping
is really paying off in residential collections.
“One of the driving forces for us on the resi-
dential side was the ease for the driver out on
the route,” he says. “It’s gotten a lot harder
to deal with a paper route book. Getting to
1,000 customers a day, you’ve got a big book
you’ve got to try to manage. We were finding
that some drivers weren’t taking the care that
they should have in making sure that they
were picking up the proper customers, and
they weren’t recording extras.”
Capturing Compliance Data
Automatic vehicle location (AVL), made pos-
sible through the use of GPS, is particularly
beneficial for commercial collection, which
is characterized by the occasional need to
reroute trucks on short notice. Experts point
out that stored AVL data provide an addi-
tional benefit: compliance verification. The
ability to prove that a collection was made
can allow an MSW company not only to
avoid fines but also to improve customer
service.
Jason Koch, president of Telogis, a pro-
vider of wireless fleet-management technolo-
gies including OnTrack GPS fleet-tracking
software, argues that proof of collection, i.e.,
compliance, is becoming increasingly im-
portant, particularly on the residential side.
He recommends that when a customer com-
plains about a missed collection, the MSW
company should respond by informing the
customer that the nearest truck will be sent,
not by accessing GPS data for the purpose of
proving the customer wrong.
Compliance is also a means to improv-
ing both customer service and profitability,
Koch adds. By capturing planned route data
and actual data via the use of GPS, route-
efficiency systems can allow the MSW man-
ager to establish collection-efficiency metrics
and alter the metrics as data are continuously
captured. Advanced actual data collection
is the key to compliance, Koch adds: The
collection of data relating to such activities
as opening or closing a door or lifting a
container is essential to achieving a compli-
ance level of operational efficiency. OnTrack
utilizes a “black box” consisting of a GPS
receiver and a wireless modem installed in
the cab, which has the ability to receive sig-
nals from a door or boom sensor. The system
also features turn-by-turn voice-prompted
directions that consider traffic conditions,
rules of the road, and truck attributes and
routing rules and descriptions to help drivers
navigate traffic and quickly determine the
best order in which to visit multiple stops
and help dispatchers find the vehicle nearest
a new stop.
Miami-based World Waste Services Inc.
has achieved a compliance level of rout-
ing efficiency via the use of a computer-
ized fleet-management system, according
to Eileen Damaso, vice president. Among
its customers in Miami-Dade County, Ft.
Lauderdale/Broward County, Keys/Monroe
County, Palm Beach County, St. Lucie Coun-
ty, Martin County, and Indian River County,
the full-service MSW company has 220,000
residential customers. A recycling contract
with Miami-Dade County that became ef-
fective in 2008 stipulates that the company
will be fined $100 per residential customer
not collected.
World Waste Services has been prepared
for such compliance requirements for some
time, having adopted GPS routing technol-
ogy five years ago. The company’s current
fleet-management system provider is Pro-
con Inc./Sat Track. The Sat Track Fleet GPS
tracking system has a Web-based Interface
and features multiple route views: road map,
2D and 3D aerial views, and a hybrid view
that combines the aerial and map views. The
system’s capabilities include a history replay
feature that allows users to retrieve vehicle
information from the previous six months
and from up to 10 vehicles at a time. Users
can define and create vehicle groups by such
criteria as vehicle type, service, location, and
driver experience.
“If we only miss one house on a street,
obviously we were on that street. But if we
miss a neighborhood, that’s where we can
find out why there was a problem,” Damaso
says. “If a customer claims that we haven’t
picked up his container, we can say that
we’ve been there at such a time and such a
date.” She adds that the company does not
yet use a “geofence boundary marking” fea-
ture that allows AVL and dynamic, optimal
truck routing, but she anticipates that using
this feature will provide a higher level of
customer service.
Modern Corp. of Model City, NY, uses
Telogis’ OnTrack system and RouteSmart
routing system to track its fleet of more than
300 trucks. The OnTrack system provides
such data as routing inefficiencies, idling
times, and speeding. Routing rules and de-
scriptions are used to help drivers navigate
traffic and determine the best order in which
to visit multiple stops. They are also used to
help dispatchers find the nearest vehicle for a
new stop. Mike Stuart, information technol-
ogy professional, says that supervisors, too,
can use the data to make sure drivers are do-
ing assigned work, properly managing time,
not committing driving infractions, and not
taking unauthorized travel paths. Sales also
uses the data to calculate the cost of previ-
ous collections based on mileage and time
in order to build profitable bid proposals,
Stuart adds.
The Next Frontier
Many computerized route-efficiency systems
also feature reporting and analysis features
that represent the next frontier of fleet man-
agement: profitability maximization on a
per-collection basis. Some MSW companies
that were early adopters of computerized
route-efficiency systems have begun to use
more advanced features of the systems for
route auditing and analysis.
Republic’s Burkel argues that GPS is a
key tool for use in route auditing and opti-
mization. The data collection that is possible
through the use of GPS can tie together an
MSW company’s accounting and routing
systems, allowing analyses of profitability
on a per-route or even per-customer basis,
he indicates. “GPS can very accurately mea-
sure the locations, the time to service them,
and verify many of the assumptions that
the algorithms use to service those routes.
And we can update those algorithms with
more accurate data from actual measure-
ments from the GPS,”he says.“This produces
more accurate routes in addition to giving us
an information-verification mechanism—we
have a documented time limit for service
that we can go back and compare to the pre-
dicted performance on the route and correct
assumptions or use it as a training tool to
improve our drivers’ performance.”
Burkel adds that he is using GPS tech-
nology to audit routes in his region. “We
verify many things like the efficiency of the
routing, safety considerations, container size,
and collection frequency to make sure that
they match exactly what we are expected to
deliver,” he says. “We’ll have auditors ride
along with the driver and record all of this
information, including times to service, and
verify container size and condition. Safety
considerations would be things like blind
backing or overhead situations. It also gives
the auditor time to observe the drivers to
make sure they’re delivering the service that
we expect and our customers expect, and in
safe manner.”
Besides the benefits of improved cus-
tomer service and profitability, route audit-
MSW Management ● 43www.mswmanagement.com

ing can yield additional benefits, says Burkel.
“There’s one more piece to the efficiency
thing that I think is worth noting as we try
to become a more green economy. Whatever
engine technology you’re using, the best way
to reduce emissions is to reduce the amount
of time to run those engines. When we’re
reducing miles that we’re having to drive
to service our customers, we’re saving a lot
on emissions, wear and tear on the roads,
that type of stuff, too. So it’s efficiency from
a dollars-and-cents point of view, but also
from an emissions point of view.”
Stuart argues that the solid waste collec-
tion industry faces increasing profitability
pressures, such as rising operational costs
related to regulatory issues and difficulties
in attracting qualified employees, including
drivers, technicians, and mechanics. Address-
ing these profitability challenges necessitates
minimization of spending in areas that are
within the control of the refuse company—
aided by the use of the best available in-
formation system to input, manage, and
compile data for such variables as account
margins, customers’ value, seasonal ordering
trends, lost business, new business, market
sector management cost per hour, and in-
ternal business process costs, he adds. Stuart
says he sees the future of routing efficiency
headed toward the use of route-level data
notification of orders and order fields that
assign customers to appropriate routes.
Western Oregon Waste’s Kuehn and Rod-
gers say that the company is beginning to do
in-depth analyses of route productivity and
profitability. “We haven’t used it a whole lot,
but FleetMind does have a report that allows
us to print out exactly what was done on a
route in the order that it was done, so the way
that we’ve used it just a few times is when we
need a route to be rerouted, the driver simply
goes out and does it as he would like to have
it done, and we can print out a report in i-
Pak and have the changes made manually,”
Kuehn says.
Also, the company runs a route pro-
ductivity report that serves a dual purpose,
Rodgers adds. “We have the ability to look
at individual customers or routes,” she says.
“We were entering that information manu-
ally before, and now FleetMind automatically
populates that information and we use it for
our rate reviews for all of our jurisdictions—
we need to give time and mileage for every
jurisdiction.”
Kuehn notes that collection data is avail-
able in the company’s i-Pak system virtually
in real time, allowing customer service repre-
sentatives to stay on top of fleet information
at all times. “I think the biggest thing is that
it’s instantaneous; it’s real time, so they know
exactly what’s going on.Another thing it does
is it makes dispatching far more efficient;
there’s no more need to hand-write a text
message that might have errors in it—there’s
no need to take time to try to call the driver.
The dispatchers simply create a work order
in i-Pak, dispatch it, and it goes right to the
driver.”
Kuehn concludes that the company is
working on making the transition to data
collection without the need for driver inter-
vention. “We’re trying to make that happen,”
he says.“The residential drivers have just one
button they push after they service a custom-
er. That completes the call and time-stamps
and GPS-stamps it.” MSW
Don Talend of Write Results specializes in top-
ics related to technology and innovation.

MAY 2011
MSW
THE LEADING PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION IN THE SOLID WASTE INDUSTRY
Increasing
Landﬁll
Proﬁtability
Airspace
It’s All About

T
o Anthony Roman, Orlando, FL–
based district manager for Waste
Management Inc.’s north Flori-
da transfer stations, what some
might consider little things make all the dif-
ference in improving the efficiency of truck
loadout. Dissatisfied with how short transfer
trailers were of their legal weight limits at
one of two transfer stations in Okaloosa
County, he had onboard scales installed on
the front-end loader in late 2010 and has
doubled loading efficiency.
It’s one example of how MSW managers
are using weighing and ticketing systems
to improve efficiency at transfer stations.
These improvements are crucial for many
companies because, with land becoming
scarce due to zoning and environmental
restrictions, these facilities are increasingly
distanced from developed areas. The cost of
hauling to landfills is becoming increasingly
fixed, so many firms are looking more closely
at transfer stations themselves for ways to
cut costs.
Roman, who manages nine transfer sta-
tions from Sarasota on the southwestern
coast to Fort Walton Beach on the west-
ern panhandle, reports that the Okaloosa
County facility takes in 600–900 tons a day
during the summer peak season. In addition
to commercial loads, residents drop off their
own refuse. He saw that operations overseen
by a subcontractor with a soon-to-expire
contract could be more productive.
“The other transportation company was
operating the tipping floor, and they didn’t
have a scale on their loader,” says Roman. “I
saw them make a minimum of two trips to
the scale to get the weight right—the owner
of the company didn’t want a tractor-trailer
to go out with [a net weight of] less than
23.5 tons, and Waste Management won’t al-
low a trailer to go out over 80,000 pounds on
any roads—they will not get a ticket.”
When Waste Management took over day-
Managers use weighing, ticketing systems to make their transfer stations operate at peak efficiency.
BY DON TALEND
Air-Weigh
Transfer Costs
Thinning Out
58 MSW MANAGEMENT [ MAY 2011 ]

to-day tipping-floor operations, it purchased
a new Volvo L150F front-end loader. Volvo
alerted him to the existence of a Loadrite
L-2180 onboard scale system. The system
includes friction and ambient compensation
technology (FACT) software for calculating
accurate weights, multiple-point weighing
at several points throughout the lift cycle,
storage of calibrations for up to five differ-
ent attachments, daily total weight tracking
for up to 100 material types, and tracking
of loads by customer. A key feature of the
system that attracted Roman was an “active
tip-off function,” which allows the operator
to adjust the last bucket to pinpoint the target
load weight.
“That caught my attention,” Roman says.
“Let’s say you have two tons left to load and
you pick up 2.5 tons. In the past, you had to
tip off, bring the bucket back, lower it down
and raise it up again. If you didn’t take off
that half a ton, you would have to repeat that
whole process, whereas with this system, you
press the tipoff button and it tells you to wait
while it reads as it does calculations, and it
tells you how much to tip off. As you tip your
bucket, garbage is dumping until you get that
half-ton you need. It’ll do its calculations,
and 99% of the time half a ton is exactly what
you’ve got when you’re done.”
“I requested that Volvo have the L-2180
installed on the machine with a printer be-
cause my ultimate goal was to allow better
flow without our transport trucks getting up
on a scale,” adds Roman. “And my boss had
asked me to minimize traffic because it was
affecting the drivers’ productivity. I only have
one scale at the facility and the more trucks
we can eliminate from going across the scale,
the better the traffic flow is in and out.”
Roman notes that the user can either
“load up”to a target weight or“load down”to
zero. Additionally, ticket printing offers op-
tions. The system can be set up to print gross,
tare, and net weight (short version), or it can
print a list of individual lift weights (long ver-
sion). He says that the operation prints out
the short version. The ticket puts drivers in
compliance with DOT regulations, although
the onboard system cannot be state-certified,
according to Roman. Still, the L-2180 is cali-
brated against the state-certified outbound
scale, he adds. The calibration confirms that
the onboard system consistently provides
weighing accuracy to within 1%.
Because the system is new, Roman has
not been able to quantify how much money
it is saving his division; but time is money, he
acknowledges.“As far as time, the other com-
pany used to take approximately 35 minutes
to 45 minutes to load one truck. We do it in
about 17 minutes.”
Weighing theYard Trailers
In Troy, OH, the Miami County Solid Waste
District is also an advocate of onboard
scales—but management there focuses on
yard trailers at its transfer operation.
Commercial haulers and residential cus-
tomers back into a 160-by-180-foot transfer
station and dump their loads onto the tip-
ping floor. The county does some segregat-
ing of material (e.g., metals and cardboard),
baling up the cardboard. A Caterpillar 938
front-end loader equipped with a customized
bucket is used to load the yard trailers and
compact the loads. Then, a Caterpillar 318
excavator equipped with a rotating grapple
provides additional compaction until most
trailers are loaded to a 26-ton net weight. Ac-
cording to Scott Pence, solid waste division
manager, the facility has reduced its trailer
loads by five since 2005 through the use of
this equipment.
[ www.mswmanagement.com ] MSW MANAGEMENT 59

A previously used county transfer station was built out of an in-
cinerator, and an overhead gantry crane was used to load trailers. The
current facility was constructed in 1998. Miami Coun-
ty entered into a joint agreement with neighbor-
ing Montgomery County to combine waste-
streams and solicit more competitive bids
for hauling the loaded trailers to a landfill
in Brown County. “This top-loading opera-
tion is a lot more efficient,” says Pence. “We’re
able to load a trailer in about 10 minutes. We’re
actually waiting for waste to come in here; as
soon as it gets dumped on the tipping floor, it
gets loaded out right away.”
Miami County’s 48-foot Titan trailers are a
key component in its “drop-and-hook” trans-
fer operation. Before acquiring the Air-Weigh
scales in 2010, operational efficiency was less
than ideal, Pence says.“[Weighing the trailers] was pretty much a
guessing game,” he says. Debris getting onto outbound scales was
a problem and, in the winter, trailers dripped a lot of water onto
the scales, which caused problems with their operation.
The onboard electronic scales measure and display refuse vehicle
weights, including drive axle weight, steer axle weight, gross vehicle
weight, and net payload on an in-dash LCD display inside the yard
tractor cabs. Compatible with either air-ride or mechanical suspen-
sions, they utilize deflection sensor technology, which allows the ac-
curate weight measurement on steer and drive axles with mechanical
suspensions. The system is equipped with alarm outputs, although
Pence reports that the operation does not use the alarms. Rather, yard
tractor-trailer drivers let the loader operators know when the trailers
meet specified weight by viewing the display.
Pence says that the onboard scales allow
the facility to load most tractor-trailers to
essentially their maximum legal weight—
usually to within 300–400 pounds. “We
take pride in being as efficient as we can
be,” he says. “We have a skeleton crew: I
have a loader operator, one truck driver,
and we have another employee who floats
back and forth who primarily operates the
excavator. We’re trying to be as efficient as we
can today because cutting your costs is very
important. We’re going to the landfill about
220 miles one-way, so we have to maximize our
loads to eliminate as many as possible. With the
onboard scale system plus the way we compact
our loads, we’re getting 26-ton loads. That’s pretty
good with the way we run this top-loading operation. It’s
definitely a time saver; the biggest thing I appreciate is taking
the guesswork out. You’re able to see what you’ve actually got on the
trailers.”
Maximizing net weight in a trailer improves job satisfaction
among transfer trailer drivers, according to Pence. “One thing that’s
made our drivers very happy is that they get paid per ton,” he says.
“Putting these scales on keeps the transfer operation very happy,
too—they’re going out with their maximum payloads. Today, with
Digital air
sensor and
V320 display
VulcanOn-BoardScales

the way fuel prices are, any way you can cut is a benefit. This has
helped out tremendously in terms of maximizing loads coming out
of here.”
Optimizing Efficiency With Onboard Scales
Onboard scales can serve as a key component in the MSW man-
ager’s cost-cutting strategy at transfer stations, according to Vulcan
On-Board Scales. The most easily measured benefits, according to
Vulcan, are optimizing the payload weight at the time of loading and
prevention of overweight fines. Onboard scales can also reduce the
time required to readjust the load weight.
The company points out that, due to the construction of more
transfer stations and greater distances to travel to landfills, transfer
station operators are under increasing pressure to reduce trans-
portation costs by maximizing the weight of each payload without
overloading the vehicle. Also,Vulcan notes, transfer station operators
are getting increasingly concerned about shielding themselves from
potential liability that would result from an overweight vehicle’s in-
volvement in an accident.
Transfer station operators have certified in-ground scales onsite
but face barriers to locating them in the loading area, Vulcan points
out. Maintenance of these scales can be difficult and expensive due
Maximizing net weight in a trailer improves job satisfaction among trans-
fer trailer drivers, who often get paid by the ton.
Corrao
JohnTrotti
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to the abuse they take and weather. Additionally, every transfer ve-
hicle must line up to be weighed at the certified scale after loading
and, typically, underweight vehicles are waved on unless they are
grossly underweight. Overweight vehicles typically are sent back to
offload; the temptation does exist for management to send slightly
overloaded vehicles out anyway. According to Vulcan, studies show
that transfer vehicles determined to be overloaded are subsequently
underloaded by 20% to 25% on average.
Vulcan summarizes the key benefits of onboard scales. They allow
MSW managers to get transfer vehicles loaded to the maximum legal
gross, net payload and axle weights onsite quickly, without drivers
having to wait in line or drive to the nearest platform scale, which
might be located a great distance away. Onboard scales also eliminate
the need for drivers to have to readjust their loads and return to the
loading area and wait in line again. Running trucks overweight is
increasingly expensive; keeping transfer vehicles loaded at the legal
weight eliminates liability exposure that would result from increased
braking distance. Hauling loads that the vehicle was designed to
carry reduces the maintenance costs of brakes, tires and suspensions,
and frames and bodies also last substantially longer. Lighter vehicles
have a more constant braking distance, and tracking around corners
is more predictable. Many mills and distribution centers prohibit
the unloading of overweight vehicles solely to reduce their liability
exposure.
Although many variables are involved, Talbot incorporates several
costs into an analysis, including underloading, overweight fines, fees
for weighing at certified scales, downtime involved in weighing and
load readjustment, and contends that onboard scales can pay for
themselves in four to six months.
Jack Ewing, sales manager for the SI Onboard brand of Vishay
Precision Group, adds that interest is growing in onboard weighing
for trucks equipped with air suspensions used in rolloff and packer
systems. Ewing points out that, besides reducing liability, onboard
scales can make it easier for MSW managers to reduce maintenance
resulting from overloaded refuse trucks and increase the trucks’
longevity.
The SI Onboard Airscale system provides gross or net vehicle
weight on any truck with an air suspension by monitoring air pres-
sure from a truck’s air suspension and converting it to a weight
reading. Axle group weights are provided, as well as gross and net
VulcanOn-BoardScales
An installed fifth-wheel load cell for a tractor is seen here in place.
Cardinal Scale offers the widest
selection of USA-made vehicle scale
applications on the market to meet
virtually any weighing requirement,
from fully-electronic to impervious
Guardian®
hydraulic truck scales.
(800) 441-4237
www.CardinalScale.com
Weighing the
solid waste industry since 1950!
[ www.mswmanagement.com ] MSW MANAGEMENT 63

weights. Rear-axle-group-only and front-
axle-group-only systems are available. The
system reportedly is accurate to within 2%
and includes a printer, relay board, and
handheld remote.
The system consists of air-pressure trans-
ducers, junction boxes, a meter, cabling, and
mounting hardware for air-pressure sensors.
The air sensors connect to an SI Onboard
factory-sealed junction box and the signal
cable connects the junction box to the in-
cab indicator. The air sensors and junction
boxes are sealed for protection in harsh
environments.
SI Onboard also has Trojan transducer
systems that provide group axle weights and
total gross vehicle weight for straight trucks.
The system also is said to be accurate to 2%.
By design, the system does not require the
disassembly of the vehicle chassis, suspen-
sion, or truck body. It typically consists of
one Trojan transducer on the front axle and
one or two Trojan transducers on the rear
suspension or differential. Installation in-
volves placing small Trojan mounting blocks
to each Trojan transducer’s attaching loca-
tion and the bolting the transducer to the
mounting blocks.
Cabling is then run from the Trojan
transducers to a transmitter and then to the
meter in the cab of the truck. SI Onboard
says that Trojan transducer systems are en-
vironmentally protected precision strain-
gauge instruments designed for external
mounting to vehicle suspension members
and differentials.
In-Ground Scale Protection
It’s not as though manufacturers of in-
ground scales have not taken notice of the
aggressive environment in which these units
operate. Cardinal Scale’s Guardian Hydraulic
Scales are designed to address problems due
to lightning that can cause electrical surges,
moisture, and other deleterious elements.
Theseproblemscancauseunstableweight
readings and damage to junction boxes and
load cells. In low-lying areas, water can often
flood and submerge a scale, which allows
water to seep into cables, boxes, and the load
cells. The result of this damage, Cardinal
points out, is the cost to repair, which does
not even include scale downtime.
Cardinal notes that the threats posed by
these elements have spawned an industry in
itself: the development of devices designed
to provide added protection for scales. Rath-
er than utilizing electronic components or
junction boxes underneath the scale deck,

the Guardian is equipped with copper or stainless-steel lines filled
with special hydraulic fluid. These lines are connected to a“Totalizer”
via high-pressure rubber hoses that completely isolate the scale from
the scale’s weight indicator. The Totalizer encloses the Cardinal PTG
pressure transducers, which are fluidly coupled to SST hydraulic load
cells to convert the pressure signal into an electrical signal for digital
weight readouts.
These scales use software that is used to
track waste, vehicles, customers, and other
items and suits truck-, railcar-, and ship-
loading transfer operations.
Ticketing and Accounting
The Montgomery Regional Solid Waste Au-
thority in Christiansburg, VA, has found
that information technology is the means
by which ticketing and accounting can be
automated. For the past several years, the authority has utilized
Carolina Software’s WasteWorks system, which reads a vehicle’s
weight automatically from a scale, then computes the charge by
ton, cubic yard or quantity, and prints a ticket for cash or charge
account transactions. The system error-checks as data is entered to
ensure accuracy. The software computes pricing, including special
contracts and discounts as well as special taxes.
In addition to generating a refuse ticket, the program includes
customer billing and financial reporting in the base product, so it
is not necessary for an operation like the authority to purchase and
learn additional accounting software. The program also includes
several standardized management reports and also allows the user
to create customized reports.
The authority’s two-bay transfer station takes in 70,000–95,000
tons of refuse per year from Christiansburg, Blacksburg, Mont-
gomery County, and Virginia Tech University. Alan Cummins,
the authority’s executive director, was hired about five years ago
after having served as solid waste director for the city of Sheridan,
WY, which had switched from a different
ticketing and billing system to WasteWorks.
Having some familiarity with the program,
Cummins says he is glad that evaluating a
new program was not necessary.
A major advantage of the program is
the ability to bill customers according to
the various material types brought into the
transfer station, according to Cummins.
The authority charges different fees for
various types of refuse, such as MSW, wood debris, brush, or white
goods. The same holds true at the material recovery facility, where
refuse such as commingled containers without glass and commin-
gled containers with glass carry different fees.“Right now, with the
commodity prices so good, we’re not charging for anything, but
in the past we’ve had a fee for mixed paper and a different fee for
source-separated material like a slug of cardboard or newspaper,”
says Cummins.“Just being able to put in a variety of material types
and a variety of prices helps us very much.”
Commercial vehicles that cross the inbound scale are assigned
a charge account. Codes or license plate numbers are entered
A major advantage is
the ability to bill the
customers for specific
types of materials.
Introducing the most advanced single stream system in the world,
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for cash customers. “You weigh them and
then you put in the material type, and
it automatically gives you weight,” Cum-
mins explains. “Then, they go when they
unload their waste, they come back and
pull that ticket. It automatically tells them
the weight that was disposed and the price
and that is then put into the system.” The
operation can have a customer segregate
scrap metal—which is disposed of for
free—from a load and then have the cus-
tomer go over the inbound scale again.
With the coding system, the scrap metal
weight is deducted from the ticket, but no
charge is assessed. Or, coding can account
for cardboard, for which a fee is assessed,
once it is segregated from a load and the
driver receives a ticket with the itemized
weight and price for cardboard.
“At the end of day, we have it set up
within our computer network to automat-
ically download all of the data from our
scale house into our network,” Cummins
continues. “If you have a user number you
can get into the WasteWorks program and
see how much of a specific material type
came in the previous day, the previous
two days, or the previous month. You can
break it down into material type and days.
It’s just incredible the amount of data that
you can pull up if you just want how much
solid waste for a specific amount of time.
If you need numbers, you can get them.”
The program’s reporting capabilities
can be a boon to customer service “just for
information that you need on the dime,”
he says. “If you have a specific hauler and
you’re wondering how its tonnage was
one month compared to another, you can
actually put in a code for how much of
a material type it brought in for specific
time period.”
Reports can also help in forecasting,
Cummins adds. He can determine how
much tonnage and revenue came from
different types of refuse, such as sludge,
MSW, or wood debris. He can also produce
a recycling report showing what com-
modities such as cardboard or office paper
account for.
Some reports are financially oriented, he
adds. The authority can determine which
accounts are 30 days or 60 days past due,
for example, triggering a letter. Monthly
billing gets completed very quickly, he adds.
“I keep fiscal year data, and I’m able to keep
calendar-year totals and fiscal-year totals,”
says Cummins. “We use them for our bud-
geting just for forecasting material trends.
We’re looking at short-term trends and
long-term trends, and it really does help
you with your budgeting every year.” MSW
Contributing writer Don Talend specializes in
covering technology and innovation.
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“At the end of the day, we have it set up within our computer network
to automatically download all of the data from or scale house.”

The Leading Professional Association in the Solid Waste IndustryThe Leading Professional Association in the Solid Waste Industry
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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2009
Portability
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Tools
By Don Talend
S
emiautomated collection—and,
for some refuse companies, even
manual collection—probably will
never go away entirely. The con-
cepts of reducing injuries through ad-
vances in ergonomics and maximizing ef-
ficiency to the extent possible short of full
automation are not new ideas to the indus-
try. By now, the equipment marketplace
has responded to increasing demands for
the highest possible operational return on
investment by innovating advancements in
container tippers and the containers them-
selves. And as manufacturers incorporate
design advancements into their equipment,
many refuse companies are making greater
investments in productivity by entering the
realm of fully automated collection.
Not surprisingly, the Solid Waste As-
sociation of North America 2007 North
American Benchmarking Project for Resi-
dential Solid Waste Collection Services
indicates that fully automated collection
yields the highest collection service pro-
ductivity, although this measurement is
subject to such variables as distance and
travel time associated with the trips to and
from the landfill, transfer station, or waste-
processing facility, and the variability in
the workload that is assigned to collection
crews. Also, despite the increased produc-
tivity yielded by full-automation equip-
ment, the study indicates that increased
productivity is necessary to offset higher
capital costs.
Somewhat sur-
prisingly,the study
also indicates that
semiautomated collec-
tion is often less effi-
cient than manual col-
lection because a con-
tainer needs to be returned
to the curb. The main driver
in semiautomation, then, is
worker safety. A key piece
of equipment in semiauto-
mated collection is the
cart tipper.
Tippers
The refuse collector
has a variety of choices
in tippers. One manufacturer, Bayne Pre-
mium Lift Systems, lists several questions
that the MSW operations manager can ask
to make the choice of tipper easier:
• Which types of carts are used? Not all
lifters will work with all carts. In general,
the carts used should conform to ANSI
standards Type B for domestic-style
two-bar carts, Type C for European-
style carts, Type D for pocketed-style
carts, and Type G for automated-style
carts. Many cart lifters can also dump
standard size 30- and
55-gallon drums.
• How much
weight will be lift-
ed? The amount of
weight to be lifted
by the tipper also
is predicated on
the choice of cart.
Each cart has a weight
rating—for example, a
standard 95-gallon cart
is usually rated to hold
up to 350 pounds.
This question is espe-
cially important when
weight expectations
are on the high end.
When equipped with
the proper actuator, some
of the Collection Trade
Advancements in
equipment are continually
improving efficiency and
ergonomics alike.
OttoEnvironmentalSystems
City of Olathe, KS
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 200914 ● MSW Management
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cart tippers can lift up to 700 pounds.
• What is the sill or hopper height of
the refuse collection vehicle? Lifters
are available with various arm lengths
because not all models of refuse collec-
tion vehicles have the same sill height.
Longer arms are used with higher sills
so that when the lifter is mounted in
the correct position on the sill, its face-
plate is properly set up to connect with
and dump the cart. Lifters picking up
domestic two-bar carts require a clear-
ance of 34 inches from the ground to
the lifter saddle, where the cart bar rests.
European-style carts require a clearance
of 38 inches from the ground to the top
of the lifter’s comb assembly.
• Does the refuse collection vehicle have
a winch, reeving cylinder or commer-
cial container bar? Not all lifters work
properly on rear-loaders equipped with
commercial container–handling de-
vices. Modifications may be required
to ensure that a commercial container
does not rest on the cart lifter—and
thus damage it—when it is being emp-
tied. In addition, the lifter must be able
to rotate within the opening between
a commercial-container bar and the
hopper.
• Is a cylinder lift or one that uses a rotary
actuator better suited to the operation?
Two basic kinds of cart lifters are avail-
able: One uses a hydraulic cylinder to
lift the cart, and the other uses a rotary
actuator. Cylinder lifts tend to be less
expensive up front and suit semiauto-
mated carts in particular. Lifts using
rotary actuators are designed for greater
durability and the ability to lift heavy
weights at lower system pressures, as
well as the ability to pick up a wider
range of containers.
• What kind of rotary actuator does the
tipper use? The tipper’s actuator pro-
vides the rotation needed to lift and
dump the cart. Two kinds of actuators
are prevalent: helical and dual rack
and pinion. Helical actuators may cost
less initially, but replacement parts are
reportedly more expensive on average.
Dual rack-and-pinion actuators have
fewer parts and may be easier to repair.
Collection of yardwaste is semiautomated
in Olathe, KS, where residents purchase
the carts used in a new, voluntary pro-
gram, notes Darren Gilbert, assistant solid
waste manager. The carts are replacing
yardwaste bags that previously were used
for clippings and bundle brush.
Gilbert says that semiautomated collec-
tion will always be used in Olathe, largely
because of the new yardwaste program.
The city has 11 routes, which are identical
for trash and recycling, and yardwaste. One
of the city’s 12 fully automated trucks han-
dles a trash/recycling route, and two of a
total of eight tipper-equipped rear-loading
trucks and tipper-equipped side-loading
trucks handle a route for either trash/recy-
cling or yardwaste.
The city began to automate in 2004,
when it undertook a pilot program using
Bayne Machine Works TL Series tippers
on its side-loaders and Rehrig Pacific carts.
“We were 100% manual collection and
then in 2004, the city did a pilot program
and introduced the carts,” says Gilbert,
adding that after the 1,200-customer pro-
gram was deemed a success, carts were
purchased for the city’s 36,000 homes and
Olathe had all of its trucks equipped with
tippers. Since then, the city has gradually
KS

converted to 100% fully automated collec-
tion for residential trash.
The tippers use rack-and-pinion ro-
tary actuators and are designed to posi-
tion containers deep inside the hopper
to prevent spillage and to increase the
number of dumps before packer-blade
cycling is necessary. Gilbert reports that
smooth operation is an aspect of the TL
Series tippers that minimizes both spillage
and container damage. “It’s pretty impor-
tant when the cart’s going up; you don’t
want something that’s vibrating so it falls
off,” he says. “If you have something that
jerks, you can damage the cart, or—worst-
case scenario—it can hit the ground, and
then you’ve got trash all over the street.”
Another benefit is a self-greasing bearing
that reduces the need for maintenance as
well as the potential to forget to lubricate
the bearing.
On its rear-loading trucks, the city uses
Bayne’s BTL Series, which also uses the
rack-and-pinion rotary actuators and self-
greasing bearings at the main pivot points.
This tipper is specifically designed to offer
greater ground clearance for rear-loading
applications to reduce damage on uneven
terrain, such as alley entrances.
Collecting refuse from carts bunched
closely together and the ability to some-
times lift heavier containers—and thus
reduce the number of necessary collection
trips to some customers—are additional
reasons why semiautomated collection re-
mains a viable technique, according to Per-
kins Manufacturing Co. Two tipper models
in particular, the D6080C Heavy Duty Ro-
tary TuckAway Lifter and D6220 TuckAway
Cart Lifter, are equipped with features to
maximize collection efficiency.
The D6080C has been available for
about 20 years and has gone through
several evolutions. The unit’s picking and
dumping cycle time is about six seconds.
The TuckAway design, with which the unit
recesses under the hopper, is intended to
protect the tipper from damage and pro-
long the life of equipment. The TuckAway’s
“BreakAway” feature reduces damage to
the actuator in the event of a collision or
bottom-out.
The D6220 is similar to the D6080C
but has a more compact design that al-
lows greater ground clearance. It suits
many trucks that are not compatible with
the D6080C.
Containers, Wheels
Manufacturers would tell you that not all
containers are created equal. What a re-
fuse company’s customers might consider
commodity items with few differentiating
features are known as anything but that by
the professionals who pick up the refuse.
As the level of collection automation has
increased in recent years, manufacturers
have increasingly focused on container
durability and ergonomic design.
Dave Bennett, solid waste service co-
ordinator for the city of Scottsdale, AZ,
reports that the city uses fully automated
collection almost exclusively for its roughly
78,000 residential customers; the only ex-
ceptions are a couple of areas on the south
end of town where many seniors live—res-
idents who would have difficulty moving
large containers out to the curb.
Realizing that full automation is highly
productive yet rough on containers, the
city began replacing its residential trash
containers with Otto Environmental Sys-
tems’ Edge residential carts in January
2008. The containers are designed to with-
stand the extreme forces exerted by semi-
and fully automated collection equipment.
A design feature that is included to accom-
modate automated systems with grabber
arms such as those used in Scottsdale is
the elimination of “corners” that tend to
compress during lifting. Instead of a lift
pocket, a.k.a. bib or pouch, the container is
also available with a smooth ridge around
the top of the cart base, and it is also
available without a catch (or lift) bar—
a feature designed for semiautomated
collection.
By the end of winter
2008, Bennett reports,
not one of the contain-
ers had cracked, a fact
he attributes to the
containers’ design and use of injection-
molded plastic. “The thing in Arizona is
that you not only have the heat but also
the cold,” he says. “These containers have
to survive extreme heat—you’re talking
130 degrees when it’s out in the sun, and in
the winter it’s below freezing, so they have
to stand up to a lot. So far, these containers
stand up to that test.”
To prevent spillage, the lid is designed
to stay securely closed using cylindrical
attachment elements and snap pins at
the hinge. “When you squeeze, say, in the
middle with the grapple bars, the container
expands either toward the bottom or the
top,” Bennett says. “This can survives all of
that. We’ve picked it up every single which-
way you can, multiple times, and the lid
doesn’t come off.”
Bennett says another beneficial feature
of the containers is its ease of assembly.
“One big thing is that, when they’re de-
livered to us, they’re pretty much fully
assembled—all we have to do is snap on
a wheel and the axle,” he says. “That’s
important because when they’re delivered
there’s usually around 500 cans; they come
stacked in rolls of 12, and you just have
to pull that stack down and assemble the
containers yourself. You don’t have to pay
extra people to come out here and assem-
ble them—the lids are already on, and you
snap on a wheel. You don’t have to carry
extra parts, screws, et cetera. In the past, we
had to assemble the lid and the axles and it
was big process and now we can assemble
them out in the field and maybe take 30 or
40 out on a route.”
Another city that has gone to fully
Toter Inc. makes carts that suit semiautomat-
ed and automated collection alike.
ToterInc.
16 ● MSW Management

automated collection almost exclusively
is Austin, TX. Dale Johnson, warehouse
supervisor for the city of Austin, reports
that the city converted to semiautomated
collection in 1993 to save workers’ backs
and then began transitioning to fully au-
tomated collection of residential trash in
1999. Currently, he estimates that about
70% of 181,000 customers’ residential col-
lection there is fully automated. The re-
maining 30% of customers who require
semiautomated collection mainly live in
student housing in this major college town,
the home of the University of Texas at
Austin. These areas tend to be crowded and
curbside refuse is packed tightly together,
making fully automated collection diffi-
cult, Johnson explains.
The city uses Toter Inc.’s EVR I and EVR
II carts, which can be used for both fully
automated and semiautomated collection.
One differentiating feature in the carts
that the company promotes is its patented,
stress-free Advanced Rotational Molding
technology, providing greater durability.
Another differentiating feature, accord-
ing to the manufacturer, is the fact that the
steel lifting bar is sealed on the interior of
the container with a double wall; this keeps
out moisture and insects that can damage
the container and reduce its working life.
Additionally, the bar rotates on its own
axis, providing play that increases the bar’s
durability. Noting that many refuse com-
panies and municipalities replace their ful-
ly automated lifting equipment or tippers
several times during the life of containers,
these carts are also said to be compatible
with any US collection system.
“These seem to hold up and work really
well and meet our needs,” Johnson says.
“We really don’t have cart failure at all—
we’ve got some containers out there that
we’ve been using since 1993, and I expect
that we’ll still get a few more years out
of them.”
Another manufacturer, Rehrig Pacific
Co., offers universal HuskyLite Roll-out
Carts, which are available in capacities
of 20, 35, 65, and 95 gallons and have a
one-piece, molded-in handle and a built-
in foot tilter for maneuverability. The top
lip is reinforced, and molded-in lift points
are designed for strength and rigidity. The
carts are shipped with the lids already at-
tached and the wheels snap on for reduced
assembly time. The manufacturer uses
injection molding to add extra reinforcing
material in load-bearing points and high-
wear areas. The resulting rigidity is incor-
porated to prevent bending and pinching,
a particular problem in fully automated
collection. The carts are also designed
with smooth interiors to eliminate catch
areas. Ergonomic features include large,
heavy-duty handles and an integrated foot
tilter on the company’s 65-and 95-gallon
carts. A ground-hugging base is designed
to keep the units stable in high winds and
on uneven terrain.
Rehrig Pacific’s plastic 25- and 32-gal-
lon cans suit manual and fully automated
collection alike. The company points out
that they also can be used for any type
of refuse. Their relatively greater height
compared with recycling bins, for example,
makes manual or semiautomated collec-
tion easier on workers. To compensate
for a taller profile, however, the bottoms
of the cans have additional weight. Ad-
ditional ergonomic features include large
spaces between the handles and the sides
of the cans, as well as drag rails that allow
workers to drag them across the ground.
Injection-molded HDPE resin is used for
superior durability.
Like the containers themselves, wheels
on roll-out carts are anything but a com-
modity. Roll-Tech LLC specializes in rub-
ber-tread wheels for rollout trash con-
tainers. The advantage of rubber wheels,
the manufacturer notes, is that of less
noise during maneuvering. Durability is
an additional benefit, according to the
manufacturer; unlike plastic units, the rub-
ber wheels keep moisture out and pre-
vent freeze-thaw deterioration prevalent
in northern climates. The company also
promotes the eco-friendly aspect of the
recycled crumb rubber and recycled plastic
wheel hubs. MSW
Communications specialist Don Talend of
Write Results is based in West Dundee, IL.
The rear-loader counterpart to the TL Series by Bayne Machine Works is the BTL Series, which is designed with greater
ground clearance for rear-loading applications. Shown here is a dual configuration for high-efficiency collection.
BayneMachineWorks
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The Leading Professional Association in the Solid Waste Industry
SEPTEMBER 2009
Nonstop Action at the
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Fuel for a
By Don Talend
M
SW managers looking to
diversify their businesses
should find encouragement
in the experiences of several
construction and demolition (C&D) mate-
rial processors around the country who are
succeeding for two reasons. First, amid the
protracted, severe recession that had begun
about 16 months earlier, they were holding
their own or even thriving. Second, they
were tapping into markets for waste mate-
rials, particularly wood, that could power
a potentially emerging “green economy” in
the years ahead.
Equipment Allows
Diversification
Several C&D processors across the country
are finding that advances in machinery are
allowing them to diversify their operations
and separate materials with increasing cost
effectiveness.
Terry Gillis, general manager, has found
that diversification has paid dividends for
Recovery1 of Tacoma, WA. In 1993, the
company began operations with the in-
tention of making wood fuel and wood
pulp—which owed its high prices to low
supplies—for recycled paper manufactur-
ers. Today the company processes about
70,000 tons annually and provides 21 dif-
ferent recycled C&D products for resale,
including gypsum for portland cement,
bailed plastics, carpet, carpet padding, and
cardboard, as well as rocks, bricks, concrete,
porcelain, and glass for aggregates.
In mid-2007, in an effort to reduce
maintenance and energy-consumption
costs, Gillis altered his processes by invest-
ing in a new SSI Shredding Systems Pri-Max
PR-4000 primary reducer, which is located
upstream of Recovery1’s 600-horsepower
West Salem Machinery model 5472 vertical
feed grinder, also known as a hammermill.
Previously, the company employed one
1,000-horsepower swing-hammer hog mill,
and counting so much on that one machine
resulted in high operating costs, says Gillis.
The low-speed, high-torque Pri-Max
PR-4000 operates at a typical speed of about
58 rpm, compared with a typical 1,000 rpm
in the hammermill. During primary reduc-
tion, most steel pieces that would damage
machinery are liberated from the feed and
captured by an overhead magnet, and the
material is conveyed across a short sorting
line and under a magnetic head pulley and
then into the hammermill for final grind-
ing. Gillis points out that a magnetic exca-
vator attachment and a reverse gear on the
Green Economy
Processors find reasons
to be optimistic about
the short- and long-term
prospects for the C&D
refuse market sector.
Bandit Industries
63-67MS0909_C&D2.indd 6363-67MS0909_C&D2.indd 63 8/25/09 10:45:17 AM8/25/09 10:45:17 AM

Pri-Max machine also keep steel infeed to the processing machinery
at a minimum. The Pri-Max PR-4000 has taken stress off of the
hammermill and allowed the company to start recycling railroad
ties, which often contain steel spikes or even rail pieces, says Gillis.
The machine, which processes up to 75 tons per hour, also reduces
the amount of time that excavator operators spend breaking up
large material and provides a more even flow of material. Material
is fed into the hammermill via an infeed chute and drops into the
grinding chamber. A massive rotor assembly with 27 swing ham-
mers weighing 150 pounds each that are equipped with reversible
and replaceable tips crushes the material against a crushing door,
shears it against an anvil, and then drags it over modular screen
grates resulting in typical reductions to about 18 inches.
“Going with a two-stage system has resulted in a significantly
lower electric bill as well as a significantly lower maintenance bill,”
he says. The new equipment configuration has also reduced the
company’s power costs by about 20%. “We used to calculate that if
we ground material for an hour, then we would weld on our ham-
mer mill for an hour.” He points out that the hammer mill’s infeed
conveyor has a ballistics chute attachment that is designed to re-
move large tramp metal material out of the grinding. Two magnets
downstream of the hammermill also minimize steel commingling
with other materials.
Other equipment in the operation includes a two-stage WSM
72-15 disc screen from West Salem Machinery that provides final
material sizing. Gillis notes that the screen was built to company
specifications for its desired mulch particle size of 3-inch nominal.
Oversized particles are taken off of the screen and conveyed back to
the hammermill. “A disc screen has a free flow so air can flow up
through it much more easily than I perceive an oscillating screen or
vibratory screen can do, and we get really good pickup of material
we don’t want in our wood product,” says Gillis. “I don’t ask my
guys on the sort line to pick out that small plastic and stuff; I just
say let it go and the equipment pulls it out.” Recovery1 also operates
two non-blinding bivi-Tec screens from Aggregates Equipment Inc.:
one for dirt and one for gypsum. An oscillating BM&M wood fiber
screen and a trommel screen built by the company itself round out
Recovery1’s equipment lineup.
Recovery1 primarily serves three markets with its wood prod-
ucts. For landscapers who sell mulch, the company operates a
mulch colorizing system that dyes chips dark walnut, black, or red.
Wood chips are used for fuel in plants such as paper mills and ce-
ment kilns. A major customer for wood pulp, Cascade Pacific Pulp
of Halsey, OR, provides paper companies with recycled wood pulp.
A future market for Recovery1’s wood products is particle board if
and when local plants open in the company’s area.
Similarly, diversification is a key strategy at Shamrock Recy-
cling & Transfer in Blaine, MN. In 2008, the company processed
about 80,000 tons of various materials, including wood, concrete,
cardboard, copper, aluminum, steel, alternative daily cover (ADC)
for landfills, compost, concrete, cardboard, plastics, electronics,
sheetrock, tires, and roof shingles. Uses for the wood include boiler
fuel, landscape mulch, and animal bedding. Cardboard and paper
are sent back to paper mills and turned into new products. Farm-
ers use ground-up sheetrock to replace nutrients in soil, although
regulators recently have begun to closely scrutinize the potential for
wet sheetrock material to release hydrogen sulfide gas, which can be
toxic at high concentrations.
Rich Gersdorf, co-owner, founded the company with his wife
SEPTEMBER 200964 ● MSW Management

Becky in 2003 as a natural extension of a hauling company that
faced high landfill tipping fees. The company receives materials
from its own roll-offs and from other haulers, contractors, and the
public.
Commingled material is dumped at the front of the
20,000-square-foot facility and weighed before a front-end loader
stockpiles the material for an excavator. The excavator feeds a hop-
per on a Continental Biomass Industries Annihilator shredding
machine that sizes material for a sorting line. The shredder has a
6-inch forged steel, 20,000-pound rotor with reversible tips and
an 8,000-pound, hydraulically actuated anvil door with a remote-
controlled, adjustable cutting gap. “[The shredder] just makes it
into a size that you can work with,” says Gersdorf. “For example, a
12-foot two-by-six is hard to maneuver compared with four 3-foot
pieces. We typically like to size material to 12 to 18 inches.”
Following primary reduction by the Annihilator, the material
is conveyed to a sorting line, where 12–15 laborers separate large
pieces into containers that feed concrete bins located down on the
main level. The remaining smaller material undergoes metal re-
moval via a magnet and particles smaller than 1 inch are screened
out and used for ADC. On the main level, a front-end loader loads
trucks that deliver the larger pieces to customers that sell scrap
material or manufacture recycled products.
New England Recycling, Paunton, MA, processes any material
found on a job site, according to Paul Correia, facilities manager.
The company handles about 100,000 tons of wood, plastic, sheet-
rock, steel, and any other materials yielded on a commercial or
residential construction site and that total does not even include
concrete. For reducing materials other than concrete, the company
uses a Continental Biomass Industries 4872 Grizzly Mill.
Correia reports that about 30% of the company’s total volume
is wood used for boiler fuel. Wood chips that are too small for fuel
are used for ADC. Processing sheetrock poses a challenge due to
the hydrogen-sulfide gas issue. “That’s rough because it can’t be
painted; it has to be new, and it has to be dry,” he says. “Only about
2% of what we do ends up being recycled.” To keep the material dry
and less susceptible to hydrogen-sulfide gas formation and release,
“We try to tell our customers to keep all of their dry, clean cutoffs
toward the end or beginning of the can—either end; it doesn’t mat-
ter to us—then when we get it, we push it off to the side, and we
have a couple of guys who pick it off by hand.”
When loads are dumped onto the floor at the company’s facility,
Correia says, large pieces are manually sorted. Next the remaining
material is conveyed to a half-inch trommel screen and then loaded
onto another belt, and a sorting crew averaging about 24 workers
separates the individual materials, feeding individual hoppers at
the top of chutes feeding bins below. Bulky trash, cardboard, ag-
gregates, steel, aluminum, and wood are sorted in order.
United Recycling Co. of Snohomish, WA, has found high-speed,
high-torque machinery suitable for primary reduction of its feed
material, which is often commingled with metals. The company,
which serves the Seattle to Everett region and processes about
250,000 tons annually—primarily wood and plastics—relies on
a CW Mill Equipment HogZilla TC II 1564 tub grinder to limit

damage to the machine from tramp steel.
Dan McAuliffe, president, notes that even
if a large piece of metal such as plate steel
or even an engine crankshaft gets caught
in the machine, it does not cause damage.
“You’re going to get metal hangers, nails,
nail plates, hinges, and bolts, and this
grinder just eats them,” he says.
The TC series tub grinder has a torque
converter drive that is designed to allow the
engine to perform at peak efficiency with
multiplied torque. Originally designed for
use in rock crushing, the torque converter
drive allows the engine to operate near gov-
erned speed throughout the work cycle re-
gardless of load requirements and prevents
engine damage from shock and loads from
torsion. The TC series also has an adjustable
swing hammer mill assembly configured to
allow the operator to adjust the depth of
cut, in contrast to single swing grinders that
have a permanently set depth of cut. The
manufacturer says that this assembly allows
variable processing aggressiveness, greater
productivity, and higher resale value.
“I’ve been doing this for a long time, and
before that I was in the sand and gravel and
concrete industry and so I know equipment
pretty well all the way around,” McAuliffe
says. “[The tub grinder] is high horsepower
and high speed. We load a 150-yard trailer
in less than 10 minutes. There are high-
torque, low-speed machines, which are bet-
ter for contaminated material, but it means
what it says: low speed. On this machine,
the conveyors are built the way the sand
and gravel industry’s would be—sand and
gravel uses all-roller conveyors, heavy-duty
shafts, heavy-duty pulleys, and heavy-duty
sprockets. McAuliffe adds that maintenance
is relatively easy because in many cases re-
placing a bolt substitutes for welding.
United Recycling provides several lo-
cal paper companies with wood chips to
fuel their cogeneration plants. McAuliffe
adds that the company can use all of the
other materials produced in demolition
of a building, including a home’s concrete
foundation, which is recycled using a Pow-
erscreen crusher.
As with Shamrock, cost considerations
motivated Oberlin Farms Demolition and
Recycling of Stryker, OH, to launch a C&D
processing operation in August 2008. A demo-
lition contracting company spawned from the
core agricultural business in 2003 had been
hit hard by fuel costs inherent in transporting
its material to landfills up to 30 miles away,
explains Scott Oberlin, owner and president.
[The revenue stream] was probably the main
driver,” says Oberlin.
In 2008, the company processed about
20,000 tons of wood and 80,000 tons of con-
crete. Oberlin says that the company processes
C&D material from construction sites, as well
as tree limbs from cities, counties, townships,
and residents.
For most material, aside from concrete,
Oberlin uses a Bandit Industries 3680 Beast
Recycler, which has a theoretical production
rate of 500 yards or more per hour. Oberlin
reports that the operation uses the machine
for wood and asphalt shingles. After these ma-
terials are reduced by the machine’s carbide-
teeth-equipped rotary grinding wheel, they are
screened and nails are magnetically separated
from them. Oberlin sells colorized mulch to
landscapers and homeowners.Concrete is pro-
cessed by an Extec I-C13 crusher and used for
backfill or roadway base material.
High Diversion Rates
Gillis harbors no illusions in regard to his
responsibility to ensure the ecological in-
ertness of Recovery1’s processed materials.
He says that C&D material providers must
have had the Asbestos Hazard Emergency
Response Act (AHERA) inspection done
on their material and provide the company
with that documentation and ensure that
the material has no lead-based paint.“We’re
real sticklers on that—we have five certified
AHERA inspectors on staff,” says Gillis.
Recovery1’s 16-year average diversion
rate is 98.33%, Gillis reports, adding that the
US Green Building Council’s Leadership in
Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)
requirements drive the high diversion rate.
“[Customers] love bringing material to us
because of our high diversion rate, and that
helps them with their LEED goals,” Gillis
says. “Unfortunately, the US Green Building
Council does not certify processes—it ac-
cepts our numbers because we do detailed
reporting to the Washington State Depart-
ment of Ecology and our local jurisdictional
health department. There really is no check
and balance that legitimizes recycling—you
pretty much can put down whatever you
want and nobody has knocked on my door
yet and said, Hey, prove your numbers; we’re
going to audit your operation.”
Gillis says he wishes that regulators would
audit the company’s materials. The company
received a 2007 Green Globe award from the
state and the Construction Materials Recy-
cling Association’s Mixed C&D Recycling
Facility of the Year award in 2008.
McAuliffe reports that United Recycling
also has a high diversion rate: nearly 93%,
compared with a required 90%. “Every-
thing that comes in our gate and goes out
of our gate hits the scale,” he says. “In order
to get an accurate diversion rate, everything
has to be weighed.”
Impact of Recession
Several C&D processors and other industry
experts report that the severe recession that
began in December 2007 has not brought
business to a halt. Many companies are far-
ing well, particularly ones that are focusing
their efforts on supplying a green economy.
McAuliffe says that United Recycling
has the luxury of being able to aggres-
sively pursue more sales during economic
downturns.
Customers of Oberlin Farms Demoli-
tion and Recycling are feeling the cost
crunch of high landfill tipping fees, and
behaving predictably, says Oberlin.
“Actually, we’re getting more business
than our business plan projected because
we’re the alternative to a higher price of
[landfilling] material, and if people need
stuff they’re going to come to us because
we’re a lower price than virgin material,”
he says. “Our tipping fees are about $1 a
ton, compared with about $40 a ton at
the landfill. It’s making projects more cost
effective because they’re reducing their tip-
ping fees, plus they’re reducing their cost
of material with used backfill—by 50% in
a lot of cases.”
Correia relates that New England Recy-
cling has been hit fairly hard by the down-
turn because most of its customer base
consists of residential contractors.
“We’ve shifted gears and gone into
more commercial properties being built
or remodeled,” Correia says. “We’ve gotten
more into the remodeling end of it rather
than the new construction end of it.” This
change has yielded less wood and more
steel, he adds. “There’s less wood. With a
new house, the wood cutoffs are pretty new
wood. But most of the stuff from remodel-
ing projects is just being used as boiler fuel.
We do pick some clean wood for mulches,
but it has slowed down.”
Gersdorf has experienced a similar im-
pact from the decline of the residential
sector. “That market sector has gone away,”
he says. “It’s nonexistent right now and so
obviously it affects all of our businesses in
one form or another. But the commercial
sector has been a pretty strong market the
SEPTEMBER 200966 ● MSW Management

past couple years so, it’s really offset the
decline in housing.”
One market that could give C&D proces-
sors a boost during the recession is waste-
to-energy (WTE), according to Ed Dono-
van, general sales manager for Continental
Biomass Industries, a major equipment
supplier for both New England Recycling
and Shamrock. Donovan notes that he has
noticed more interest in the manufacturer’s
shredders from companies that are starting
to serve this market niche and adds that a
green economy bodes well for C&D.
Specifically, any recycling market that
generates alternative fuels appears to be
strong in areas that are being set up to uti-
lize those fuels, argues Brian Bergman, op-
erations manager for CW Mill Equipment.
He adds that machine versatility, which
allows more profitable operation, currently
is at a premium as well.
Terri Ward, who works in system sales
for SSI Shredding Systems, notes grow-
ing interest in generating alternative fuel
products from residual material—what
is left over once recyclable materials are
removed—not just from woodwaste. When
sized correctly, this material can be utilized
by cement kilns, pulp and paper mills, and
gasifiers, Ward notes.
In addition, more SSI customers are in-
quiring about equipment that can convert
other remaining materials, such as mat-
tresses, appliances, and tires, into some-
thing usable. For example, waste carpet
is now being shredded and remarketed to
companies that incorporate it into indus-
trial absorbents or reclaim the calcium
carbonate backing and use the balance for
fuel. The old adage of “location, location,
location” is a key factor for C&D processors
during the downturn; she adds that many
geographically well-positioned companies
are flourishing. More demolition contrac-
tors are launching their own recycling
facilities, Ward notes.
Michael Kvach, vice president of sales
for Peterson Pacific Corp., concurs that
the green economy, boosted by economic
stimulus plan funding, offers C&D proces-
sors new opportunities. Kvach says that
processing difficult feedstock for landfill
reduction and use as fuel for energy is on
the rise. Interest in recycled asphalt shingles
also continues to grow, especially with an
elevated price of asphalt cement, he adds.
“We’ve seen a downturn on both the
residential and commercial sides,” says Gil-
lis. “We’re constantly seeking out higher-
end-value uses for our materials, and we’re
finding a lot of interest in what we do,”
he says, sharing an example of a potential
cement manufacturer customer that had
recycled gypsum tested in a large quantity,
with positive results. “So these are challeng-
ing times, but challenging times aren’t nec-
essarily bad times—they’re just different.
“At the end of the day, in this recycling
community, it’s product out the back end
of the plant. Building piles isn’t recycling.
Making products that have value in the
marketplace—that’s what recycling is all
about.” MSW
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issues related to technology and innovation.
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