InfraStructures - October 2008 - Raising the Bar on Safety and Efficiency

Raising the Bar on Safety
and Efficiency

The Town of Whitby is raising the bar with a new feature on its Labrie Expert 2000 to efficiently and safely collect organic material. The Town's latest Labrie refuse truck is equipped with the first ever automated Organics Loading Bucket - a unique option allowing municipalities and contractors to collect solid waste and organics with the same truck.

This feature reduces strain on the operator and vastly improves efficiency. "In the past, operators had to throw the waste from the organics green bins up to 3 feet into the truck at every stop. This new loading bucket reduces the repetitive strain on the operator" says Patrick McGee, regional sales manager at Joe Johnson Equipment.

"The idea stemmed from Marc Nadeau, Product Manager at Labrie, Leo Larkin, superintendent of Fleet & Safety at the Town of Whitby and Rob Carson, foreman - Solid Waste at the Town of Whitby. They sensed that there must be an easier way to collect the organics bins and also ease the physical repetitive strain on the operator." The Organics Loading Bucket uses technology from Labrie's Helping Hand unit.

The yellow, compact unit can hold up to 10 organics bins before operators would need to cycle it. With the activation of the controls, the bucket hoists itself to a 180 degree angle and dumps the organics into the hopper. The 2-stream truck is a 60/40 waste/organics split (picture inset). Although the Town of Whitby just received delivery of this first-of-its-kind unit, the Town has already placed an order for an additional unit.

"I truly believe that this option on the Labrie Expert 2000 will be an invaluable tool for any municipality or contractor collecting waste and organics with the same vehicle," says Patrick McGee. "In addition to the ergonomic benefits, when you take into consideration the time being saved from loading 10 bins prior to cycling, that you're reducing the number of passes required and you have fewer vehicles on the street - it just makes sense."

Source: Joe Johnson Equipment Inc.