types of solid waste transportation
Our customers use a variety of trucks, trailers, tanks and heavy-duty equipment to reliably manage their waste hauling operations. These are just a few of the most commonly used waste management vehicles and pieces of equipment.
dump trucks and trailers
The vehicle most commonly associated with the transportation of solid waste, dump trucks are used to collect waste and transport it to transfer stations, or directly to the landfills and recycling plants to be unloaded. The trailers are generally made from either aluminum or steel, and rely on hydraulic systems to unload waste from the trucks.
landfill tippers
Using self-contained hydraulic power units to raise themselves, tippers can be coupled with a truck or trailer to unload solid waste at landfills. Not to be confused with dump trailers, tippers are separate units that connect to the trailers on the trucks. Dump trailers, on the other hand, are heavy duty chassis with open-body tops where the body can be tipped up to unload the waste.
storage and treatment tanks
Used to store large volumes of waste, tanks are durable and versatile, able to hold most waste types. Waste storage tanks must meet specific regulatory requirements to ensure structural integrity, and they must be well-maintained through inspections and leak tests to prevent corrosion, ruptures or other unit failures.
heavy equipment
Heavy equipment consists of the robust waste loading equipment like steer loaders, wheel loaders and hydraulic excavators, as well as waste handling equipment, such as compactors and rollers, sifting machines, crushers, shredders and wheel dozers. All heavy equipment should be durable and able to handle a range of solid waste material types, from construction waste to municipal waste or hazardous waste.
walking floor trailers
Also powered by hydraulic systems, walking floor trailers are great for collecting waste from those difficult-to-reach places like tunnels, building interiors and sites located on uneven ground. Once transported to the landfills, the waste can be “walked” off the back of the trailer using moving floor slats, saving you the time and effort of having to use bulky unloading equipment.
bulk pneumatic tanker
Vacuum-sealed to prevent contamination by moisture, dirt or germs, pneumatic tankers are most often used to transport materials such as food, chemicals or even contaminated soil.
solid waste transportation best practices
Just as there are best practices regarding the collection, storage, and disposal of municipal solid waste and other solid waste types, there are also best practices for the transportation of solid waste between waste management facilities. For short-haul waste transporters, vehicle route planning is critical. These are just a few tips to help you with the optimization of municipal solid waste collection and transportation routes:
- whether you use micro-routing to create a specific path for your drivers to take every day, or macro-routing to better balance your collection and transportation routes, your waste hauling routes shouldn’t overlap.
- the largest waste-producing sources should be given higher priority during waste collection than the smaller sources.
- to keep the driver and vehicle workloads the same, collection and transport time should be equal on each route.
- all vehicles and equipment should all have regular cleaning and maintenance schedules in order to prevent the build up of odours or infestation from rodents or insects.
- minimize the number of left-hand turns to improve safety outcomes and increase fuel efficiency.
solid waste transportation with AMCS Bulk Hauling
- GeoTrack: Track the status of all of your loads in real-time and ensure your drivers and equipment are being used as efficiently as possible with GPS technology built directly into the software.
- ticketing: With automated ticketing, you can eliminate the paper tickets and keep track of all of your ticket data more accurately and conveniently.
- dispatch: Help your dispatchers help your drivers make better decisions about waste transportation routes by providing them with quick status updates for every vehicle in your fleet.