Trials of two "revolutionary" kerbside recycling vehicles are set to go ahead next month (March 2010), almost three years after the £200,000 project was started by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP).

WRAP is hoping that its new style of collection vehicle will make sorting at the kerbside, as seen here in Daventry, easier. Picture courtesy of Neil Edgerton

The project - known as Roto25 - was launched in April 2007 as a means of designing collection vehicles which would both improve the day-to-day work of operatives and help make collections more effective.

Under the project, WRAP intended to develop two vehicles, one being a low-level kerbside sort vehicle intended to be used for source separated collections, while the second vehicle would be used to target glass and kitchen waste collections.

Alongside research and product development company Ethical Innovatory Solutions, which is leading the project, WRAP had hoped to trial the two vehicles in the summer of 2007 (see letsrecycle.com story).

However, a WRAP spokeswoman told letsrecycle.com this week that it was now set to go ahead at the end of March 2010, although she could not confirm which companies or councils would be trialling the vehicles as negotiations are currently ongoing.

She said: "There have been a number of technical issues which we have had to address, and some changes to the design of the vehicles, resulting in the delays."

The spokeswoman explained that more information would be available in the wake of the practical trials taking place.

Development

In developing the vehicles, Powys-based Ethical Innovatory Solutions met with collection crews, maintenance crews, general managers and product purchases to assemble a "wish-list" of what was needed in a collection vehicle.

Jayne Carruthers, director of research and product development at Ethical Innovatory Solutions, told letsrecycle.com that the project had been hampered by revisions to the brief and also the effects of the economic downturn.

She said: "We have had issues with making sure when doing our research that the designs we have arrived at after the research and development stage were what [WRAP] required. There have been a few technical issues because nothing like this has been done before.

"And, then the recession hit and one of the companies actually supplying us went bust, it started to impact a lot sooner in the engineering sector."

Dick Perry, specialist technical advisor at WRAP and overseer of the Roto25 project, was unavailable for comment.