Equipment news in brief

Kirklees metropolitan council will be using refuse collection vehicles that run on bio-fuel, as part of a total fleet replacement programme.

Dennis Eagle will be supplying 36 vehicles over the course of this year. They are also providing the council's workforce with technical training.

Dennis Eagle is providing 36 new vehicles to Kirkless throughout this year

The vehicles are all equipped with Telma Retarders, onboard weighing equipment and featuring a two driver plus three cab. The vehicles will be used to support the council's existing waste management programme based on a combined waste and recycled wheeled bin scheme covering some 173,000 domestic properties. They will also support a new pilot scheme for garden waste, which will be rolled out in 2005.

Roger Wilson, Kirklees transport and cleaning manager, said: “Dennis Eagle secured the business under strict compliance with the procurement rules of the council. At the end of the day they met our total requirements. What is more, the vehicles are the preferred tool with all of our drivers.”

Bradford-based PM Onboard is launching a new in-cab display unit for its weighing systems this April.

PM Onboard's assembly plant in Bradford, West Yorkshire, where the 1300D system is produced

The new 1300D system has a colour touch screen, and has been developed for use with a vehicle's CANbus (Controller Area Network) system. CANbus is being adopted by more and more vehicle manufacturers, and allows electronic information to be transmitted between electronic devices with less need for cabling networks.

The new 1300D display system can show the weight on each loadcell on a vehicle, as well as on pairs or groups of loadcells. PM Onboard said the system acts far quicker and will immediately display any fault that should arise.

The company will be unveiling the new equipment at this year's Commercial Vehicle Show on April 5 – 7.

Wyvern waste is to use a Liebherr L554 2plus2 wheeled loading shovel at its new waste transfer station in Poole, Somerset, for the handling of its waste.

Liebherr's L554 2plus2 uses a range of safety devices which aim to keep operations running smoothly

Wyvern has built a 50,000 tonne per annum capacity transfer station adjacent to the closed landfill site at Poole in Somerset, which is to deal with household waste before it is sent to landfill elsewhere.

Liebherr engineers worked closely with Wyvern to ensure that the customer's materials handling and operational safety requirements were met, the company said.

The L554 2plus2 uses safety items supplied by Spillard Safety Systems, which include a reverse camera, a vocal alarm to warn “this vehicle is reversing”, and red/green indicator lights to signal to drivers when it is safe to approach the transfer station.