The Welsh council will be investing around 15 million in replacing and updating its entire fleet, with the first upgrade to be made to its waste management services division, with an order of 36 new vehicles.
 Dennis Eagle’s general sales manager north, Dave Hennessey (left), hands over the keys to Rhondda Cynon Taf council’s fleet engineer Keith Thomas |
The new fleet will be supplied by vehicle manufacturer Dennis Eagle, which has said the deal is the company's biggest ever chassis and body order.
Dennis Eagle's vehicles will be replacing the council's existing seven-year-old fleet. The new vehicles will feature 2.2m narrow track chassis, specifically designed for hard to reach properties.
The new vehicles will be multi-purpose – serving in both high-density urban conurbations and low density rural areas. A total of 105,000 properties, two thirds of which use wheeled bins, will be visited by the fleet. Trade waste will also be collected across the county borough by the new vehicles.
Rhondda Cynon Taf cabinet member for environmental improvement and sustainability, councillor Anthony Christopher said: “We said from the outset that one of our key priorities was investment in our recycling and waste management infrastructure. The new vehicles are one of the first signs of the investment that is being made in this field.”
Dennis Eagle will also be supplying specialist engineering assistance and full training to Rhondda Cynon Taf's maintenance workforce and refuse crews, as well as providing spare parts from its near by South Wales service centre.
Norman Thoday, of Dennis Eagle said: “This is yet another instance of a local authority operator who sees the supply of new vehicles as being only part of an ongoing relationship that will last throughout a vehicle's lifetime.”
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