32 yarder for residential pick up

Aint seen a trash truck unable to pick up trash. Big and small at houses.

 

Weight restrictions and drop axles will depend upon the laws in your state. What kind of setup is your competition running?

If you're worried about maneuverability, a low-cab-forward truck (the kind with the steer axle under the rear wall of the cab) will turn much tighter than other designs.

 

I'm not a trash hauler, but I pay attention to these things.
Cleveland, Ohio area where I live many of the municipalities run larger trucks, City of Pepper Pike, Ohio which is a small very rich affluent suburb runs (3) 31 yard trucks. Here's a 31 yard Leach packer. The city of Pepper Pike has 6100 residents.


City or Rocky River, Ohio population 20-22,000 people they ran mostly Leach Packer Bodies for a long time again 31 yard capacity, they had a couple first generation Volvo trucks with 31 yard Leach bodies, with (1) drop axle.

That's a city of Rocky River again richer more affluent suburb of Cleveland, Ohio area that's a Leach 2RII it looks like a 31 yard to me. He's got a drop axle. Now Rocky River uses the cushman satellite trucks where the little cushman carts grab the garbage out of the peoples driveway and then they dump it into the back of the bigger garbage truck. They've used that system for years and years. Current city management doesn't like that system anymore, but because the city is well off and property taxes are extremely high and the little cushman cart system is very popular with the residents so much so that when the politicians tried to disband the system and sub garbage pick up out to a private company the citizens basically showed up to city hall and told the mayor and city council if you disband the current garbage collection system we will disband all of you and make sure you're all voted out of office. Being that politicians are spineless cowards they dropped the issue like a hot potato as it was political suicide and it was never brought up again. Plus the representative from Republic Services was booed off the stage and not even allowed to talk. So I guess the garbagemen who work for the city of Rocky River are fairly well liked.

I don't think it's an issue here in Cleveland, area I've never seen any single axle 13 yard or smaller garbage truck doing residential pick up ever, anything I've ever seen was always 2axles with a drop axle or bigger. I work for a food company, we drive tractor trailers in residential area's all the time because of where some of are customers go, if the city police knows that you are there to collect garbage or you service the school district in that city there not going to bother you. It's only if you are out of place and don't look right. You're allowed to take a truck anywhere you want if you're working there.

Hell the city of Cleveland Heights, Ohio is littered with no-truck zones yet I've driven a truck all over that city down roads most people would balk at never had an issue.

Are you working for a Home Owners Association where you have 400 houses that you have to do in one day? If that's the case what's the average house hold generate a week 120lbs or say about that? you have 400 houses in a development that's 48,000lbs of trash you need to pick up and get off the curb as quickly as possible. I know usually by noon or 1pm the city or Rocky River is all done with there trash pick up. I would think you absolutely need every bit of a 31 yard truck. You could get the truck filled up go dump at the transfer station and then run back and get the rest.

The new EZ Pack Goliath 400 rear loader 31 yard I think has a compaction ratio of 1200lbs per yard so that's a 37,200lbs payload so I would say yes a 31 yard truck will be fine.

This is the City of Lakewood, Ohio which is a pretty big suburb of Cleveland it's an older community.
They have a mix of equipment some rear loaders some automated side loaders. They are on the automated system now, but they still have a lot of rear loaders with the tippers attached to the back.

They still have some old school International S series trucks with pack more rear load bodies out on the road. And they might have some CCC pack more's too like the truck on the left, Lakewood is a suburb but it's kind of urban and they like for years and years there Crane Carrier Corp cabs and chassis this was taken at there garbage truck garage by Rob Jamieson in 2010. So pretty current, but we can back to 1989:


They were a big buyer of Crane Carrie Cabs and Chassis this is a 1989 ex-city of Lakewood, Ohio garbage truck with a Leach Packer body probably a 25 yard body.

I don't think there's really a rule I think it's a production question. If you have a small home owners association or open market town that's mostly old people and they need back yard service and it's only say maybe 50-60 houses you can get away with you know a small 13-yard single axle unit you may even need 2 of those units.

But if you have a 200-400 house, gated community/ home owners association that wants you, I would say to be real comfortable you would need (2) 31 yard trucks on that route that would give you enough capacity to get that entire HOA knocked out in a day and timely fashion. Just my two cents I'm not in the garbage industry, but I am in the delivery business and know the big speed and production game.


Are you contracted with an entire city/local municipality? In that case the city government is going to probably have standards and production rates they would like you to try and adhere to, I know where I live Republic Services does our city's trash and usually by the time I get home in the afternoon by 3pm the garbage is all picked up and there gone I don't see them to much.

Or are you just a one off in an open market city like Hudson or Medina, Ohio where everyone is responsible for there own garbage and the city doesn't provide any kind of garbage or sanitation and you as the garbage collection service you're just door to dooring it per-say looking for residents or making sales pitches to home owners associations?

From what I have seen it seems that 31 yard trucks are popular for residential pick up because really they just drive down the street in a straight line. I've actually noticed 20 and 25 yard trucks are more popular in commercial rear load dumpster pick up because they have to be more maneuverability because of where they have to go.

I've never seen the city garbage trucks back up very much. I don't live in a city with big wide streets and roads yet all the garbage trucks I've ever seen were the bigger models.



Residential garbage collection is a huge production game and is very stop dense, if you have a town or HOA that has a lot of families and little kids there going to produce a lot of garbage. If you live in a town with single people and retired people they probably don't produce as much garbage. I know as a single guy I make 1-2 bags of garbage a week and 1 bag of recyclables a week. My brother on the other hand who has a wife and kids fills up a 90 gallon garbage tote can and the recycling can to boot.

Here's Republic Waste in Bay Village, Ohio

Bay Village is a sleepy western suburb of Cleveland mostly homes some big and some small the city is 1 mile wide by 7 miles long. Republic is using a McNelious front loader with the little dumper dumpster and really that's a commercial front load garbage truck with a drop axle I think it's more of what ever tool you need to do the job with in the time perimeters that you set for you're self and know you're customers would like.

 

In terms of landfills, we already filled one and closed it a few years ago when it reached it's lawful height of 221 feet or so (AGL) then we dug out a swamp and opened a second across the 440 freeway at Jacksonville. That one I think will be full in about 20 years. If I consider how much trash we transported to the first one in addition to the weekly pickup it's quite a lot. Most towns have a contract service with a few trucks that need a week to service everyone more or less.

 

The way it works is you have a town of say 32,000-33,000 people that's roughly 1.5 million pounds a week going by averages of how much trash a person in the USA creates a day.

1.5 million pounds a week equates to about 300,000lbs a day if you divide it among a 5 day work week. 300,000/34,000lbs a truck that means you need about (8) 31 yard garbage trucks going (5) days a week to collect garbage in a timely fashion. Usually like the City of Rocky River they don't break off a route go empty the truck and come back. There routes are designed so by about noon all the garbage is collected and then they go to the landfill and empty the trucks and go back to the city garage and get ready for the next day. Using the cushman carts there garbage collection is designed to get everything picked up quickly and efficiently.

Where I live we have automated pick up and while it might be cheaper maybe and there pretty good it's certainly not as fast now granted they have less people and equipment automated garbage only takes 2-3 trucks one for trash, one for recyclables and one for yard waste and another on the 3rd Monday of the month for bulk pick up.

Where as the city or Rocky River takes 1 rear loader for recycling, 1 rear loader for yard waste, 1 dump truck for bulk trash Rocky River has bulk pick up every garbage day, probably (3-4) rear loaders mostly 31 yard rear loaders for garbage and then 5-6 Cushman carts driving down the driveways and picking up the trash that's right no dragging trash to the curb they drive down the driveway and get it. It's a lot of equipment and gear, but I tell you what they are fast by 9am they come in like a swarm of bee's and by noon all 300,000lbs is collected and done. I've never seen a City of Rocky River refuse truck collecting garbage after the noon hour they start at 7 and by noon are done.

Republic Waste who does my city's trash 3pm they might still be out, even later sometimes if they have a break down. My grandmother in North Olmstead, Ohio that city has used BFI and then later Republic for years on end and her trash pick up would be as late as 4pm in the afternoon at times. I remember seeing it, it was one guy in a 25 yard rear load truck he had to drive the truck and collect the garbage that's a lot of work and I don't know if he had to empty out during the middle of the day either.

I know cities and stuff they don't want the garbage out on the curb all day some cities are more tolerant then others, but any city with sizeable property taxes and any kind of affluence they want the garbage pick up in the morning and by the afternoon no later then dinner time they want all the garbage cans off the curb.

 

Here's an interesting, but short video from the City of Lakewood, Ohio's refuse department.


The city of Lakewood there population is about 52,000+ people so they have a sizeable refuse collection department.

 

So in the garbage trade you need like a bunch of different tools to collect the garbage. I've researched this a bit, and for me, if money was no object and I had a residential and light commercial garbage collection business, I would purchase as far as rear load garbage trucks go, I would purchase the EZ Pack Goliath G400-31. 31 Yard Body.


1000+ pounds per cubic yard compaction rate.
Powder Coated not wet painted body.
Electrostatic finish on the hydrolic lines.
Light weight smart steel means more pay load capacity.

Largest in the industry 4yard hopper.

I don't know how much I like the Mack Terra Pro for residential work. I've not seen one, but I would probably order a Crane Carrier Corp cab and chassie with the set back axle. Crane Carrier Corp is much lower to the ground real easy for the operator to get in and out.



Now for a commercial set up with commercial rear load dumpsters I would have the same packer body except make it a 25 yard and I would beef up the truck with a Westernstar set back axle 4900 cab and chassis. You know you want to have the right tools that are heavy duty enough lol!

 

That video hardly looks like the model of efficiency— in my town it’s all hired out. Most anyone doing residential has auto loaders anymore. One hell of a lot faster (as long as it’s in the can) than what’s in that video.
2x a year the town does bulky waste pickup: they’ll come drag away any large item you put by the curb. They get several roll off cans dropped at the town garage n separate by material there. Yard waste they ran a pilot program of all compostable material for a couple years. Was like a 5 gallon pail that got picked up every week if you wanted it, ran by the resource recovery authority. That was touted as a move in the right direction- they mostly had about 2% of the households doing it n gave it up a few years back. (not to be political: it’s one of those things that sounds flowery n lovely as an idea but when the rubber meets the road; barely anybody gives a #### about a pet project like that, but we as taxpayers get to fund someone’s idea anyway til it gets beaten into the ground as “what an incredible waste of time, money, effort and resources”)
Idk body sizes or compaction rates. Certainly interesting to hear from @Mike2633 on the subject tho.

 

The problem with Lakewood, Ohio is they have old streets old neighborhoods, the city does have some full fledged autoloaders like you're used to seeing. But the problem is the automated side loaders are about $296,600+ a piece and it's a lot cheaper for the city just to retrofit the tipper onto the back of the existing trucks.


Here's one of there fully automated units.


Up here it's kind of 50-50 I don't quite know the exact politics of it all, certain communities have certain standards Lakewood, Ohio is a goofy town it's an okay town it's not a bad place per-say, now half the city birdtown and the entire east end of the city is kind of a hood always was, but the city tends to keep it's main drags and through fairs in top shape and the city of Lakewood has stupid laws and stuff and it doesn't surprise me that they do there own garbage collection the city of Lakewood, the city is the kind of town where they want to have complete control of everything the city government of Lakewood wants to have there hand on the button when it comes to mostly everything there that kind of place.

But it's interesting a lot of cities up here, have gone to automation, but a lot of them went to automation on there own.
Lakewood
Elyria
Brookpark
Lyndhurst
Lorain
Independence
Akron
Brooklyn
Beachwood (although not 100%)
There's probably more, but those cities all automated well in Lakewoods case semi automated, but I have to believe they weighed costs maybe, or just decided they were not interested in using another source for whatever reason and do it them selves.

There was an article on Cleveland.com I was reading. The city of Brooklyn, Ohio which Brooklyn is a small little industrial town, I think they have maybe 4 active garbage trucks, you would have thought they would have subbed the trash out in that city long ago, but apparently not and Brooklyn is a nothing community it doesn't have great houses or anything like that, but they still do there own garbage and they automated back in 2012 well it's getting now to where they needed a new automated garbage truck.

The city council had to budget for a new truck in the "capital improvements budget" and then they had to vote and approve the purchase of the truck.

They bought a 2019 Freightliner because they had bought in years past a Freightliner and a Mack and they asked the city service department workers which one's they liked better and the city workers said they liked the Freightliner better. So the city council said fine that's what will buy it's expensive either way.

They ordered the garbage truck in late 2018 it's a Lebre. Lebre is a Canadian company that bought out the American garbage truck manufacturing company Leach. Leach was a pretty big name in trash trucks, but around 2008 and stuff the bad economy hurt several garbage truck manufacturers and Leach sold off Classic Refuse trucks made it sound like if Leach didn't sell off they would have gone under. However Leach had some real popular products and very loyal customers.

The city of Rocky River always for ever used to only buy Leach Garbage trucks. They had a couple 1st generation Volvo's with 31 yard Leach 2R2 bodies and a couple 1990s Ford L9000s with 31 yard Leach 2R2 bodies and they bought Leach backer bodies for as long as they could. Leach was a real popular truck with both public and private haulers a lot of municipalities like the city of Millwaukee, Wisconis liked to buy Leach.

Anyhow back on topic, the city of Brooklyn, Ohio buys a 2019 side auto loader truck at a cost of $296,600.00 that's what they cost and it takes 9 months for the manufacturer to make and deliver the unit. Buying one of those trucks for the city of Brooklyn was like having a baby LoL! Lord help the first person who gets a scratch on that unit ha-ha.

I think the city of Lakewood, they bought a couple automated trucks to phase out some units they were probably going to retire anyhow, but I think when they put pencil to paper they said ehh we can't retire all 13 rear loaders we have and some of them aren't that old so lets just retro fit tippers on the back it's cheaper that way LOL!

@Ruthless
I was looking up info on recycling right now the recycling market is in the absolute dumper. New York City had some goofy idea about taxing or fining something to do with recycling which is mandated law in NYC and some person said we already have 10 different buckets or cans I don't know what more they want from us. I agree with you about the compost bucket it's a total waste the problem is recycling while I don't have anything against it, the market currently isn't there and recycling has become dare I say a religion to some.