A new fleet of recycling vehicles is to be bought by South Lakeland District Council.
The 10 vehicles would replace the current fleet that is, council documents say, up to 10 years old, has exceeded its expected operational life and requires ‘significant maintenance and repairs to remain in service’.
The plan for the new vehicles is to be discussed by a meeting of the district council’s cabinet on Wednesday.
A report authored by Andrew Vickers, the authority’s delivery and commercial officer, ahead of the meeting says a detailed evaluation of the vehicles available for purchase has been undertaken.
Those recommended are considered to be the best option to meet the current and future needs of the service, says Mr Vickers.
The new vehicles would provide scope to handle the increased volumes of materials collected during peak periods, such as bank holidays.
“Operational trials proved that this specification and model of vehicle was suitable for the areas of South Lakeland, where the vehicles will operate,” says Mr Vickers.
“The body of each vehicle will enable each container to be emptied directly into the appropriate compartment.
“The card and plastic/can compartments include compaction functions to enable a greater capacity of materials than a vehicle without a compaction system.
“The vehicle has a material self-discharging system, which improves the speed of emptying and reduces the risk of accidents during the emptying process. The operation is controlled directly by remote control from the cab.”
Mr Vickers says the vehicles would be fitted with speed limiters and a range of safety features, including CCTV camera systems.
He says the fleet would have cab roof air deflectors to reduce wind resistance and improve fuel efficiency and that most of the body of each vehicle could be recycled at the end of its operational life.
Mr Vickers advises cabinet to approve the purchase of 10 new resource recovery vehicles.
The precise value of the contract is not publicly available.
