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How to choose a garbage truck for your collection rounds
Bin standard, hopper volume and chassis availability decide whether a compactor suits your city, and all three are settled before the build.
Start with the bins, not the truck. The lifter has to match the containers already on your streets, and there is no universal standard: a rear lifter built for a 240 litre two-wheel bin will not take a four-wheel 1100 litre container, and a comb lifter will not take a bar-lift bin. Photograph the containers before anything else.
Then size the hopper against a full round rather than a shift. If the body fills before the round finishes, the crew makes a second trip to the transfer station and you have effectively bought half a truck. Count the collection points and the average fill, not the population figure.
Only then pick the chassis, and pick it on local parts availability rather than on specification. A truck that is out of service waiting for a filter from another continent costs more than the specification difference between two chassis brands ever saved.
Specifications
| Decide first | Bin standard on your streets |
|---|---|
| Then | Hopper volume against a full collection round |
| Then | Chassis brand, chosen on local parts availability |
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Tell us what the vehicle has to do
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