By Robert Schoenberger 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- After a year in service, Parker Hannifin Corp. is calling its fleet of demonstration hydraulic hybrid garbage trucks in Florida a success. 

Used in Miami and other cities, the trucks have used 43 percent less diesel fuel than traditional trucks and have had almost no breakdowns.

"Having seen the results in these pioneering South Florida communities, many more municipalities and fleet operators have shown interest in purchasing vehicles featuring our RunWise technology," Parker hydraulics group president Jeff Cullman said in a written statement.

The Parker trucks are hydraulic hybrids. Gasoline-electric hybrids such as the Toyota Prius store energy in a large battery and use that electricity to power the vehicle at times, reducing the use of gasoline. 

The Parker system captures energy normally lost when the vehicles brake and stores that in compressed hydraulic fluid. When the driver hits the accelerator pedal, the system releases the compressed fluid, launching the vehicle from its stopped position. The diesel engine then moves the trucks at higher speeds. 

"The hybrid is faster, more dependable, experiences less noise in the cab and has not encountered any problems," Scotty Rodgers, an Miami truck operator, said in a written statement. "The truck moves very smoothly from stop to stop allowing me to get through my route more quickly."

In addition to hitting its fuel economy targets, the test trucks were in service 99 percent of the time during their first year, a reliability statistic that Parker plans to promote as it begins selling the hybrid systems nationwide.
Article From:  http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2012/03/parker_hannifin_refuse_trucks.html 

By:  Laura Byerley, College of Communication
At a typical movie premiere, stars dressed in thousand-dollar ensembles step out of limos and onto a red carpet. But at the Austin premiere of Associate Professor Andrew Garrison’s “Trash Dance,” stars dressed in neon city sanitation uniforms roll up in garbage trucks.

“Trash Dance” performers and choreographer Allison Orr take a bow.Courtesy of Andrew GarrisonBefore someone scoffs at their choice of transportation, Garrison wants people to see the unique beauty of the mucky 27-ton machines. After all, that was Garrison’s goal in directing, producing and recording “Trash Dance.”

The world premiere takes place during the South by Southwest® Film Conference and Festival (SXSW) at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 10, at the Paramount Theatre, 713 Congress Ave. After the premiere, the director, producer and cinematographer will host a premiere party and Radio-Television-Filmalumni gathering from 6-8 p.m. at Progress Coffee, 500 San Marcos St.

In “Trash Dance,” choreographer Allison Orr works with Austin sanitation workers and garbage trucks to create a dance performance. The film follows the daily lives of the employees and the rehearsal process that led to a final performance that features 16 trucks, 24 dancers, a piano, violin and cello.

Associate Professor and “Trash Dance” director Andrew Garrison is an award-winning independent filmmaker with experience in both documentary and dramatic film production.Garrison hopes viewers will be entertained and moved by the film.

“It speaks about dignity of work and the way that the work we do can be a conscious act of beauty,” Garrison said. “Art does not end at the edge of a stage or a museum door. The film also introduces you to the people who do this work every day. You know public employees are sometimes attacked as living off taxpayers’ money. You get to meet these people and see the effort they put into the job and their personal goals. I hope that makes a lasting impression.”

After the world premieres, Garrison will look into international television broadcast opportunities for “Trash Dance.”

Including “Trash Dance,” University of Texas at Austin faculty members, staffers and students are screening about 20 films at SXSW.http://www.utexas.edu/know/2012/03/09/trash_dance_garrison/ 

By Tyler Falk 
In a fascinating new waste management plan, natural gas from decomposed waste will power garbage trucks in the Canadian city of Surrey.

The city, the second largest in British Columbia, is converting its diesel-powered waste-collection trucks to new trucks that run on compressed natural gas. That natural gas will come from organic waste – around 65,000 tons a year – that will be taken to a new waste-to-biofuels production facility. At the facility, the organic waste will decompose and the biogases it releases will be turned into fuel.

A new report from Energy Vision, a New York-based organization that promotes the transition away from petroleum-based transportation fuel, says that the initiative will cut the total municipal waste stream by 75% through recycling (23%) and separated organics (51%).

Here’s how the city’s waste management plan is projected to reduce waste in landfills and increase recycling: [see below]

“The ambitious and exciting initiative by the City of Surrey is the first we have seen in the U.S. or Canada, in which municipal officials have assumed a leadership role in designing and orchestrating this type of closed loop system,” said Joanna Underwood, president of Energy Vision, in the report.

With the U.S. and Canada being among the top five generators of municipal solid waste per capita, Surrey is a model to help cities cut back on the amount of waste sent to landfills.

It’s also a move that will save the city $2.8 million a year for waste collection, when the new system is fully functioning by 2014.

Article from:  http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/cities/waste-will-power-garbage-trucks-in-canadian-city/1712 
Photo: City of Surrey
Graph: “The City of Surrey: Setting The Pace for Sustainable Transportation”

Sanitation worker part girlie girl, part tomboy
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Saturday, December 10 2011, 7:23 PM

A willowy blonde with perfectly polished nails and Dolce & Gabbana glasses is turning heads as she tosses trash into a truck.

Meet Mary Ellen Connolly, one of six women to graduate the city Sanitation Department’s 2011 class. She and 119 other haulers will be sworn in by Mayor Bloomberg Wednesday.

Working as one of New York’s Strongest is not for the faint of heart. Each worker lifts five to seven tons of garbage per day — from trash bags of rotten food to living room furniture to washing machines.

The job is tough, but also recession-proof — after all, the city residents create 12,000 tons of refuse a day.

Connolly, 36, said she couldn’t be happier in her new career.

“ I wish some of my girlfriends would do it,” Connolly said last week. “ It’s a great job.”

She’s obviously not a woman who says “eww” much.

“I’ m not squeamish at all,” she said. “ I was an X-ray technician in the trauma slot at Bellevue Hospital for 12 years, so I've seen a lot.”

The Queens native said she has always been athletic, playing sports in high school and faithfully hitting the gym for a blast of cardio and weight-lifting.

As I try to keep up with her on her Far Rockaway route, I imagine she can skip the gym, now that she does the waste can workout.

"I I like it, because I’ m outside and I’ m moving around,” she said. “And I liked helping people when I was an X-ray tech, and this is helping people, too.”

Anybody who lived through the Sanitation workers’ strike in the 1970s knows Connolly speaks the truth.

Like all 6,000 uniformed members of the city’ s Sanitation Department — the world’ s largest — Connolly had to pass a strenuous test, dragging bags and cans through an obstacle course.

Then she got the call that she would start 30 days of intense training in October, driving big-bruiser trucks and snowplows.

The timing wasn’t ideal — her wedding to restaurant manager Sean McCallion was scheduled a few days before the start of training.

“I spent my honeymoon at Floyd Bennett Field,” Connolly said.

She and the five other female newbies are far from the first women on the force, says the department’ s Chief Keith Mellis.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/meet-member-york-city-sexiest-strongest-article-1.989851#ixzz1gKgNmeZy

Beth JettWHNT NEWS 19 Anchor/Reporter2:47 p.m. CST, November 8, 2011

Morgan County— There is good news for Morgan County when it comes to handling garbage.  Within the next few months, the county will implement a new high-tech trash collecting system.  It's a progressive move born from a tragedy one year ago.

The automated garbage trucks in Decatur are not exactly considered new technology, but they will be new for Morgan County.

"We're going automated," said Morgan County Commission Chairman Ray Long.

Tuesday morning, Morgan County Commissioners announced they're spending $1,150,000 to purchase five trucks, similar to the ones Decatur city crews have used since 1991.

The idea is to get rid of three-man sanitation crews, two of whom hang off the back of the truck as they collect garbage.
That practice turned fatal in Morgan County last December.  That's when a county inmate working on a garbage truck died on the job.

"He had run to get a can and as he was coming back to the truck was struck by a car and killed," said Long.  "That made us all start thinking, you know, we need to find a safer way to do this."

Long says county officials did research and found automated trucks would alleviate that danger, requiring only one person to drive and manipulate an arm that picks up the garbage cans.  Furthermore, Long says the new system will save enough money over time to pay for itself.

"We won't need as many personnel there," said Long.  "Of course when you do have as many personnel, you don't have as much workers comp costs, so it trickles on down."

He says he hopes to avoid any lay-offs, saying the positions that will be lost are filled by temporary workers.

The system is expected to be fully operational by may 2012.

The county plans to order 13,700 garbage cans to provide one to each household, free of charge.

The county bought the five trucks from Ingram Equipment in Pelham, Alabama.


Article from http://www.whnt.com/news/whnt-morgan-county-changing-to-automated-trash-trucks-20111108,0,3774615.story

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And seriously, he was really friendly. So I asked, ‘Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!’ This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, ‘The Law of the Garbage Truck.’ He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they’ll dump it on you. Don’t take it personally.

Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don’t take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life’s too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so ... love the people who treat you right and pray for the ones who don’t.

Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!Have a garbage-free day!