Heavy gear to speed Buckinghamshire's recycling

Nine new heavy-duty excavators will help keep the wheels turning at Buckinghamshire County Council's household recycling centres.

And five new roll-on-roll-off transporters will make sure waste and recycled materials from the centres reach the right destination

Bill Chapple OBE, Cabinet Member for Planning and Environment, said the new heavy-duty excavators - one for each recycling centre - are used to compact waste in containers, allowing residents to use them for longer without change-over delays. 

The five roll-on-roll-off transporters will speed the process of getting full skips to compost and recycling destinations, or the Greatmoor Energy from Waste centre, and bring empty skips back. 

Bill said the County Council had decided to buy the vehicles at a cost of £1.8 million, instead of entering a more expensive leasing arrangement. This, he said, would help towards annual savings of £1.2m across the waste management service. 

The new vehicles have the latest Euro VI engines with Adblue exhaust systems to make them more efficient and reduce emissions.  They're fitted with real-time monitoring systems that allow the County Council to track and improve fuel efficiency.