London Waste tune in to Volvo FM EEV
One of London’s most progressive waste management companies has ordered the cleanest possible trucks to work from their EcoPark base in North London. London Waste Ltd is putting 18 new Volvo FM-420 EEV (Enhanced Environmentally Friendly Vehicle) tractors on the road.
The Volvo EEV engines are designed to help improve air quality by keeping the emission of particulate matter to an extreme minimum. The emissions are far better than the already tough requirements set by the current Euro-5 regulations.
Peter Wykes, London Waste’s Purchasing Manager said, “I offered our board the choice of standard Euro-5 trucks or the more expensive EEV versions. I was personally delighted when they chose to go for EEV, even though there is no commercial advantage in operating them. Their decision was made purely on environmental grounds and they’ve put their money where their mouth is.”
The Volvo EEVs come with the latest automated gearbox - the Volvo I-Shift - and are also supplied with a five-year contract maintenance agreement that will ensure they are maintained by Volvo to the highest standards. To boost efficiency, driver training is also included which will count towards the new driver CPC periodic training which came into force late last year.
More green gains have been made by refurbishing the existing bulk trailer fleet that will work with the new trucks, to meet the latest Health and Safety requirements. “Repositioning hydraulic controls and other engineering work has extended these trailers useful life and avoided us prematurely scrapping them”, said Peter Wykes.
He added, “Our perception of what ‘waste’ is has led the company to adopt the ‘three Rs’ of ‘Reduce’, ‘Reuse’ and ‘Recycle’, with disposal as the very last resort. These trailers are being reused.”
To further contain costs, the new trucks will be run on a Volvo Financial Services operating lease and will also be equipped with Dynafleet, Volvo’s own Transport Information System designed to improve efficiency and save money.
