An innovative new fleet of waste collection vehicles is now operating on Brisbane’s streets.

The ‘Single Pass’ or dual collection vehicles are at the heart of changes made to the city’s waste collection service in July 2001.

The single pass vehicle collects regular garbage and recyclables at the same time.

Brisbane’s SuperiorPak Waste Equipment designed and built the vehicles, and all 71 cab chassis were manufactured in Australia by Iveco Trucks Australia. The vehicles are powered by Cummins ISC diesel engines, which comply with ADR80 emission standards.

The Single Pass Refuse and Recycling Unit

The waste collection container is divided into 2 compartments – general waste with a capacity of 15.5m3 and recyclables with 16.5m3 capacity.

Automated bin recognition with manual override is fitted to each vehicle. A light sensor detects the yellow recycling bin lid and automatically switches the hopper divider to the correct position.

Safe working practices are in-built into the lifting process. The bin lifter automatically retracts and there is a speed limiting function.

The advanced lifter geometry maximises the number of bins returned with bin lids closed.

The high-speed series 5000 lifter on the single pass units has a cycle of 4.5 seconds.

The City of Brisbane is Australia’s largest municipality with a population of 864,000 people, and every week SITA collects kerbside waste from over 386,000 locations. Every fortnight over a further 312,000 recycle bins are also collected.

Brisbane City Council developed the single pass system to lower costs and enhance residential amenity through:

• reduced noise (approx. 30%); and
• reduced vehicle emissions (approx. 20 to 30%).