UK waste company puts circular economy into action
UK company Grundon Waste Management is looking into truly sustainable operations as it unveils its first electric garbage trucks powered directly by electricity generated from customer waste. The move is part of an annual £5 million investment in a cleaner collection fleet.
Grundon’s investment combines converting its existing diesel vehicles into electric ones and purchasing new BEV waste trucks from Scania, more on these in a bit.
For now, the first EV already operates from its Colnbrook base, serving customers across London and the Thames Valley. The waste it collects every day goes directly to Grundon’s Lakeside Energy from Waste (EfW) facility. It is creating “more than enough” electricity to charge the vehicle ready for the next day’s collections, writes Grundon and also delivers concrete numbers: For every tonne of non-recyclable waste deposited, the EfW generates around 620kW of power. Given that each electric vehicle collects an average of five tonnes of waste per round, the EfW can generate 3,100kW per day per vehicle. With 280kW set aside to recharge each vehicle, this still leaves a further 2,820kW of electricity for export to the National Grid daily – enough to power an average-sized house for a year.
Chairman, Neil Grundon, added this was “a perfect example of the circular economy in action, and we believe it is the first time any waste company has delivered such an innovative and forward-thinking programme”.
A second electric garbage truck is in operation in Bristol depot. Grundon adds that a third is shortly due to start collections in Reading and Newbury in Berkshire. Two more electric vehicles will be based at Colnbrook and Bristol in the coming months, bringing the EV fleet up to five. While Grundon says, there are further electric and alternative fuel vehicles joining the fleet, concrete numbers have yet to be disclosed.
Mixed fleet of new and converted electric refuse trucks
Technologically, Grundon commissioned Refuse Vehicle Solutions (RVS) and Dutch conversion specialist EMOSS to convert the company’s existing diesel Mercedes-Benz Econic trucks to electric.
While performance data remains scarce, the partners fitted a 280 kWh battery pack and said they made sure the technology was sufficient to drive all the necessary hydraulic and compulsion systems to manage collections, bin lifts and compaction processes.
Vernon Edwards, EMOSS’s UK Business Development Manager, adds that Grundon knew “exactly what they wanted” when they visited the site. “It is effectively one big mathematical calculation, and the 280kW battery packs we have fitted to the vehicles are giving Grundon what they need to power each vehicle’s operations and meet customer demands.”
Moreover, “Modifying a diesel refuse vehicle not only saves in excess of £100,000 versus the purchase of a new electric vehicle, but it also gives it a new lease of life – literally recycling on the go,” said Spencer Law, Chief Executive Officer, RVS.
Following real-world trials, Grundon soon had “100% confidence that the new electric vehicles can complete average waste collections of around 80-100km per day, without recharge en route,” company director Bradley Smith added.
As for the new vehicles from Scania, Grundon has not released much information. However, an earlier deployment of electric waste trucks in Copenhagen may add some detail. Scania based the garbage collection trucks there on its electric heavy-duty model launched in November 2020, namely the Scania 25 L variant with 230 kW continuous and 295 kW peak power.
In September 2022, Scania announced it would launch only battery-electric vehicles from 2040, effectively phasing out diesel engines. Christian Levin, President and CEO of Scania and CEO of Volkswagen’s Traton, added that they were “the only truck manufacturer to go so far as to question the diesel engine as early as 2040.”
Grundon is equally committed to achieving net zero. “Our plan is to purchase further electric vehicles, as well as investing heavily in alternative fuels and looking at further hybrid options,” said Director Smith. Apart from the incoming battery-electric garbage trucks, the fleet includes one hydrogen diesel waste collection vehicle.
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