Hills Waste Solutions is operating Boughton hook loaders with drawbar trailers to support its major twenty five year waste management and resources recovery programme for Wiltshire. Designed to operate at up to 44 tonnes GTW, the Boughton hook loader equipment is mounted on MAN TGS 26.440 6x4 rigid chassis – as prime movers, coupled with Boughton’s own tri-axle close coupled trailers. Both prime mover and trailer are fitted with Boughton’s patented Kwikcova auto-sheeting systems.
The dedicated units operate between Hills’ new £24 million Northacre Resource Recovery Centre (RRC) at Westbury and its flagship sorting and recycling site at Lower Compton, near Calne. The Northacre RRC handles 60,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) per annum, servicing the Unitary Authority for Wiltshire (excluding the Borough of Swindon).
Hills Collections and Fleet Manager, Nathan Carr says, “We are justly proud of the new Northacre facility and everything we do in support of it is based on best possible practice. Careful planning and optimising payloads and journeys to operate our vehicles at their design weights not only improves fleet efficiency, but reduces the number of vehicle movements and ultimately saves costs. Obviously, this makes sound commercial sense – but it delivers significant environmental benefits too. We also take safety very seriously – and these latest vehicles also incorporate active and passive safety features, such as cycle proximity systems.”
The Boughton 6/26-6.1B hook loader systems feature non-universal rear combilocks and rear axle stabilisers and additional equipment includes high accuracy on-board weighing. The day cab MAN TGS 26.440 prime movers feature diff-locks and axle cross locks – to facilitate access to off highway sites when required. Trailer coupling is via special cross-member mounted VBG heavy duty automatic towing hitch. The Boughton tri-axle drawbar trailers features Daimler running gear and air suspension, hydraulic stabiliser jacks and Boughton’s ‘best-in-the-business’ diamond shaped sliding drawbar.
Hills operates a combined fleet of around 100 vehicles, which includes 6-wheel and 8-wheel hook loaders, most equipped to operate with close coupled trailers, 18 tonne skip loaders and a range of trade waste and kerbside collection vehicles.