Public’s chance to name new waste lorry fleet

Suffolk County Council’s waste management partner FCC Environment has ordered the new articulated trucks, which will take to the county’s roads in April.

The public is being asked to come up with names for seven of the vehicles while the eighth will be done so through a competition for the crews that will be driving them.

The fleet has cost a total of £1.5 million and consists of Mercedes Actros tractor units towing Legras articulated trailers.

They will operate from Suffolk County Council waste facilities at Lowestoft, Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds, and can carry up to 25 tonnes of material at a time.

The new vehicles will be put to a variety of uses:

• Three blue trucks will carry recycling to be separated into bales of plastic, aluminum, steel, card and paper before being transformed into new materials.
• Three green trucks will take garden waste to be composted into a soil improver to help farmland by enriching the soil.
• Two black trucks will be used for taking away waste that cannot be recycled, with messaging urging residents to cut down on single use plastic, plan meals to avoid food waste, and to compost fruit and vegetable peelings to help reduce waste.

The trucks may not always contain the type of waste the vehicle says it is carrying as they may be used to collect other forms of refuse should the operational need arise.

The vehicles will take to the roads in April and are the final piece in Suffolk’s network of waste transfer stations, which are used to bulk up the waste and recycling collected by district and borough collection vehicles from homes across Suffolk.

Larger trucks mean more waste can be carried, which in turn reduces the number of miles it is transported before reaching its sorting or reprocessing facilities.

The new vehicles feature optimised driving, allowing the on-board GPS system to anticipate the local conditions and automatically select the best driving mode to give maximum fuel efficiency and helping reduce driver fatigue.

They also feature sophisticated exhaust systems to reduce emissions and a built-in ‘anti-collision’ system.

Councillor Richard Smith, Suffolk County Council Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Transport Strategy and Waste, said:

“These superb new vehicles are going to be hard at work moving Suffolk’s waste for some years to come.

“People will see them out and about and we thought it would be a nice bit of fun to get the public involved and see what names they could come up with.”

Steve Longdon, Operations Director for FCC Environment, said:

“We are delighted that these impressive vehicles will be joining our fleet to help drive better than ever performance in Suffolk. We think they also look great and when residents see them on the roads we hope they will provide inspiration to recycle ever more.

“We are excited to see what names the community comes up with and I am sure our drivers will be proud to take to the road in them for many years to come.”

All entries must be less than 25 characters and should be submitted by midnight on Sunday March 26.

Entries should be made online through the Suffolk Recycling website, with winners selected on a ‘first come’ basis in the case of duplicate names.

Entrants must live in Suffolk and, if aged under 18, will need the permission of an adult.

For full terms and conditions go to the Suffolk Recycling website.