The dramatic advancement of waste removal practices in urban and industrial areas came with in the late nineteen sixties and early nineteen seventies. There was bunch of different rubbish compactors and compressors fitted on garbage trucks at the time. This was not a problem but it was better to use a universal type of compactor or compressor. This was the so called ‘sweep and slide’ system. The sweep and slide compactor turned out to be the most popular and effective type of mechanism, which is still in use today.
Next were the continuous compactors. These machines used different mechanical ways to continuously grind, crush and compact rubbish inside the truck while the vehicle was working. In result, a single garbage truck was able to fit, process and transport a much larger amount of waste as everything was continuously grinded down and reduced in size and volume.
Perhaps one of the most effective and advanced (for its time) continuous compactors come from Germany. German engineers invented a compactor mechanism which featured a rotating drum – very similar to the one fitted on cement mixer trucks. The rotating drum made compacting and reducing even more efficient.
A French company called SEMAT – Rey, pioneered the continuous rotating rake. The rake mutilated and ground down large pieces of waste into smaller more manageable portions, inside a drum similar to the one used by the German compactor. The continuous rake system was favoured in the UK as well, and was in operation for a couple of decades. Another variation of the continuous compactor is the Archimedes’ screw compactor system which also mutilates and grinds down large pieces of waste.
The rubbish removals industry however did not reap the benefits of these continuous compactor systems for too long as there were a large number of safety concerns (brought upon injuries and accidents). On the purely economic side, such machines were unbelievable diesel guzzlers and not many cities were willing to fork out the big bucks for fuel – especially with the fuel crisis of the seventies.
Perhaps one of the most efficient and widely used compactor systems is the Rootpress design. This particular compactor mechanism is powered by hydraulics. One of the walls inside the rubbish removal container (on the truck) is pushed toward the other wall by powerful hydraulics in order to compact any waste in its way. The versatility of the Rootpress system is highlighted by its ability to compost green waste.
