So a lot of us do not have super deep pockets to start out and use a regular pickup truck. That is what we do at Cyrcle Compost. What type of rigs do you guys have? Any front, rear, or side loaders out there? Any cool trailer mods with cart flippers? I would really like one of these side-loaders that is small enough to sneak through neighborhoods:
Or perhaps one of these modified pickups with a compactor:
Post pictures of your rig!
We just purchased a truck that we will use to transport up to 6 35 gal. totes on wheels. We're looking at ramps to get the totes from the ground to the truck bed. Would love to get what you would recommend. Thx
@Sean. I should have been careful when suggesting vehicles =). That bike looks rad!
I use a Crosscurrent from Juiced ($1800 with a 10.4 amp hour battery). It's a nice wonderful pedal assist bicycle (which is super helpful on hills). Use it with an Aosom trailer (have a Bikes-at-work trailer on order). I am going to be using a decentralized drop off system utilizing some community garden space to do the composting.
Sweet thanks for sharing dirtrich! NOTED on the heavy steel and Ford issues.
Looking back on this decision now, it's been incredibly costly all in all. I would have tried to find a way to buy an aluminum bed that was much much much lighter than steel and NOT GONE WITH FORD. Anyways, we have a side lift that lifts up to 48 gallon bins (400 lbs) and has needed a lot of TLC but works just fine if you're good with upkeep. SUPER SPENDY but very efficient.
Hey kate. Why did you decide to get a closed back van (The Nissan)? Was their any reason for that decision?
Right now we are using our small SUV to pick up buckets. We are about to get a Nissan NV200 with a ramp to accommodate lots of buckets or a small amount of barrels.
ETA: Well it looks like we are getting a truck. Probably a 3/4 ton and adding a lift to the back.
I am going to be pitching something to a small municipality in Atlanta, Ga and would love to hear more about the proccess you went through. Shoot me an email at andrew@cyrcle.io if you are interested in connecting.
Enrollment is still open, but 150+ have signed up. We havent purchased it yet, but it will be something similar to this;
Pilot sounds awesome. Are all 300 homes participating? Do you have any pictures of the dump trailer?
No, as part of our service we wash the buckets/carts for the customers currently with us. We do a drop off system at the local farmers market as well as a direct pickup on a weekly or every other week basis. However, with the upcoming pilot project for city late this summer, each resident will be responible for cleaning thier bins.
Do all of your customers wash out their own bins?
Athens-Hocking Recycling Centers (ahzwc.org) already has some established routes for residential/commerical that we us a full size pickup truck for collection (using buckets and some carts). We are starting a pilot project for curbside pickup in August with the City of Athens, Ohio. This is too much for just a pickup (200-300 households) so we will be using a pull behind 2.5ton dump trailer. I think this will work well for the pilot project, but if the city adds it as a city wide service then we will definetely need a rig like the one above. Great topic. Thanks for posting. - Bruce Underwood, Executive Director