Waste collection in Tourists, trash and trucks on The largest of the , Tenerife is one of ’s most popular tourist destinations and the island’s warm climate attracts five million holidaymakers every year. This means that managing the collection and treatment of municipal solid waste is a challenging task. Tim Byrne reports.

on-off vehicle. Once the full container has been the methane produced from the waste lifted to road level he dismounts the container decomposition is extracted from the landfill and covers the load with a net. body and harnessed through a turbine. It is company policy at Marcos Gorrin Linares The electricity produced from this process is that all RCVs finish together. If one vehicle is exported to the national grid. finished before the other two, the driver and Leachate is treated on site in the leachate loaders go and help the other two vehicles finish lagoons at the desalination plant. Once it has their collection round. been purified, the leachate is discharged into Each RCV collects one/two loads a night the ground water sewerage system. depending on the number of tourists in The facility includes storage facilities for the and the amount of waste being recyclable materials collected from across generated. the island before they are transported for Once all the vehicles have finished their reprocessing, for example, glass, paper, collection rounds they travel together, with the aluminium, steel cans, plastic as well as roll-on-off vehicle carrying the underground construction and demolition waste. waste collection containers to the waste transfer Overall, waste collection and treatment in station in Guaza, Buzanada. Tenerife is managed to a very high standard. However, the district of Bin washing is seen as one of the cleanest districts on the Marcos Gorrin Linares steam cleans all island. Maybe some of the other the 660 litre containers once they have been on the island should look at the services emptied. The vehicle carrying out this work has provided in Santiago del Teide to achieve similar the capacity to carry 7000 litres of water. high standards of cleanliness? RWW The water is heated so that when the containers are washed they are disinfected to eradicate any odours or germs left from the Fact file: RCVs waste collection process. This service is carried out in all districts of The new refuse collection vehicles purchased Tenerife boasts a population of 778,000 and is said to enjoy over 300 days of sunshine per annum Santiago Del Teide. by Marcos Gorrin Linares SL were supplied All waste produced from Santiago Del Teide, by Geesink Norba Spain. and from the neighbouring districts of Guia de Two of the new units delivered to MGL the warm weather. In Santiago Del Teide, waste Isora, , Playa de Las Americas and Arona comprise the Geesink Norba GPM11 1825 is collected at night from 22.00 hours until 05.00 () is delivered to the waste transfer unit of 18 cubic metres capacity returning a hours the next morning. The collection service is station at Guaza, Buzanada. payload of nine tonnes. The larger unit that n the South West coast operated seven days a week, 365 days a year. The facility is one of four operated on the was supplied is a Geesink Norba GPM111 22 of Tenerife is the district of island of Tenerife by UTE, a company formed cubic metre capacity unit. Santiago Del Teide, located Waste collection vehicles by two companies, Vertresa, and Urbaser. The All the new units were fitted with the close to the island’s active There are three waste collection vehicles facilities are located at Buzanada, La Guancha, GCB1000 bin lifter to facilitate the emptying volcano, Mount Teide, the operating in the district of Santiago Del Teide. Jardin Botanico and San Matias. They are open of 660–1100 litre containers. third largest in the world. The district is made up The vehicles feature Renault Premium two in the evening for twelve hours and take the Due to the units working at night, Geesink ofO several towns, villages and coastal , for and three axle chassis with Geesink GPM11 majority of waste which has been collected from Norba Spain fitted soundproofing to the example, El Molledo, El Retamar, Tamaimo, Los and GPM111 bodywork mounted to them. To the island during the night. bodywork to keep noise to a minimum. Gigantes which also has the highest volcanic facilitate the emptying of the 660 litre containers, On arrival, all RCVs are weighed on the The chassis for Geesink Norba units are cliffs in Europe, Puerto de Santiago and Playa a GCB1000 lifter is fitted to each of the refuse computerised weighbridge. Once weighed, the Renault Premium in day cab configuration. de la Arena. collection vehicles (RCVs). RCVs proceed to one of two static compactor Through the fitment of a dual passenger seat, Waste is collected from this district by the The collection crew have the option with the loading apertures. the vehicles can carry three members of staff. family-owned business, Marcos Gorrin Linares, GCB1000 lifter to either empty the containers They reverse up to the unloading aperture To encourage operatives to drive the which has been collecting waste in this district with the trunnion arms or the comb bar. and the driver discharges its load into the new vehicles efficiently and to help reduce for many years. The company specialises in There is also an old Renault Premium Ros compactor. The waste is compacted into fuel consumption, Geesink Norba Spain waste collection, garden maintenance and plant Roca Cross refuse collection vehicle to cover hermetically sealed roll-on-off compaction and Azud Autos, Renault dealer for Tenerife, nurseries. servicing and maintenance intervals for the containers. When the containers are full they carried out training before the vehicles As there is limited space to place 1100 litre newer collection vehicles. are collected from the compactor by a roll-on-off entered service. containers in the district, waste is collected In the Spring season, the vehicle is manned vehicle. A fresh container is unloaded and fixed in 660 litre containers. They are located in with a driver and one loader; the driver helping to the compactors’ loading apertures so that the www.geesinknorba.es/www.azudautos.es communal collection points along the street, the loader place the containers at the rear of the reloading of waste can continue. where up to six 660 litre containers are stored. refuse collection vehicle to be emptied. While smaller than the 1100 litre option, the In the Summer season when there are more Sanitary landfill site of number of 660 litre containers stored in each tourists, each vehicle is manned with a driver The waste from all four waste transfer communal point have adequate capacity for the and two loaders to handle the extra waste stations is delivered to the sanitary waste produced. produced in the district. landfill at Arico in the South Members of the public, tourists, and the The roll-on-off vehicle also collects the full East of the island also outlets and bars use them in which to place roll-on-off containers from the underground operated by UTE. their residual waste. In each compound there is waste collection systems at night. The waste is land also an igloo for glass bottles, paper and card The roll-on-off vehicle travels to the different filled under sanitary recyclables etc. The recyclables are collected by underground waste collection systems with an conditions, and the a third party on behalf of the island’s council. empty roll-on-off container so reloading of fresh site complies with There is also an underground waste waste can continue. Access is gained by lifting the European collection system in operation in the three the hydraulic door which covers the diameter of Union Landfill coastal resorts. Waste is placed into loading the container. Directive. apertures at street level, and then falls into a The driver of the vehicle opens the hydraulic The facility also roll-on-off container stored below street level. door via controls that are connected to the boasts a methane This helps to improve the area’s appearance communal collection point. Then he retrieves extraction and keep odour and vermin to a minimum in the full container lifting the container with his roll- system, where

4 June 2 2011 Recycling& WASTE WORLD