Sunday 27 October 2013

Why Waste Haulage Can be Unexpectedly Dangerous and Tips for Garbage Hauliers and Clients

Image by sleepinyourhat via Flickr
You'd think that guns and ammo would be higher on our list of dangerous haulage loads than waste haulage, but there are potentially much worse haulage loads than those, to be transporting.

Bio-hazard waste and active substances are classified into levels one to four, with four being the worst or most hazardous. Level one loads might be chicken pox infected or similar substances, and are handled with gloves. However, level four substances are incredibly infectious, highly dangerous and usually need full hazmat suits to be handled. Loads that are labelled as bio hazards are very dangerous to transport, but are very import for scientific, medical and research purposes. Contracts for hauling these types of waste are just for the big companies which have the expertise.

The Other End of the Scale Truck and Dog" Outfits

However, lot of bulk short-haul garbage transport work is done with self employed people, known as "truck and dog" outfits, this includes road & general construction material / fill / waste haulage. The extensive use of 1-4 tonne trucks (as big as you can go on a car/1A licence) may be worth mentioning for house clearances and urban home de-cluttering. Most contractors put everything in commercial vehicles because of the legal situation - we don't look at using motorcycles but in countries like Vietnam and India mush waste is still transported while balanced on remarkably small vehicles.

In traditional haulage and freight transportation a driver gets a load, and takes it from point A to point B – for example from New York to Fresh Fields Landfill (now closed - but it is an example which is well known). The shipping company gets paid, the orderer gets the garbage shifted. Seems simple and profitable. But when the driver gets back after the delivery, the vehicle is empty and the journey is a waste of time and money. And this is where Trans Freight Exchange for backloads, comes in in most freight haulage. Unfortunately, no such thing can be done for most wastes due to the costly need for a high level of cleaning needed for the stage of the trip back from the garbage dump.

The waste haluier will however usually endeavor to match users looking for haulage with freight services making similar journeys to carry the fullest loads. By utilizing spare capacity of vehicles running on the road, this helps reduce the number of otherwise wasteful journeys needed to transport the wastes. This leads to less Carbon Dioxide emissions being emitted from delivery trucks, lorries and vans.

Garbage Haulier Tips

Garbage Hauliers are Encouraged to:

- Create an excellent brand name or keep a good record according to the type of haulage business that you have. To mention a few, the types of hauling business include general haulage work, specialist haulage services, such as livestock transport, waste disposal, parcel, and car transport; warehousing and distribution services, and supply of vehicles. Focus on your field of specialty and excel among the rest of your competitors by delivering reliable, safe, quick, and efficient service.

- Always sheet over domestic wastes trucks to prevent spillage en-route.
- Adopt a courteous driving policy with their drivers.

Choosing a Waste Haulier

While looking at different Road haulage companies, you should stick to carrying out a comprehensive research which will definitely help you in choosing the best haulage company for your goods. The movement of materials supplies and waste can each come with their own specifics, costs and properties. The transportation cost differs greatly with each material and each industry needs to look at what they are shipping and what the different road transport companies will offer. With the rising fuel prices all over the world, the transportation cost has raised a lot over the past few years. So, you need to be very choosy in making a right selection by considering all the factors precisely.

Normally these services are used for transporting iron ore, coal, supplies, and waste material is a small market sector so you will need to seek out specialists with large bulker vehicles for efficiency. Road haulage service also amounts to carrying agricultural equipment, international, tankers, temperature controlled transport, tipping and constructing, warehousing and distribution. The cost incurred in loading such raw material into the machines at the site where the waste is created and then transporting the same to the processing site is part of the service cost and the haulier will need details of turn-around times.

What to do if You Have a Hazardous Waste that Needs Haulage


The most hazardous types of haulage are unlikely to be taken on the usual commercial carriers. It's highly unlikely that you could pick up a backload when dealing with substances that are radioactive for example, so these types of haulage are also unlikely to be taken on freelance. Nuclear loads (which can include fuel rods, waste or weapons grade radioactive materials) need very specific types of carrier to withstand both the radiation and any possibility of high-jack.