Crane operation instead of muscle power.

Refuse collection vehicles are often on the road during peak times and sometimes have to manoeuvre along narrow, parked-up streets on their routes. In addition, especially in bicycle-friendly cities like Freiburg, there are other road users whom the driver must keep in view in all situations.

To ensure a high level of safety in urban traffic, ASF has relied on the Econic for many years. All waste disposal tasks are now primarily carried out using Econic. Over 35 Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks are available in the fleet for this purpose. Among them: a four-axle vehicle that has been specially equipped for emptying the new underground containers.

For Michael Broglin, Managing Director of ASF, the Econic is the first choice in the city when it comes to safety: “In particular, the low cab makes the all-round view from the Econic far better than in a conventional truck.” Together with the large glazed windscreen and the folding door on the co-driver's side, the driver has a direct view of traffic. Modern safety assistance systems such as the blind spot camera system and Sideguard Assist, as well as the emergency braking system Active Brake Assist, perfectly complement the Econic's DirectVision cab.

Active Brake Assist 6 for Econic.

Underground refuse containers for residual waste, organic waste, paper and the yellow bag collection are being installed in many new-build projects in Freiburg. The investment quickly pays off, especially for larger residential complexes such as student halls of residence. Underground storage frees up a lot of space. It has a positive effect on the urban landscape and eliminates unpleasant odours. Another benefit for residents: on collection day no waste container needs to be put out and disposal finally becomes barrier-free.

After a trial phase, ASF is relying primarily on underground waste containers in the relatively new Dietenbach district. The emptying can be carried out with the Econic by a single-person crew. Because loading is done by crane, ASF employees are spared the physically often demanding work of conventional emptying with roll containers. In addition, the emptying routes can be planned better because the containers transmit their fill level via sensors, making demand-based emptying possible. A significant relief for the municipal employees.

The Econic for ASF is equipped with four axles and a permissible gross vehicle weight of 32 t to allow a high payload. To keep the vehicle manoeuvrable, it has a wheelbase of 3,750 mm and a steerable trailing axle. In close cooperation between the bodybuilders and the Technical Consulting department of Daimler Trucks, the chassis was optimised and adapted to the customer's individual needs by the specialist vehicle development Custom tailored trucks (CTT).

Behind the cab, S-Tech GmbH installed a crane for emptying the underground containers. The Palfinger crane Epsilon 180 is one of the largest in its class and can still lift loads of up to 1,830 kg at a reach of 9 m. It is operated entirely by the driver via remote control. The clever feature: the crane arm can be folded into a holding position, allowing short distances to be driven between emptying stations without the entire crane having to be folded away.

Integrated into the crane is a device for emptying the containers as well as a crane weighing system from Moba. This is used primarily for commercial customers whose waste disposal is billed by weight. The system weighs the full container before loading and then again when empty. The difference is the billable weight of the waste. The scale control is integrated into the cab, which also prints a receipt for the customer on site.

The waste then ends up, with the help of a fold-out hopper, via a loading mechanism in the compactor body, which was built by the Austrian bodybuilder Stummer. It holds up to 19 m³ and features a hydraulic press system with a compaction ratio of 5:1. Plenty of space for extensive waste collection in the city or along the motorway lay-bys on the A 5. Unloading of the waste is carried out, as with standard refuse vehicles, via a rear discharge.

Every driver tries to avoid one thing above all in urban traffic: driving backwards. But on waste collection rounds there are still situations that require reversing. To ensure that AFS's high safety standards can be met even in these cases, the Econic is fitted with a retrofitted rear-area monitoring system from the company ViSy.

Various cameras mounted at the rear create a 3-D image of the area behind the vehicle. The system can detect people and objects in the hazard zone and warn the driver acoustically and visually of an impending collision risk. The emergency-stop function can, as a last resort, intervene in the vehicle's driving dynamics as an additional safeguard.

This not only provides an innovative way of emptying underground waste containers in Freiburg, but also makes a major contribution to the safety of all road users. The Econic has proven itself many times over. And managing director Michael Broglin is confident: Econic will continue to be relied on in Freiburg's municipal waste management.