🚀 go-pugleaf

In <DJtBAn.5CC@metapro.DIALix.oz.au> bernie@metapro.DIALix.oz.au (Bernd Felsche) writes:

>In <NEWTNews.818583583.28906.heath@heath.iinet.net.au>
>   jim heath <heath@iinet.net.au> writes:

>>Even if we happen to produce more
>>than average, your scheme seems too
>>crude to me. To be fair, weightometers
>>should be fitted to the grabber arms
>>of the truck that hoists and empties
>>the wheelie bins. A laser could scan
>>a bar code on the wheelie to identify
>>its owner. Then everyone could be billed
>>in exact proportion to rubbish weight.

>Bar-codes? Too easy to forge!

<SNIP>
>One factor that won't be managed by weighing, is the volume of
>rubbish... lots of large empty plastic bottles (the stuff that should
>be recycled anyway) weigh next to nothing but consume an immense
>volume.  Some sort of volumetric measurement should therefore also be
>incorporated - either directly in the bin (difficult with the lid shut)
>or in the truck for each load picked up.

>Landfill "management" of disposal probably has a higher sensitivity
>to the volume than the mass.

Yes, but the sensitivity is to non-compressible volume, not pickup point 
volume. PET bottles, etc have a fairly minimal volume after 12 months in 
landfill. Glass, however, is another story. Unless exposed to sharp impact, 
glass bottles do not compress well in landfill.

Paper in the form of crushed wrappers is another example of high pickup
volume, low landfill volume material, and can be compared to the landfill
volume of, say, phone books.

This can be equallised by having a high-pressure compactor in the pickup 
vehicle ("low" pressure ones are used currently). The resulting volume of a
pickup could then be gauged against a flat scale (ie a load resulted in
so many mm depth of compressed refuse), which could be easily implemented.

The resulting "bricks" can then be more efficently placed in fill-sites,
and be worked around gas collection plumbing.

-Rob.
-- 
Rob Masters, Metapro Systems P/L.  rdm@metapro.DIALix.oz.au <std/disclaimer.h>
"When I was young, I promised myself that I would die doing something noble,
 brave, and futile...Maybe it was not such a hopeless dream after all!"
- Lando (Babylon 5 "A Voice in the Wilderness")