Hybrid Recycling Power from Kobelco

Serving the wider Rugby and Coventry regions, Clews Recycling Ltd is investing heavily in plant and infrastructure to achieve their goal of zero waste to landfill by the end of 2025 and to keep pace with ever changing waste management regulation.

Already having significant outlets for a range of recovered recyclables, their drive to divert the last few percent of residual waste to landfill and increase operational efficiencies, centres on ramping up production of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF).

The busy transfer station has seen recent upgrades to the picking line and baling for export capabilities that will enable them to transport bales of waste this year. General Manager Jamie Clews commented, “We have to ensure the material segregation and picking lines are continually running and producing the recyclables to the quality standard needed. With tight margins, reliability of the plant is essential to minimise downtime and ensure we are always hitting our targets and maintaining an efficient operation.”

Clews Recycling’s dedication to their customer base is pinned around their drive to offer a comprehensive and customer focussed service. “We are not the biggest recycling company in the region, but we aim to be the most flexible.” Jamie commented. “We offer a range of services to meet our client's needs and to provide the right mix at the best cost, being smaller we can be more adaptable than the national waste companies.”

Another step in reducing the operational costs for the company has recently been realised with the addition of their first hybrid machine on the fleet. “We are constantly evaluating our fuel costs and have looked at bringing in electric machines onto the fleet.” Jamie commented. “Going fully electric did not suit the infrastructure of the site and would have had very high set up costs. A good compromise was going for a hybrid machine in a bid to lower our fuel consumption and to reduce our carbon footprint. We have looked at many of the alternatives on the market and found the Kobelco SK210H to be ideally suited to our needs. Molson’s Sales Manager, Dan Bailey, worked with us to arrange with Kocurek to have a raising cab system fitted and to add a number of other extras, despite all these additions he was still able to offer a good lead time with the SK210H.

‘In our experience, few manufacturers either want to supply tracked high rise cabs to a waste spec or are prepared to listen to your requirements and try to sell you something you do not want.

We prefer tracked machines with the hydraulic cab raise rather than wheeled ‘Rubber ducks,’ for the work in our transfer station as we consider they are intrinsically safer when loading at height such as walking floor trailers. The ability to see into the trailer ensures the operator can avoid damaging the trailer, check the waste quality as it is loaded, ensure a good payload and allows excellent all round vision which is essential in today’s safety first environment’ Jamie added.

The SK210LC Hybrid has been brought to the market by the leading Japanese manufacturer to offer fuel savings in certain applications where repetitive slewing of the machine is undertaken. Unlike some manufacturers who downsize their engine in a bid to obtain fuel economies, Kobelco use a standard Hino 4-cylinder diesel delivering 124kW. This allows the machine to perform in line with the standard SK210 excavator. To achieve fuel savings, Kobelco has fitted a 567V Lithium-Ion battery to store energy recovered from the three phase swing motor and energy recovered from the hydraulic system. This stored energy is then used when raising the boom reducing the load on the engine and in turn reducing the fuel consumption. This ingenious system enables the SK210LC Hybrid to return fuel burn figures in the region of 6-7 litres per hour, almost half of the figure used by a standard machine. To ensure fine particles of material aren’t drawn onto the radiator and ultimately affect the cooling ability of the unit, Kobelco fits a fine mesh screen just inside the rear compartment. Easily removable, the screen can be cleaned at regular intervals simply by hosing the material off.

As the Kobelco will spend some of its time on the transfer station sorting out wastes on the ground, the decision to go for a standard excavator configuration was seen as a logical one opposed to a more expensive dedicated material handler specification more suited to loading recycling equipment and trucks. Fitted with a heavy-duty Demarec selector grab, the incoming waste can be quickly sorted into relevant waste streams and stockpiled in bays ready for outward loading. Despite the raising cab now having a substantial screen protection to both the cab top and windscreen, the operator says the view from the heated, air suspended seat is very good. Along with a full suite of LED working lights, the Kobelco has been fitted with a sturdy bucket ram guard to keep it from any potential damage whilst loading trucks. The outer edges of the upper structure have also been fitted with heavy-duty side impact protection designed to keep panel and component damage to a minimum.

Even with a standard 5.64m boom and 2.94m stick, the impressive load-over ability of the Kobelco allows it to safely fill the walking floor trailers collecting from the transfer station. The raising cab has been designed and fitted by Ipswich based Kocurek. With over 15 years of experience in the delivery of high-rise cabin conversions, the Kocurek Hydraulically Raised Cab (HRC) has solved the problem of operator visibility for loading the high-sided trailers. The conversion mounts the original cabin onto a new cab base designed specifically for the SK210 allowing the cab to rise approximately 2 metres vertically with a 200mm forward arc.

With the cab raised to its full height the operator has an excellent view across the top edge of the trailer and allows them to load the material each side of the cross members in the trailer. As the material is loaded it is pushed down to compact it and ensure each truck leaves the depot fully freighted.

During its first few months of operation the Kobelco has performed as expected. “We’ve not had to use the Molson back up as the machine has not missed a beat!” Jamie commented. With the arrival of the SK210LC Hybrid and the other investments being made the company is moving ever closer to achieving their goal of becoming a more sustainable waste recycling company.