Twenty-one Farid Micro L dedicated food waste collection vehicles have been bought by Ubico, the Cotswold-based environmental services company owned by local authorities.

The vehicles, from the Farid Hillend Engineering Mini Compactor range, have fully sealed, one-piece bodies with FAI integral comb bin lifts, mounted on Isuzu 7.5t GVW chassis cabs. They are already operating in Stroud, Tewkesbury, Cheltenham and West Oxford.

Other benefits the Farid Micro L also offers include:

  • Small vehicle footprint, compact and highly manoeuvrable, an ideal solution where restricted access is a problem
  • Capable of handling all EN standard bins from 120 litres to 1100 litres capacity plus food waste caddies or 'slave type' bins
  • Hand loading using optional side access doors
  • Enclosed body roof for waste containment and better packing strength distribution with reduced stress points
  • Top mounted, fully enclosed compaction blade with 3.5:1 compaction. Compaction blade cylinders mounted outside the hopper area, keeping them clear of the refuse loading area
  • Unloading of waste by tipping, ensuring complete discharge of waste materials and residual liquids collected. Suitable for tipping into skips, rolonof containers and satellite discharge operation

Mark Hulbert, Ubico's fleet manager said: 'Ubico collects organic (food and garden) on behalf of Cheltenham Borough, Cotswold District, Stroud District, Tewkesbury Borough and West Oxford District Councils. The councils offer a weekly food waste service across the boroughs.

'Prior to the purchase of these Farid Micro L vehicles, we were using food pods fitted to several of our larger recycling and refuse vehicles for food waste collection. However, we found that this method was not as efficient as using dedicated vehicles. Hence, we invested in these new Farid Micro L food waste mini compactors, which are proving extremely successful'

Ubico collects household waste from 233,480 households on behalf of Cheltenham Borough, Cotswold District, Stroud District, Tewkesbury Borough and West Oxfordshire District councils.

The company collects around 68,000 tonnes of household kerbside waste per year. It also offers a commercial waste collection service on behalf of Cheltenham Borough, Tewkesbury Borough and West Oxfordshire District councils.