Eastleigh Borough Council has ordered seven new Dennis Eagle Olympus Duos refuse collection vehicles (RCVs) for collecting food waste, residual waste and dry mixed recycling collections.
The vehicles are fitted with Terberg's low voltage and low noise electric OmniDEL E bin lifts. Two have already been delivered and are now in service, with the remaining five to follow.
Andy Kendall, waste services manager for the council, said: 'While Eastleigh has operated Dennis Eagle vehicles in the past, its current refuse collection fleet mainly comprised of competitor products.
'However, when the requirement for new vehicles arose, we carried out a rigorous tender process to assess the viability of a range of options from various suppliers.
'As well as evaluating the products against a number of set criteria ' such as value for money over their lifecycle ' this process also involved practical demonstration sessions where our drivers and crews put potential vehicles to the test.
'They were asked to help us identify the best all-round solution for our collection requirements based on ease of operation and rounds efficiency and the Dennis Eagle vehicles came out on top.
'The Olympus Duos offered the most suitable configuration for the type of kerbside collection we operate. While we could have opted for one type of vehicle for residual and dry mixed recycling collections with a smaller second vehicle for handling food waste, the Dennis Eagle products provided us with a single solution.
'This has obvious benefits in terms of value, efficiency and sustainability. We have been pleased with the performance of our first two vehicles, and look forward to taking delivery of the remaining five in due course'
Ben Hoadley, regional sales manager at Dennis Eagle, said: 'It is great that drivers and crews identified our product as being the most fit-for-purpose, and we look forward to working closely with the council to ensure the smooth deployment of the next batch of vehicles and meet any aftermarket requirements they may have over the lifetime of the products'
