Ex-Ryde SL021 @ Penrith

Back in 2019 I was prompted to make a return to Penrith, unexpectedly being on the hunt for some older SUEZ side loaders that were getting around for recycle collections. I was out very early on that chilly Thursday morning and was able to get a couple on recycling, however I was committed to catching up with a specific type of one armer while I was out there. Since the City of Ryde contract started fresh with SUEZ in 2015, the existing side lift fleet was redeployed to other council contracts as spare vehicles, and it seemed extremely worthwhile to get a final video of one prior to their retirement. A trio of these were based at the Eastern Creek depot to supplement the western Sydney operations, but it turns out on this day 2 of these 3 trucks were off the road broken down, with no word on the third one being out or not. All I could do was scoot around the service area late in the morning and hopefully find what I was after with a bit of luck! Just as I was starting to accept I might be at a loss, instinct took me over the Great Western Hwy into a small residential section and there I spotted a certain green bodied truck with a white arse end, knowing within a nanosecond I’d found what I was looking for, the one and only SL021. What a relief and how exhilarating that sighting was. This rig presents a little rough and aged compared to when it was serving time in Ryde with its nine siblings, having been steered by a stack of different drivers, involved in a rollover incident and involuntarily stripped of its back door upon contact with a railway bridge (the operator forgot to close it after unloading). You will notice the unmatched shade of green on the tailgate compared to the rest of the body and the white 2350G ACCO cab, which was pulled off a retired Fairfield recycling truck as a replacement. Although it had seen better days, it still puts on a show in this upload, with flowing MJE lifter action and a clear Cummins ISC05 engine note. I really strived to capture the sharp exhaust output from this 2006 model, and you hear it very well at certain points, so definitely plug in the earphones and crank up that volume for optimal listening pleasure =D I’m very happy with the recording results of the beginning and ending clips, along with that shot looking across the reserve as the truck gradually approaches through the trees – get some good engine tunes I reckon! It’s been 10 years since I posted some action featuring one of these original Ryde side loaders, so here’s a refreshing look at another getting bins emptied. If you’re going to watch and enjoy a garbage truck video today, I hope it’s this one which provides that satisfaction =D You’ve got an example of a classic Aussie side loader right here, MacDonald Johnston Engineering SPORT MkIV and of course an Iveco ACCO as the ride, a combo once seen plentiful across the country and now very hard to come by. It’s trucks like this I’m glad I’ve been able to document on video... the look of it and the sound of it are things you won’t ever get in the waste collection industry anymore. Thankfully, I also encountered an operator who knew what he was doing, using the truck and conducting the job with professionalism – cheers to him for being cool with me following along during the remainder of his organics run situated between Kingswood and Claremont Meadows. I hope this latest AussieGarbo upload proves to be entertaining, also be sure to watch this in the 720p quality!