Willoughby Mini Side Loaders

Something you don’t see much of these days is mini side loaders, instead it’s all about the big 6 wheeler trucks with two drive axles. There used to be quite a lot of single axle side arms out there in the past, but these days bigger payload is the focus, so 4x2 trucks have been phased out in many locations. Willoughby City Council has been no exception, which has seen many 4x2 collection vehicles operating under the previous contracts held by SMS Municipal Services. In the previous 2003-2013 contract, the company ran 3 extra small side loaders for regular domestic collections to service some of the unusual areas with narrow access, windy roads and tight turns. You might not achieve the same payload as the bigger 6x4s used by JJ Richards in Willoughby today, but the ease of getting these particular small trucks in/out of streets is significant. When I was out and about in the later years of the contract, the two frontline baby trucks were a UD MK series and an Iveco Eurocargo, both featuring tiny 12m Superior Pak Raptor bodies. The UD did the garbage and vegetation pickups, passing through residential streets twice for each bin, and tipping both waste streams nearby at the Artarmon and North Ryde transfer stations. Meanwhile the Iveco was the recycling truck, passing through the same residential streets once, but also did "collect and return" recycling from certain unit blocks, and unloaded further away at one of a few Visy MRFs. From the previous contract was a small Garpac Isuzu with a comb lifter, which was the backup for the mini machines. I note that originally there were 2 Iveco Eurocargos, but the one that used to do garbage/veg was written off, thus this 2009 model UD was purchased with the existing body remounted. Around the last month of the contract before the JJ Richards takeover, I got out to grab a number of the existing SMS trucks on video. Every truck in the fleet was pretty neat, but I told myself I couldn’t miss both of the extra small collections equipment that was operating. I caught up to both of them on a Thursday morning in Lane Cove North, mainly videoing the UD, then caught up to the Iveco early on Friday morning doing a few spots in Naremburn. I would’ve loved to have gotten more and better footage of both, but the drivers weren’t too keen on the camera, so I just got what I could. At first I had separate videos of these trucks to post, but given the amount I captured, I’ve just meshed them together into a single upload. I hope this action is enjoyed... a nice change from the regular size side loaders.