The nuclear-powered bin-tipping machine
In 2007, Simpro introduced an unexpected option for their range of bin-tipping machines. Nuclear Power.
Don’t worry, you are unlikely to be irradiated by your waste-handling machinery. The nuclear power plant in question has operated safely for some 4.6 billion years, and is quite far away.
Solar power is in some ways the holy grail of sustainable green technology. Unlike windfarms, it can be superimposed onto existing infrastructure without blighting the landscape. Unlike hydro, it does not turn the countryside into a lake. Unlike conventional nuclear, it invokes no haunting images of deserted Ukrainian villages. It is cheap to manufacture. And unlike fossil fuels, it does not threaten to turn the planet into a pressure-cooker.
But solar has its limitations. Aside from being quite useless in an Arctic winter, it needs a very large surface area to generate serious levels of current. This has always limited its application as a mobile power source. The only solution is to build huge, impractical machines; or extremely efficient ones.
At Simpro, we build extremely efficient machines. Since 1986 our engineers have been refining the mechanical forces involved in lifting heavy objects and tipping them over. Today the Dumpmaster™ uses just 18 kilojoules to lift a 100kg bin to 1.8 metres, roll it upside down, and lower it again to ground level.
This efficiency means we can power the Dumpmaster™ (and the Multi-Tip™) with a single 0.5m² solar panel.
Our 240 litre wheelie bins weigh 100 kgs and we empty about 30 bins per day using our solar-powered Dumpmaster. Our bin lifter is solar powered and has not needed to be charged for 18 months!
- Les Pettifer, Kumeu, New Zealand
All industrial societies are today looking for ways to minimise their environmental footprint without sacrificing productivity or standards of living – and many people think distributed solar power is perhaps the very best way to create a sustainable industrial society. Over the next 25 years, we will see a solar revolution, and Simpro Handling Equipment is at the very forefront of it.
