DUFOUR Group X RCOVER® rail-mounted tarpaulin systems

DUFOUR in Belgium stands out for its significant involvement in the waste treatment sector, covering a wide range of activities from collection to recovery. With a fleet of over 1,600 skips and a host of other collection facilities, it offers services tailored to both private individuals and industry, covering the management of household, industrial, hazardous and special waste.

As part of its environmental policy, DUFOUR is also committed to initiatives aimed at reducing its carbon footprint, in particular by investing in environmentally-friendly modes of transport and equipment. With this in mind, the DUFOUR group, via its innovation unit and technical department, contacted us to implement new solutions.

In line with its environmental policy and its desire to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, particularly in its waste collection and transport activities, the DUFOUR Group is planning to order new custom-built trucks and tippers (rigid + trailer) offering a maximum volume capacity of over 100m3 in a single trip.

Now that the issue of volume has been resolved, the real problem facing the DUFOUR Group is keeping the collected material as healthy as possible inside the containers.

Today's skips are neither covered nor closed, and are loaded from above using a crane. The few closed skips are compacted or covered by hydraulic roofs, making them difficult to access and fill, and often costly to maintain. The equipment can be damaged or lack practicality, leading the Group to consider other solutions: more robust, more practical, more economical and easier to handle. Closing skips must become a reflex and an automatic part of every round.

A skip that's easy to close and use will make it possible to offer a cleaner service to the end customer, but also and above all to ensure that the material collected is protected so that it can be recovered at its rightful value.

Alongside these first two needs, the group also wants to reduce its CO2 emissions and therefore its fuel consumption. Given the size of the group's fleet of trucks and other equipment, it seems clear that any means is good for reducing fuel consumption and costs.

The advantage of a rail-mounted tarpaulin system, according to the group, will be to enable its operators to systematically and easily tarpaulin tippers. For all the reasons mentioned above, tarpaulin-covered transport (empty or full tippers) should become the norm and the rule for all journeys: saving fuel, reducing greenhouse gases and recovering materials. Truck operators and drivers should no longer have any reason not to tarpaulin their vehicles!

After identifying our customer's needs and expectations, we suggested that they test our RCOVER® rail-mounted tarpaulin system.

Initially installed on a small 10m3 tipper for testing, the system met the group's expectations. It was therefore decided to install it on a 30m3 skip.

The system meets many of the customer's expectations:

• Operator safety thanks to easy tarpaulin covering from the ground,
• 100% hermetic system: the stored/collected material is preserved and can therefore be recycled,
• Easy maintenance on a system that cannot break down
• Covering the skips reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

In fact, over and above the contents of the skip, it's important to stress that driving with a covered skip saves around 5% in fuel per journey. These savings appear at the bottom of the year-end balance sheet and are not insignificant for a group the size of DUFOUR. Not to mention the reduction in CO2 emissions, one of the group's biggest challenges at the moment.

The DUFOUR group's COSELOG technical support team even made a few simple adaptations to our system in order to maximise the useful space in the skip. Armed with the assembly instructions, the teams were able to install the system in their workshops without our intervention, and have the rails extend outside the tipper. While respecting the road clearance, the operators can fill the tipper to the maximum, optimising each tipper rotation.

Our customer is completely satisfied with the system: operators now remember to close their skip during transport.

In just 7 seconds, the skip is covered. It's a quick and easy solution that will save fuel and increase comfort.

The service provided to the end customer is also more qualitative: healthy and clean material, guaranteed recycling, and a loyal clientele!

The DUFOUR group has a number of major projects coming up this year, for which they plan to use the Rcover® solution on other skips. Thanks to their feedback, we've also been able to improve our locking system, which is now simpler and stronger.