The 1994 Design Contest Winners

WORLD WASTES STAFF

The entries of the 16th annual contest, which piled in from across the nation, all had individual characteristics that distinguished them from years previous. Not only are the entries becoming brighter and bolder in color (except for the award winner from Carver County), simplicity seems to be the key to success.

While the entries were from private contractors and city and county governments, all had one common theme: cleanliness. Today's managers are taking the time to differentiate their trucks and containers from the dirty image associated with trash.

The judges and editors of World Wastes would like to congratulate this year's winners. And if your entry was not selected, you have approximately 10 months until the competition for the 1995 Design Contest begins again. Good luck and congratulations!

Best Public Vehicle. When Leslie Loeffler heard the news of her county's winning design, her response ("Cool!") described the county's baby blue, 45-foot refrigeration trailer to a tee. With a certain image in mind, Loeffler, the Carver County (Chaska, Minn.) solid waste specialist and household hazardous waste (HHW) coordinator, initiated the redesign of the mobile HHW facility. "I wanted the trailer to portray what the county really looks like," she said. "I just didn't want people to think of hazardous wastes when they looked at the truck."

Today, Loeffler travels to different communities to preach the benefits of a HHW program. With a slide of the American refrigerated trailer body in hand, Loeffler shows other coordinators the benefits of HHW programs and stresses the importance of educating residents. "A parked trailer with a design on it works as an educational tool," Loeffler said. "You want to inspire residents, get them curious and kind of pull them into it." If all goes well, Loeffler hopes to expand the current program that serves approximately 16,600 households.

Best Private Vehicle. The urge to redecorate or redo your style is a familiar feeling to the owner of Silver State Disposal Inc., North Las Vegas, Nev. Every year - or so - he feels the need to re-design the 20 Freightliner-chassied transfer trailers in his fleet, according to Jon Krieger, the company's maintenance supervisor.

Note the candy apple red paint across the Peerless body. "That much candy apple red paint is usually only used on show cars and motorcycles," said Krieger. It is the large dose of candy apple red that has earned the company's 18-wheeler, lead trailer a spot in the paint manufacturer's catalog.

The trailers, which carry waste from 1 million people in Las Vegas, bear a sparkly design for a glittery town, Krieger said. "It is amazing for a truck moving a load of garbage to look like that," he said.

As far as the World Wastes judges are concerned, Silver State has found a winner with the 1994 design!

Roll-Off Think Pink Inc. Birmingham, Ala. When Marsha Kinard was told that her vehicle had won the roll-off category, she was just tickled pink.

In 1989, Kinard and her sister, Rebecca Hickel, began a construction demolition and debris business with two pink trucks, 20 containers and lots of fatherly advice.

Although the ladies had originally considered opening a lingerie or needlepoint shop, Think Pink Inc., Birmingham, Ala., is flourishing beyond the co-owners' wildest dreams, said Kinard.

Today, the company has four Pep-to Bismol pink trucks with green trimmings and more than 100 containers to match. The Mack trucks with Ingram bodies collect C&D debris throughout the Birmingham area.

The company logo, an upside-down triangle, was Kinard's idea. "I wanted something more than type on the trucks," she said.

The logo represents a diamond, "which is very dear to my heart," Kinard said.

"You see, it really is a ladies' game," Kinard added.

Transfer Trailer Southwest Refuse Montreal, Quebec The fire engine red color makes boys think of fire trucks and men dream of sports cars. But this red isn't on a sports car or a fire engine - it's on the winning entry from Southwest Refuse in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

The Capital Disposal Equipment steel trailer is part of a fleet of five trucks with the one trailer. Maury Adler, Southwest Refuse's owner, chose the bright red color to match the company's red containers and to complement the company's white trucks. The trailer takes a daily beating, said Adler, and still holds up. His construction and debris business, which has served approximately 300 customers for more than five years, hauls five or six loads of debris per day at full capacity. "And since we only haul construction and debris there's cement and heavy stuff in it," he said. "It's holding up even with a regular floor instead of the heavy duty floor."

Recycling Container Health Sanitation Service Santa Maria, Calif. The container's design bears only one message: Deposit recyclables into me!

Health Sanitation Service (HSS), Santa Maria, Calif., wanted a container attractive enough to leave out in the open and unique to distinguish itself from a trash can. With a multi-colored, graphic design it seems that the company has accomplished its goals.

"We developed the stripes and triangle so people would look at it and know it was a recycling container," said David Portwood, general manager. "We wanted to be able to put it where it would look good and people would want to leave it out."

After the trucks collect the 350-gallon containers, patients from a local rehabilitation center sort the materials. The plastic containers, according to Port-wood, are less expensive than steel dumpsters. "Recycling is not a money-making venture. You need to do it as inexpensively as you can."

Two hundred of these containers, manufactured by Rotational Molding are used in commercial areas around Santa Barbara County.

The company hopes to place 500 more across the county by next year.

Rear Loader Trash-Away Inc. New Britain, Conn. What is big, bright yellow and looks more like a space-age weapon than a garbage truck?

It is Trash-A-way's rear loader, a 1993 Crane Carrier IRL model. Along with three other trucks in the company's 30-truck fleet, this vehicle collects trash from New Britain's approximately 18,000 households.

Since the company was established in 1971, Trash-Away's big, bold trucks with the bright, red logo emblazoned on the side have made quite a splash in the community. But the updated model has really made an impression.

"People always ask about this style of truck," said Peter Lombardo, operations manager. "They want to know what it does." During Operation Desert Storm, Lombardo even considered painting the attention-getting truck like a Patriot missile.

Although he says that it has never performed heroic acts such as rescuing anyone from a burning building, the truck does hold a lot of garbage.

Side Loader 5 Counties Carting Freeport, N.Y. Sleet or snow, rain or sunshine - it makes no difference for 5 Counties Carting Corp. in Freeport, N.Y.

With an icy white background to match the city's snowy winters and a green and blue logo to represent the village colors, this side loader makes it to the curb of 8,500 households under any weather condition.

After being awarded a 10-year collection contract, Rocco Casagrande, president of 5 Counties Carting Corp., felt the need to re-design his fleet of seven LoDal trucks.

The company sponsored a design contest at Freeport High School. The company provided few guidelines: incorporate recycling into the design and depict the village of Freeport as the water community it is.

In the end, the company gained recognition and the community received seven, re-designed trucks.

Front Loader Oak Hill Garbage Oak Hill, W. Va. As they celebrate their 20th anniversary in the collection business this year, the folks at Oak Hill Garbage Disposal are celebrating the beauty of their home state, West Virginia, with their uniquely designed trucks.

Like the other 15 trucks in the fleet, this 1994 White GMC truck with a Hercules EZ-Pack is painted in robin's-egg blue and decorated with West Virginia's state bird, flower, tree and animal - all chosen, said Joe Hutchens, president, because they symbolize "everything nice" about the state.

The color of the commercial collection truck, which covers Raleigh and Fayette counties, is meant to denote cleanliness. The fleet's slogan is painted on all the trucks.

Recycling Vehicle City of Bradenton Bradenton, Fla. Is there a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow? Not necessarily, but when Bradenton's rainbow trucks head down the street to collect recyclables, they mean business. The three distinctive "Lightning Cyclers" pick up recyclable materials from 8,500 households.

The winning truck, a 1992 Ford with a Peterson Industries body, has a white cab with a rainbow stripe and a rear platform with two rows of containers.

On the truck's right side are three small bins: blue for aluminum cans, red for newspapers and yellow for glass. City workers load each material into its respective container at curbside; then hydraulic loaders lift the material into the larger white containers on the left side of the truck.

The city has collected recyclables since 1989, according to Ricardo Ramos, Bradenton recycling foreman, who says that apart from being a colorful addition to the landscape, the recycling fleet performs a "very efficient" job collecting the city's recyclables.

Vacuum Tank Modern Corp. Model City, N.Y. Sucking sludge is not a glamorous job, but someone has to do it.

Modern Corporations' 6,000-cfm vacuum is capable of a variety of wet and dry applications. The Peterbilt truck with a Super Products vacuum body and a 1993 NLB 10-200 high pressure water jet unit services commercial and industrial accounts in western New York.

Modern's fleet, which consists of 150 vehicles, is color-coordinated in shades of gray and blue. The company's logo, on the side of its trucks, was re-designed this year to celebrate its 30th year of operation.

Modern's vacuum operators agree that the most memorable event with this truck occurred while vacuuming silica carbite from an industrial silo. They used a vacuum hose that was between 400 and 500 feet long to reach into the seven-story structure - but they needed a crew member to go down with the hose. Several volunteered to be lowered some 70 feet into the dark silo, suspended from a tripod. Emerging from the depths, touching ground and driving the winning Number 532 back to work never felt so good.

Commercial Container Partyka Resource Management Chicopee, Mass. What does a resource management company manage? Looking at the company logo, one would have to guess the earth, water and air.

According to John Krzeminski, vice president of Partyka Resource Management, Chicopee, Mass., the logo illustrates the company's goal: to utilize and manage resources properly.

The family-owned company, which began in 1929, has only recently entered into the waste management industry. While today it's involved in recycling and landfills, other company projects include real estate and rehabilitating old buildings.

In western Massachusetts, Partyka has approximately 2,000 commercial containers. Some of the containers are manufactured in-house, said Krzeminski; others are from Dynabilt Products or Devivo.

Not all customers receive a white container. The messy users, such as restaurants, usually are furnished with a brown container. Cleanliness is key to Partyka, and for some, a brown container will cover the dirt best. "In the beginning, everyone received white containers," said Krzeminski. "It didn't take long to realize who needs a brown container." added.