LARKHALL-based William Hamilton & Sons recently took delivery of a Volvo L150H loading shovel which will be put to work on a new waste contract.
The firm, which provides services including recycling and landfill, haulage and road sweeping, has been contracted to handle residual waste on behalf of South Lanarkshire Council and Viridor.
The 25-tonne loading shovel has been fitted with a quick attachment bracket to facilitate changeover of the standard 4.2m³ bucket supplied with the machine, and a 12m³ hi-tip bucket, which was purchased for handling residual (black bin) waste.
The machine has also been fitted with an optional under-slung counterweight, an RSD weigh system and Groeneveld automatic greasing.
The shovel features a 13-litre stage-IV final engine, which develops 300hp in a range of between 1,300 and 1,400 rpm, and has Volvo-designed and manufactured components including Optishift with torque convertor lock-up and reverse-by-braking feature.
“The main function of our new L150H will be in handling domestic waste arriving at our newly constructed facility here at Dovesdale Farm, Stonehouse,” explained managing director, David Hamilton.
“The operation will start up in the next couple of months where we will stockpile waste material under cover and then load material out onto our fleet of 125 cubic yard walking-floor trailers for onward shipment to Viridor’s new energy recovery plant located at Dunbar in East Lothian.”
He continued, “To minimise the impact on the local environment, we are planning to deliver this during the night when the traffic on the roads is at its lowest volume.”
The new L150H machine will also assist an Existing L120, which the firm purchased last year, with the screening and rehandling of inert material.
David said, “Last year we took an L150H on demonstration and were very impressed with the machine but we ended up opting for the slightly smaller L120H. The machine has lived up to our expectations and encouraged us to choose the L150H for our new rehandling project – not that we needed too much convincing!”
He added, “We’ve been operating Volvo loading shovels since the early 90s. The have certainly proved to be highly reliable, popular with our operators and command a good residual value when it’s time to change them out. In addition, the support we get from the local support centre is more than satisfactory.”
