Commercial trash compactors play a key role in the waste & recycling programs for many of today’s businesses. Those who work in the waste & recycling industry should have at least a general knowledge of this machine. This basic overview is for those who are trying to gain a better understanding. This guide to commercial trash compactors will answer the following questions:
- What is a Commercial Trash Compactor?
- What are the components of a Commercial Trash Compactor?
- How does a Commercial Trash Compactor work?
- What are the benefits of using a Commercial Trash Compactor?
- How do Commercial Trash Compactors Save You Money?
- How do Commercial Trash Compactors Prevent Unauthorized Access to Your Trash?
- How do Commercial Trash Compactors Reduce Environmental Impact?
- How do Commercial Trash Compactors Improve your Properties Cleanliness and Safety?
- How do Commercial Trash Compactors Extend your Pavements Lifespan?
- How do Commercial Trash Compactors Increase your Workforce’s Productivity?
- How do Commercial Trash Compactors Reduce Fire Hazards?
- What are the different types of Commercial Trash Compactors?
- What is a Stationary Compactor?
- What is a Self-Contained Compactor?
- What is an Apartment Compactor?
- What is a Vertical Compactor?
- What is a Pre-Crusher Compactor?
- What is a Transfer Station Compactor?
What is a Commercial Trash Compactor?
A commercial trash compactor is a powerful machine that compresses and crushes waste material, reducing its size and volume. This can help businesses save money on collection costs by reducing the number of required hauls. Additionally, compactors are designed to prevent unauthorized access to waste and recyclables, keeping your premises clean and secure. Some compactors even feature advanced technologies, such as automatic sensors, that can optimize their performance and reduce their environmental impact. By investing in a commercial trash compactor, your business can enjoy improved efficiency, safety, and sustainability.
What are the components of a Commercial Trash Compactor?
A commercial trash compactor is made up of the following components:
- Body– The steel structure that houses all the components of the compactor.
- Ram– The steel press that compacts the waste horizontally into the container.
- Cylinder– The hydraulic component, attached behind the ram, which moves the ram forward and backward.
- Breaker Bar– A heavy-duty steel bar across the front of the compactor that breaks or folds material as the ram pushes it forward.
- Power Unit– Controls the compactor. Contains a control panel, hydraulic fluid tank, pump, electric motor, and directional control valve. The pump sends hydraulic fluid into the cylinder at high pressures, pushing the ram forward and backward.
- Charge Box– The area in the front part of the compactor into which waste material is loaded. Measured in cubic yards.
- Clear Top Opening– The length and width of the access opening into the charge box.
- Proximity Switch– A switch that changes the direction of the pump to extend and retract the ram.
- Container- The large steel section where the compacted trash is stored. This section is built either separately or as an integral part of the machine depending on the type of compactor.
How does a Commercial Trash Compactor work?
How commercial trash compactors work varies slightly by the specific type of compactor and brand, but in a general sense the process works like this:
- Waste & recyclable materials are loaded through the compactor’s clear top opening into the charge box.
- The cycle begins either automatically through an automatic cycle control system or manually by the compactor operater turning the switch/key on the control panel.
- This prompts the pump to send hydraulic fluid into the cylinder at high pressure which moves the ram forward and compacts the materials into the compactor’s container.
- The resulting compacted waste is then stored in the container until it is collected for disposal by a waste hauler.
What are the benefits of using a Commercial Trash Compactor?
Commercial trash compactors provide numerous financial, operational, and environmental benefits. They are key to a successful waste handling operation and should be considered by any business that produces a high volume of waste. Some of the key benefits include: saving you money, preventing unauthorized access to your trash, reducing environmental impact, improving your property’s cleanliness & safety, extending your pavements lifespan, increasing your workforces productivity, and reducing fire hazards.
How do Commercial Trash Compactors Save You Money?
Even though the initial price of a commercial compactor is higher than other waste equipment options like containers/dumpsters, it may still ultimately be the more attractive option financially. This is because of the substantial impact they can have on lowering your waste bill. Using a trash compactor reduces pick-ups by about 75% in comparison to an equally sized open-top container. A lower hauling frequency equals a lower waste bill. If you produce a high enough volume of waste, a trash compactor will pay for itself and then some.
How do Commercial Trash Compactors Prevent Unauthorized Access to Your Trash?
From dumpster divers obtaining sensitive information to neighboring businesses disposing of their waste in your containers, unauthorized access to your trash can cause a range of issues. A trash compactor’s enclosed design curbs scavenging, prevents unauthorized disposal, and keeps access to your trash completely under your control.
How do Commercial Trash Compactors Reduce Environmental Impact?
Commercial trash compactors can reduce environmental impact in several ways. They reduce landfill space, which helps preserve natural habitats. They also improve air quality by reducing hauling frequency from garbage trucks. This means less fuel used by garbage trucks, which are a significant source of carbon emissions due to poor fuel efficiency. Less carbon emissions from garbage trucks means cleaner air for us all to breathe. Lastly, trash compactors also limit pollution through stormwater runoff. Waste material can contaminate stormwater by fluids leaking out of open-top containers. This contaminated stormwater then ends up in nearby rivers and creeks, polluting local water sources. Trash compactors prevent this problem entirely due to their enclosed design.
How do Commercial Trash Compactors Improve your Properties Cleanliness and Safety?
Overflowing dumpsters, windblown trash, and strong odors are offensive to multiple senses. These issues can even lead to safety concerns like your property harboring a community of rodents carrying diseases and spreading parasites. An unkempt trash area creates an environment for rodents to thrive by providing them with a source of food and shelter. To avoid making it a legitimate health hazard to step foot on your property, it’s important to keep your trash area clean. Trash compactors are a great tool for this because they reduce the number of containers necessary, prevent easy access to your trash, and help conceal associated odors within the machine. These benefits create an environment that deters rodents, leading to a cleaner and safer property.
How do Commercial Trash Compactors Extend your Pavements Lifespan?
It’s pretty well known that garbage trucks can damage pavement. Their impact is equivalent to about 2,000 cars! Heavy trucks moving slowly strains pavement by causing bends and cracks in the asphalt. Using a trash compactor extends your property’s pavement life by substantially reducing the number of visits from these heavy garbage trucks.
How do Commercial Trash Compactors Increase your Workforce’s Productivity?
Trash compactors are relatively simple and efficient machines. There’s no need to break down waste before using and they’re often fed off a loading dock or through a chute, which eliminates the need for employees to leave the building when taking out the trash. Of course, not all compactors are dock or chute fed, so this depends on the specific application, but overall, they increase a workforce’s productivity by reducing the amount of time and effort spent on non-revenue generating activities like waste handling.
How do Commercial Trash Compactors Reduce Fire Hazards?
Oxygen is essential to combustion. Compaction squeezes the air out of waste which means loose trash catches fire easier than compacted trash. Open containers expose your trash to outside elements, from people discarding cigarette butts to arsonists. Using a trash compactor helps reduce trash-related fire hazards because it removes oxygen in your waste and prevents exposure to outside elements.
What are the different types of Commercial Trash Compactors?
In order to meet the unique waste handling needs of businesses across all industries, there are several different types of commercial trash compactors. Six of the most common types of commercial trash compactors are: Stationary Compactors, Self-Contained Compactors, Apartment Compactors, Vertical Compactors, Pre-Crusher Compactors, and Transfer Station Compactors.
What is a Stationary Compactor?
A stationary compactor is a heavy-duty machine that is designed to compress dry waste & recyclables into a dense, easily transportable form. Items like cardboard, paper, plastics, non-ferrous metals, and general trash are suitable for this machine. Unlike other types of compactors, such as self-contained, a stationary compactor is separate from the compaction container, which is hauled away to the landfill or recycling center for disposal. With their powerful hydraulic systems and sturdy construction, stationary compactors can help businesses save money on disposal costs, reduce their environmental impact, and improve their overall waste management efficiency.
Stationary Compactors are manufactured in multiple different sizes, but units between 2 and 5 yards are most common.
Stationary Compactors are common at: schools, distribution centers & warehouses, manufacturing plants, thrift stores, retail stores, automotive dealerships and more.
What is a Self-Contained Compactor?
Self-Contained Compactors are trash compactors that handle high volumes of wet waste. Items like food waste, organic material, and any waste containing liquid. Self-Contained Compactors are built as integral units with the container. During pick-up, the compactor and container are both taken by the hauler to be dumped.
Self-Contained Compactors are manufactured in multiple different sizes, but units between 15 to 39 yards are most common.
Self-Contained Compactors are common at: grocery stores, garden-style apartment complexes, restaurants, schools, manufacturing plants, retail stores, hospitals , hotels & resorts, senior living facilities, convenience stores & gas stations, stadiums & arenas and more.
What is an Apartment Compactor?
Apartment Compactors are trash compactors that handle trash for high-rise buildings. They are generally chute-fed. These compactors pack into separate 2-4 yard receiver containers which are rolled to the street for pickup.
Apartment Compactors are common at: high-rise apartment complexes, hospitals, hotels & resorts, senior living facilities, convenience stores & gas stations, stadiums & arenas and more.
What is a Vertical Compactor?
Vertical Compactors, sometimes referred to as compacting dumpsters, are trash compactors that handle trash in areas where space is limited. They can be solutions for both dry and wet waste. The compactor ram packs down vertically (as opposed to horizontally, like all other compactors) into a 2 – 8 yard leak-proof mobile container which is rolled to the street for pick-up.
Vertical Compactors are common at: grocery stores, garden-style apartment complexes, restaurants, schools, retail stores, hospitals, hotels & resorts, senior living facilities, convenience stores & gas stations, stadiums & arenas and more.
What is a Pre-Crusher Compactor?
Pre-Crusher Compactors are trash compactors that handle bulky waste. Items like pallets, crates, and white goods. They are also a good solution for defective product destruction. Pre-Crushers are similar to stationary compactors, but with a retractable steel wall at the end of the charge box. The ram crushes material against this steel wall which then lifts and the crushed material is packed into the receiving container.
Pre-Crusher Compactors are manufactured in multiple different sizes, but 4 and 5 yard units are most common.
Pre-Crusher Compactors are common at: distribution centers & warehouses, manufacturing plants, thrift stores, automotive dealerships and more.
What is a Transfer Station Compactor?
Transfer station compactors are trash compactors that handle extremely high volumes of waste and pack waste directly into a transfer trailer.
Self-Contained Compactors are manufactured in multiple different sizes, but units between 12 and 15 yards are most common.
They are built specifically for waste transfer stations.
Each type of compactor is ideal for specific applications. In order to select the right type for your needs it is important that you plan properly. Check out our “Planning for a Commercial Trash Compactor” blog to learn more.
Summary
This guide to commercial trash compactors gives readers a basic overview of these machines by answering the following questions:
- What is a Commercial Trash Compactor?
- What are the components of a Commercial Trash Compactor?
- How does a Commercial Trash Compactor work?
- What are the benefits of using a Commercial Trash Compactor?
- How do Commercial Trash Compactors Save You Money?
- How do Commercial Trash Compactors Prevent Unauthorized Access to Your Trash?
- How do Commercial Trash Compactors Reduce Environmental Impact?
- How do Commercial Trash Compactors Improve your Properties Cleanliness and Safety?
- How do Commercial Trash Compactors Extend your Pavements Lifespan?
- How do Commercial Trash Compactors Increase your Workforce’s Productivity?
- How do Commercial Trash Compactors Reduce Fire Hazards?
- What are the different types of Commercial Trash Compactors?
- What is a Stationary Compactor?
- What is a Self-Contained Compactor?
- What is an Apartment Compactor?
- What is a Vertical Compactor?
- What is a Pre-Crusher Compactor?
- What is a Transfer Station Compactor?
With that said, it is in no way a replacement for formal education on these machines. If you work in the waste & recycling industry and are looking for a more comprehensive course to educate yourself on commercial trash compactors then we can help. FleetGenius Compactor Solutions offers Compactor Training courses to teams in need. Interested in learning more?