Tire Design Considerations for Refuse Vehicles

Browning-Ferris Industries (BFI) operates approximately 3500 trucks in 37 states and Canada. Those operations all involve moving trash from the customer to, in most cases, a landfill. This type of business is unique and certainly very different from general freight hauling. It generates special problems which should be considered by those writing noise regulations.

The basic area to be discussed is operation in the sanitary landfill. BFI estimates that on the average its trucks make six trips per day into such an arena. For that reason, tires satisfactory for conditions encountered there must be used. In choosing such a tire, however, the fact that many pickups and the trip to the landfill itself will be made on hard surfaced roads and highways cannot be overlooked. That important consideration is borne out by the fact that in spite of the slow conditions encountered at the dump site, BFI estimates its trucks average 18 mph overall and specifies that they be capable of 55 mph top speeds.