Garbage truck

A front-loading garbage truck in San Jose, California

A side-loading garbage truck in Aardenburg, The Netherlands

A back-loading garbage truck in Boinville-le-Gaillard, France

A garbage truck, also known as a dustcart, rubbish truck, dustbin lorry, or bin lorry is a truck made to collect waste and then take it to a waste site, such as a landfill. Garbage trucks can collect waste from the front, side or back of the truck.

Some garbage trucks crush waste to make it smaller and easier to move around.

History

Wagons and horses were used to collect waste for hundreds of years. When the steam engine was invented, lots of new machines and vehicles were made using it. In 1897, one of the first garbage trucks ever was made. It was powered by a steam engine, and made by a company called Thornycroft. Most garbage trucks now move using an internal combustion engine or electric motor.

Garbage Truck Media

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  A Peterbilt 520 Amrep garbage truck in Los Angeles

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  A Scania front loader

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  Soviet garbage truck GAZ-53M (photo taken in 1983)

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  14.5 m3 rear load container serviced in Copenhagen

• Garbagemen loading garbage by hand in Japan, 2013

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  A Lōdal Evo T-28 manual side loader

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  A WhiteGMC WXLL/Heil Python automated side loader. Note the collection of two containers, as opposed to one.

• Automated Larbie side loader in operation on an Autocar truck chassis

• Garbage collection by an automatic side loader during autumn in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada