The sort of container chosen for collection will depend on the volume of waste, the accessibility and size of the storage area, and vehicle-access options. Truck collection typologies are generally the same for door-to-door and aggregated collections except that aggregated collection also involves moving material between individual buildings and the shared collection point.
typology 1
Bags on Street
The dominant strategy for door-to-door collection in NYC is to bring bags from a storage area and pile them on the curb.
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As the city densifies there is often not enough room on the sidewalks to accommodate the mountains of bags.
Bags set out on the street in Downtown Brooklyn.
Building staff consolidating waste at a shared collection point.
Rear load truck collecting waste door-to-door.
typology 2
Wheeled Bins on Street
Wheeled bins are heavy-duty plastic carts with two to four wheels. They are compact and easy to maneuver yet have limited capacity—up to 96 gal. or 0.25 cu yd. In NYC, wheeled bins are used for organics collection, for storage and setout from smaller buildings and in low-density neighborhoods where buildings have ample storage and curb access relative to the volume of waste generated.
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Bins for trash, recycling and organics are emptied manually into rear-load trucks.
typology 3
1-8 Cu Yd Containers
Front-end load (FEL) or rear-end load (REL) containers are steel or plastic carts with lids. Containers under 3 cu yd are wheeled to the curb; larger containers are emptied directly from the loading dock or courtyard where they are stored.
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FEL with wheels and without wheels emptied by DSNY, REL emptied by commercial hauler.
typology 4
20-40 Cu Yd (Roro) Containers
The 20–40 cu yd containers are loaded directly from the compactor yard or loading dock onto the flatbed of the collection truck. Containers can be open-top (for construction debris or recyclables) or fully enclosed and fitted with a self-contained or separate compactor.
Each container collection requires a dedicated trip in which the container is loaded onto the truck, driven to the transfer facility, dumped and returned. Containers are used by large commercial, mixed-use and institutional buildings and also for aggregated collection.
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Loading area with truck making deliveries adjacent to compactor container.
Compactor container being loaded onto a roll off truck. Where possible, consolidating waste in compactor containers at the building or neighborhood scale will reduce the impacts of truck collection in the community and citywide.
Roll on truck pulling a compactor from a loading dock.
