[greenyes] Weight/Volume of Waste

["Peter Anderson" <anderson@no.address>]

Bob Krasowski asks:
"Can anyone tell me what the "typical" waste volume/weight ratio is. Say for
a
standard pile of U.S.A. garbage excluding the C&D. How many cubic yards
would
a ton of MSW take up after being collected in a standard truck if there is
such a thing as a standard truck.  How many tons would occupy ten or one
hundred cubic yards?"

Before recycling, in the U.S., a cubic yard of loose municipal solid waste
is often thought to weight about 250 pounds.

There is, as you note, no such thing as a standard truck.  Most waste
trucks, of course, have some degree of compaction, generally ranging from
1:2 to 1:5 packing ratio the original volume (not this is a fractional
number series and is not linear).  Thus, the packed load might be 500 pounds
per cubic yard or over a 1000 pounds.

Also, a packer truck may be 20 cubic yards in internal capacity, or it might
be as much as 30 (sometimes 33 with a bubble gate, but not much larger
because it will go overweight).  Generally, the heaviest net loads carried
in trash packers is 20,000 tons, but that is rare...something in the order
of 15,000 would be more typical in my experience.

                                                                   Peter

______________________________
Peter Anderson
RECYCLEWORLDS CONSULTING Corp
4513 Vernon Blvd. Suite 15
Madison, WI 53705
Ph:    (608) 231-1100
Fax:   (608) 233-0011
Cell    (608) 438-9062
email: anderson@no.address