A family wheelie bin washing business has improved fuel economy and productivity with a newly acquired Isuzu Traypack.
In 2016, on a sweltering summer’s day in Mackay, Margaret Dingle was busy cleaning the family’s fetid wheelie bin when her husband, Chris, had an epiphany: Could there be a business opportunity in such a malodorous task?
The Dingles decided to give it a shot and procured wheelie bin wash technology from a British supplier living in Mandurah, Western Australia.
“Initially, we just had a ute, with all the signage and logos done up. We got a lot of interest and people started signing up,” said Margaret Dingle.
Before long the business – Deluxe Wheelie Wash – had grown to encompass households and commercial businesses all around Mackay and surrounding districts.
This spurred the Dingles on to purchase an Isuzu Ready-to-Work NLR 45-150 Traypack from Crokers Truck Centre in Mackay.
“The Isuzu appealed to us for a variety of reasons, but mainly because it already had all the key features we needed including a reversing camera, good suspension and a truck’s payload,” said Margaret Dingle.
“With the Isuzu, we can carry the mechanical cleaning unit, as well as a 1,000-litre water tank, because we actually carry our own water to the sites – which was impossible with the ute.”
The Isuzu features a hydraulic hoist mounted on the rear of the tray which lifts and rotates the bins so they can be washed thoroughly inside and out, with minimal manual handling required. The hoist unit was custom-built by Bryan’s Bodies at Mackay.
“We are an environmentally friendly business, so we collect all the grey water from the cleaning process,” said Margaret Dingle.
“We have a permit from the council allowing us to pump it back into the sewer system,” said Dingle – adding that the NLR 45-150 Traypack has ample capacity for the fresh and grey water tanks. “Now that we have enough payload capacity to carry the 1,000 litres of water, we can also do more for our customers. We recently bought a floor washer and started offering the service of pressure washing and concrete cleaning as well.”
The NLR 45-150 features Isuzu’s 4HK1 four-cylinder engine rated at 110kW at 2,800rpm and 375Nm of torque delivered between 1,600 and 2,800rpm.
With a Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM) of 4,500kg, the NLR can also be driven on a car licence.
“It’s so easy to drive with the large windscreen providing excellent visibility when negotiating tight lanes and alleys to access commercial bins,” said Margaret Dingle.
“More often than not we have to reverse out, for which the reversing camera comes in very handy.
“Fuel economy is great: I expected the truck to use more fuel, but it’s actually pretty similar to the ute.”