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It’s sweet to think back to all the jobs I’ve held over the years and recall how I’ve come to work at each of them, allowing me to tick off many experiences along the way. Then there’s where I am now as a 30 year old, working for a local family business called Fretus Waste Services, steering a rear loader during the dark of the night while doing commercial garbage around the north shore of Sydney. It’s the kind of gig which is very hard to come by these days, reflecting an old school way of waste collection which is disappearing. It’s really a great escape from the direction most of the collection sector is going in!
I first heard of the Fretus name back in 2015 and discovered the family’s historic presence in the waste industry, in addition to learning of their significant achievement bringing the “Rapid Rail System” into Australia from the USA. While in the process of researching the family’s earlier days of operations, I found myself on the phone with the boss discussing a job opportunity! This would see me fill a vacant position involving an alliance with a dream truck of mine and a nature of work I was now pursuing, exactly what I envisaged some 10 years earlier. Anyway it didn’t take much to satisfy Mitch and sway him down this latest employment path - the right things happen at the right time.
Apologies to anybody who was hanging out for a video of my fulltime JP5/ACCO weapon, I’ll have to keep you waiting a bit longer. In the meantime, I present this upload of the youngest vehicle in our mini fleet of four trucks! This rear loading compactor was built + delivered at the very end of 2022 to handle some new clientele and act as a reliable spare truck as required. It’s also allocated to the small Saturday run, which I alternate fortnightly with my co-worker, being the only time I regularly take it for a spin. However, my truck was off the road for a number of shifts, so it served its purpose as a back-up during that weekday period, which gave me a chance to have a good go at this new machine and of course capture some documenting footage along the way.
Firstly, it was cool to try out a modern Hino GH cab chassis to see what the latest offering is from this truck builder. It’s a great rig at least from a driving perspective, I’d have no complaints getting one of these to use permanently. They’re simple, comfy, quiet, get moving ok and visibility is sweet, what more do you want! I’d also had very little experience using Garwood equipment, so I was excited to give this 12m Powapact body a run. After testing it out a decent amount, this is the make of rear loader I’d want as a new truck with what’s on the Aussie market nowadays. I appreciate Garwood has kept their gear basic - now rare PLC controls, only the functions you need and no interlocks that affect the efficiency and ease of the job. How about the option to change between single and two-touch packer cycling, also see if you can guess during which clip autostart packer mode is on =D For the small sweep blade on this model, it takes a generous bite of the hopper! The bin shake ability in conjunction with the arrestor bar is excellent too.
I'd wanted to put together a tidy video of a newer Garwood rear loader, but didn’t expect I’d be doing it while using one myself! As usual, it’s a pain in the arse stuffing around capturing the videos on the job, yet I always enjoy meshing the clips together to see the finished result. It’s a lengthy compilation here, but you don’t often see Aussie C&I pick-ups, also not much of this garbage truck combo exists on KZfaq, plus there’s the different angles, bin sizes, pack cycles, driving shots and even a 3.5t load ejection! You’ll realise this truck is very quiet as well, it operates at idle with a higher capacity hydraulic pump, which lets off plenty of noise itself, but the loudest part is the banging sound of each pack stage reaching end point. I can’t help but wonder how a larger Hino FM with a Garwood Maxipact would perform in place of my regular truck, perhaps one day I’ll find out? Enough from me, I hope this video is enjoyed, also be sure to set the picture quality to 720p!