Two new Doosan wheel loaders for GP Green Recycling
Driver preference and substantial fuel savings help Doosan win new order for DL350-3 machines
FOLLOWING extensive product testing, driver preference and substantial fuel cost savings has led to a new order for two new Doosan DL350-3 (Stage IIIB-compliant) wheel loaders at Lanarkshire-based GP Green Recycling, a leading specialist in the recycling of green waste and food waste into compost.
This follows on from the purchase of a previous Doosan DL350-3 wheel loader at the end of 2013. Supplied by Scotia Plant Ltd, the three Doosan wheel loaders have replaced three existing Doosan DL400 machines and will cover all the different loading applications at the business, whose activities include processing 60,000 tonnes of material a year.
Jim Gilchrist, managing director of GP Green Recycling, said: “Over the years, we have been very pleased with the performance of the Doosan wheel loaders in our fleet and they have always represented good value for money. Before we bought the last two wheel loaders, we carried out tests on an equivalent machine from another manufacturer, but our drivers said they preferred the new Doosan machine and so it was a simple choice to choose Doosan for the second and third machines.
He continued: ‘We are also seeing a very positive difference in terms of a 30-50% saving on fuel costs which will probably amount to a very impressive £10,000 to £15,000 a year per machine. Impressively, the fuel saving has not come at the expense of power as the DL350-3 machines easily outperform the DL400 loaders, and this complements the feedback we have received from our drivers regarding the comfort and operation which was very good.’
The DL350-3 model is part of the latest generation of Doosan large wheel loaders, which combine fuel-efficient Scania SCR Stage IIIB-compliant diesel engines with ZF 5-speed transmissions, and many other features, to minimize fuel consumption such as auto idle, torque convertor lock-up in second to fifth gear, electronically controlled fan, low rolling resistance axles and load sensing hydraulics.
The DL350-3 wheel loader is powered by the 9-litre Scania DC09 SCR five-cylinder diesel engine delivering a maximum power output of 202kW at 1,800 rev/min. With a bucket capacity of 3.7 cubic metres, the Doosan DL350-3 wheel loader is intended to meet a wide range of material-handling needs from loading and transporting recycled material to industrial, mining and quarrying applications.
Green waste is delivered to GP Green Recycling’s headquarters at Blantyre in Lanarkshire, primarily in polythene bags which are opened by hand and the contents segregated, with contaminating rubbish removed.
The segregated material is fed by the Doosan wheel loaders into large shredding machines, each capable of processing 30 tonnes of material per hour. Once the material has been shredded, it is then placed in windrows for the composting process to begin, which takes about 12 weeks to complete. The product is then transferred into a storage area in new windrows, where it has to be regularly rehandled by the Doosan wheel loaders to aerate and speed the composting process.
In the next stage, the Doosan wheel loaders pass the product through a large industrial screed which sizes the product into three different grades for different applications. GP Green Recycling produce an extremely rich compost, high in fibre and nutrients, which meets BSI PAS 100 standards and is suitable for a variety of situations including regeneration projects, agricultural, horticultural and landscaping use.
