Swept Paths 101

A swept path assessment demonstrates that a specific vehicle can access and circulate throughout all trafficable areas of a site, reversing and moving freely without hitting obstructions or other vehicles.

When completing a swept path assessment for waste collection vehicles, there are additional features to consider. These specialised vehicles vary in size depending upon the collection service provider and whether a development has adopted a private or Council waste collection arrangement. Waste trucks also have different features governing the way they can move and collect waste throughout a site.

Preparing a swept path assessment for a waste collection vehicle requires greater consideration.

There’s a lot to think about when considering a waste solution for your next development.

Waste management is about more than ensuring your chutes and bin room designs are sufficient for building occupants. To ensure that waste can be collected, there are a few extra points to consider:

• Waste collection trucks differ in model and can be rear-loading, side-loading, front-loading or hook-loading. This means that additional clearance needs to be considered in swept path assessments to allow the trucks to load bins according to their specific design.
• Most Councils require that waste collection vehicles do not reverse in or out of a site to reduce conflicts and improve safety for pedestrians, cyclists and other vehicles.
• Many Councils have specific guidelines for how waste collection should be performed. For instance, the City of Melbourne requires extra clearance on either side of the waste truck to allow a person to exit the vehicle ‒ an important stipulation when the collection vehicle is undertaking waste collection along a narrow laneway, which are prevalent throughout inner Melbourne.

Considerations, like the above, may necessitate a costly last-minute redesign for a site and this is why we recommend employing a waste management team early on in the development process.

At Ratio, our waste management consultants perform swept path assessments as part of their role rather than relying on external traffic consultants. This provides several benefits to our clients, including:

1. Reduced project delays, as we don’t get bogged down in back-and-forth communication between a transport engineer who is traditionally tasked with the swept path assessment.
2. We understand exactly how a waste truck operates all the specific requirements of Councils that a traffic consultant may not be aware of.

The second point is of particular note. Ratio’s waste management team have encountered instances where a swept path assessment was performed by a traffic engineer who wasn’t aware of the specific requirements of the waste management vehicle ‒ such as where the bin loading mechanism was located ‒ which has resulted in project delays that could have been avoided.

Reach out to Ratio’s Waste Management team for enquiries about your project needs.