This invention relates to a method of handling waste so that the waste is taken into a waste container on a vehicle through the top part of the front end of the container, whereupon it is pushed backwards in the container by means of a transverse vertical wall located at the front end of the container and movable back and forth in relation to the container. The invention also relates to a waste handling system comprising a vehicle provided with loading equipment and a waste container lifted onto the vehicle and provided at the front end of the container with a transverse vertical wall movable back and forth in relation to the container. In addition, the invention relates to a waste container which can be fitted onto a vehicle and which is provided at the front end of the container with a transverse vertical wall movable back and forth in relation to the container.

Various waste collecting systems are known wherein in a vehicle provided with loading equipment, there is press equipment which is separate from the waste container of the vehicle and located immediately behind the driver's cab. The front part of the vehicle has lift arms with which a smaller waste container to be emptied can be lifted from the ground in front of the vehicle and tipped backwards over the cab, upside down. Alternatively, the lift arms may be such that they lift the container to be emptied from beside the vehicle. Behind the cab the contents of the container are dropped from above into the press equipment.

In the vehicle behind the press part, there is loading equipment for handling of waste containers. A bigger waste container, into which pressed waste is collected, has been lifted by the loading equipment onto the vehicle behind the press equipment, and a piston of the press equipment pushes the waste to be collected into the container through an opening, which is located in the front wall of the container and is equipped with an opening door, and compresses the waste in the container. The waste packer takes a space of about 2 m lengthwise and it weighs about 2000 kg.

On the other hand, such conventional hook equipment known which is used generally for lifting various lo containers onto a transportation vehicle. Such hook equipme is described, for example, in publication FI 63350. Publication GB 2 007 619 discloses a telescopic trail load container, the front part of which can be pushed insi its back part. As the bottom part of the front end is push on top of the bottom part of the back end, the equipment al needs a pushing piston moving the contents of the front pa away from the front part bottom and into the back part. Usi the piston the whole load container is also emptied throu the opened back end.

The object of this invention is to obtain a waste handli system wherein collecting and compressing of the waste can performed by means of conventional hook equipment. The meth according to the invention is characterized in that t vertical wall is moved in relation to the container by t same loading equipment of the vehicle which is used also f lifting the container onto the vehicle and for removing from the vehicle and for tipping the container. The system a the waste container according to the invention a characterized in that the vertical wall movable in relati to the container is provided with a gripping part, to whi a hook member of the vehicle's loading equipment can be fitt both in order to move the vertical wall in relation to t container and in order to lift the container onto the vehic and to remove it from the vehicle and to tip the container

Using the system according to the invention the waste c be moved away from the front part of the container on t vehicle in a very simple manner. No press equipment required on the vehicle, but compressing of the waste tak place by using the same loading equipment which is used f lifting the waste container onto the vehicle and for removi it from the vehicle. The system is especially useful for was not tending to re-expand to a larger space after compressio when the pressing force ceases. The system is especially wel suited, for example, for collecting glass, because glass not compressed.

The invention and its details are explained more closely in the following referring to the enclosed drawings, wherein

Figures 1 - 3 show side views of a vehicle for use in the system according to the invention and of a waste container according to one embodiment of the invention as well as various stages of operation of the method;

Figures 4 - 6 show side, top and front views, partly in section, of a waste container according to another embodiment of the invention in the filling and transportation position; Figure 7 shows a side view partly in section of the same waste container with the movable vertical wall pushed backwards;

Figures 8 - 10 show side, top and front views of the movable vertical wall of the same waste container; and Figures 11 and 12 show bottom and top views of the same waste container without the movable vertical wall.

A vehicle 1 has hook equipment 2 for lifting a waste container 3 onto the vehicle and for lowering it to the ground. The hook equipment is formed by a hook part with an L-shape when seen from the side and with a vertical arm 4 having a gripping hook 5 at its top end. The back end of the horizontal arm 6 of the L-shaped hook part is mounted to the loading equipment so that it turns around a transverse rotational shaft 7. The top part of the front wall of the container 3 carries a gripping link 8 with which the hook 5 of the loading equipment grips.

In the embodiment shown in Figures 1 - 3, the front part 9 of the waste container 3 is movable and can be pushed to nest with the back part 10, so that the bottom of the front part is located below the bottom of the back part. Besides a front wall 9', the front part 9 has side walls and a bottom. It is open at the top and its back end is also open. Correspondingly, the front end of the back part 10 of the waste container is open. The back part 10 has side walls, a bottom and a top wall.

The vehicle also has at its front hydraulically operating lifting horns 11 with which to lift a smaller waste container 12 from the ground and to empty it by tipping into the waste container 3 located on the vehicle.

In Figure 1, the vehicle has been driven to the small waste container 12 and it has pushed the lifting horns 11 in the gripping recesses in the container. In Figure 2, t container 12 has been lifted up and the waste inside it falling into the container 3 located on the vehicle.

In Figure 3, the lifting horns have lowered the emp container 12 back to the ground and disengaged from it. T front part 9 and back part 10 of the container 3 on t vehicle are nesting. The nesting position of the container has been achieved by means of the hook part 4 of the loadi equipment 2 by turning the hook part 4, 6 backwards around t shaft 7 while the back part 10 of the container 3 is at t same time locked to the vehicle.

At the stage shown in Figure 3, the bottom of the fro part 9 of the container 3 has been pushed underneath t bottom of the back part 10. Thus, waste dropped from t smaller container 12 into the front part of the was container 3 on the vehicle has been moved into the back par of the container 3. When the front part is again pulled out it is empty and ready to receive waste to be dropped from th next smaller container 12.

In the embodiment shown in the figure, the clearance of th mouth of the gripping hook 5 of the loading equipment i sufficiently high so that with the L-shaped arm turning an the hook moving along a curved path, the gripping link 8 o the container may keep its height position and move i relation to the hook. Alternatively, the hook part 8 may b mounted telescopically to the vertical part of the L-shape arm, whereby the hook part may maintain its height positio with the L-shaped arm turning.

Emptying of the collecting container takes place by openin its back end and by tipping the container by means of th loading equipment, whereby its contents run out through th open back end. Figures 4 - 12 show an alternative solution for a wast container to be transported on a vehicle.

In this embodiment, in the main part 10 of the containe 3, both the side walls and the bottom 13 and the top wall 1 extend along the entire length of the container. The botto

part 13 has a gap 15 in the middle of its front part where the L-shaped arm 4, 6 of the loading equipment can move backwards. The top wall 14 has a filling opening 16.

The front part 9 of the container is formed by a movable vertical wall 17 and a covering part 18 mounted to its central part to cover a gap 15 in the main part of the container when the front part 9 is in its forward position. The covering part is inclined so that its front end is located higher than its back end. The bottom edge of the vertical wall 17 is also joined to a lower inclined part 19 which, however, does not extend as far backwards as the covering part 18.

To the sides of the vertical wall 17, there are attached backwardly protruding horizontal arms 20 carrying support rollers 21 at their extreme ends. The front surface of the vertical wall 17 has an ordinary gripping link 8 for the hook of the loading equipment.

In the filling position of the waste container, the vertical wall 17 is in its forward position. When the contents of the smaller waste container have been dropped into the container 3 through its filling opening 16, the L-shaped arm

4, 6 of the loading equipment moves backwards, also pushing the vertical wall 17 backwards and at the same time compressing the waste. The support rollers 21 run along guiding rails (not shown) located inside the container side walls. The inclined parts 18 and 19 of the front part 9 make it easier to push the waste backwards.

Figure 7 shows a loading equipment embodiment, wherein the L-shaped arm 4, 6 does not turn during the horizontal movement of the container 3 or the vertical wall 17, but moves backwards in a horizontal direction telescopically in relation to the loading equipment.

When the waste has been pushed into the back part, the vertical wall 17 returns to its forward position into which it is locked during transportation and tipping. The invention is not restricted to the embodiments presented above, but it may vary in different ways within the scope of the claims. Instead of the front loader formed by the lifting arms 11, a side loader may be used which lifts the

waste container to be emptied above the front part of t collecting container from beside the vehicle.