Heavy Lifting 

In an effort to reduce the frequency—and therefore cost—of trash pick-up, some apartment owners have installed trash compactors at their communities that significantly increase the amount of trash that a Dumpster (waste container) can hold before it must be emptied.

But the compactors are significantly heavier, too.

Faced with the problem of having maintenance technicians push their waste containers from the compactor room to the curbside, Trinity Commons at Erwin—a Durham, N.C., community managed by Northwood Raven—purchased a motorized waste-container puller. This device is based on the product used in large shopping mall parking lots to return shopping carts to storefronts.

Known as the WasteCaddyLite, the 36-volt machine on wheels latches on to the waste containter and pulls the compacted trash to the curb without the stress and danger of doing so by hand. It can also move the waste containers down hallways, in parking garages, along aisles and through doors.

“The compacted trash weighs a ton sometimes and pushing and pulling puts our employees at risk for hernias, pulled muscles and slipping and falling,” says John Russo, Director of Operations for Trinity. “This device makes the process much faster, as the machine is doing all of the heavy work.”

Russo purchased the machine for $5,000 from D.J. Products and says it was worth the investment because it has minimized safety risks.

According to the manufacturer, the WasteCaddyLite can move garbage containers up to 10,000 pounds and is able to perform in a variety of weather conditions, including snow, sleet and gravel. — NAA’s Lauren Boston

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