Specialist focus: Plant Hire: Cleaning up

According to a survey by plant hire giant Hewden, almost half of construction site managers set no clear environmental targets last year, yet more than two-thirds say their clients are increasing their environmental demands. Those clients include local authorities that are leading the green charge. So what can contractors do to improve their environmental image? Well, a look at the plant they are hiring and the companies they are hiring it from is a good starting point.

"As a hirer, we are in a unique position to engage with site managers on a daily basis and help influence what happens at site level," says Mark Moody, quality manager of Hewden.

Hewden has 44 locations certified to the International Environmental Management System Standard ISO 14001 and a further 16 depots will be certified by the end of the year. "We are constantly trying to become more environmentally responsible and demonstrate to our customers that we are the greenest hirer on the market," Moody says. "We currently recycle 80% of all our depot waste and won't stop until this is 100%. The environment forms part of our staff training programme, ensuring that all employees fully understand the issues and the ways in which they too can play a part in helping the environment. Energy usage is monitored and kept to a minimum and we recently ran a 'recycle your mobile' [phone] campaign, which was well received by staff. We have also looked at our transport policy and switched our fuel supplier to Shell as this proved to be less corrosive and also has lower emission levels."

Hewden makes similar demands of its suppliers. Moody says: "We carry out pre-audits with all our potential suppliers. This includes an analysis of their environmental credentials and a site visit to ensure they practise what they preach. We would encourage our customers to ask the same questions of plant hirers."

Biodegradable oil

Hewden offers, on request, a range of machines with biodegradable oil. Alan Huddart, general manager, product and pricing, says: "This is a service we currently provide to the Environment Agency on a range of excavators from 1.5t to 20t. From 2008, all our machines will be ordered pre-filled with biodegradable oil."

None of Hewden's fleet runs on biofuel yet, but the company is trialling diesel particulate filters (DPFs) with a view to fitting them to all equipment in London and the Home Counties early next year. "If the filters prove successful, we will roll out the installation on a national scale," Huddart says.

Oil spill kits are available on request. "We currently provide this service on a national scale for Balfour Beatty and are trying to encourage more of our customers to take up the product offering," says Huddart.

Speedy Hire is also taking the initiative on environment issues. It recently placed an order for an initial four Modec electric trucks for its delivery fleet, claiming to be the first tool or plant hire company to move to electric vehicles. The first four units will be used in London, but the company expects to order more for use in the capital and elsewhere if they prove a success.

Ian Leonard, Speedy's head of transport, says: "It makes good commercial sense for companies to consider the impact they make on the environment. The introduction of measures such as the congestion charge provide incentives for businesses such as ourselves to look at alternatives to traditional means of making deliveries We believe initiatives such as these will give us a competitive advantage."

Speedy says this investment is part of a wider commitment to environmental initiatives. "Our commitment to this issue has enabled us to reduce our average CO2 emissions by 14% over the last five years," Leonard says. "We are always looking at new and innovative ways to further reduce our environmental impact within our own operations and throughout our supply chain."

Speedy's Generators division is also encouraging its customers to reduce their carbon footprint by introducing BioPower, which it claims is the first nationally available biofuel rental power system. The generators are powered by 100% biofuel, a clean-burning alternative fuel produced from oilseed crops. Speedy Generators is aiming to lead the field in moving the plant hire business away from traditional fossil fuels.

Although the use of oilseed crops as a fuel raises other environmental issues, Speedy's BioPower generators are carbon neutral, it says, as any CO2 emissions are reabsorbed by the growing oilseed crop and therefore reduce greenhouse gas production. Risks associated with spillages are also reduced as any spillage degrades quickly and safely.

And there is no loss of performance, says Mick Jones, divisional director of Speedy Generators. "Utility companies and their contractors, local authorities, events organisers and major retailers are already expressing considerable interest."

Customer expectations

Ainscough Crane Hire says some customers, particularly the blue chips that have their own strict environmental policies, expect their hire companies to have serious environmental credentials. Ainscough is ISO 14001 certified at all depots. All depots have waste licences, and dispose of all oil filters, batteries and similar items according to guidelines of the hazardous waste regulations. All used tyres are recycled. All cranes have spill kits, which Ainscough supplies to the manufacturer for installation with the new cranes.

All of Ainscough's predominantly Liebherr fleet can be powered by biofuel, but Ainscough says it has been unable to obtain fuel deliveries. Nor does Ainscough have any cranes fitted with DPFs, although they do have exhaust gas recirculation systems.

Its Liebherr truck-mounted tower cranes can be run from a generator to power the crane to reduce noise and emissions.

Aggreko is an ISO 14001-accredited hire company that aims to exceed this standard and carries out quality audits on its suppliers.

All generators hired from Aggreko can run on 5% biofuel and a significant number of them on 100% biofuel, although service intervals need to be shortened and filters changed more frequently. The company advises that biodiesel is best used where continuous running is expected. It supplied 212 generators to the Glastonbury festival this year, including 12 in the Environmental Enclosure that ran on biofuel, primar-ily recycled cooking oil.

However, Derek Jones, A-Plant's compliance, health and safety general manager, reckons the benefit of biofuel is questionable. "A-Plant does not supply biodiesel because with only 5% bio content, it offers little environmental benefit, it is very costly, is difficult to obtain and cannot be used on certain vehicles or plant," he says. That said, he adds that A-Plant can offer biodegradable hydraulic oils on request, as well as machines fitted with DPFs.

Jones says most A-Plant machines are fully bunded, but the company can supply spill kits and offers the Fire Safe system to assist in dealing with spilled oil. A-Plant is trialling a 'nappy' type drip tray that absorbs oil and allows water to disperse through the membrane, he says. The captured oil is retained in the pad and disposed of in line with legislation.

GAP is increasingly using battery-powered traffic lights in preference to diesel gen sets. As with many hire companies spill kits are widely available, but GAP is also looking at compressors with bunded fuel tanks built in to avoid the need for the spill kits. Its depots have bunded fuel tanks for derv/gas oil storage and for waste oil and lubricants.

GAP has reviewed the use of biohydraulic oils on its Kubota mini-excavators and this can be supplied factory-fitted on 1.5t and 3t models or retrofitted on all models. GAP says many customers are willing to pay for this option and the firm has approached the Carbon Trust to assess its carbon footprint and plans to act on the findings to reduce its impact.

Pump down the volume

Pump hire firms Selwood and Sykes see noise as the key environmental issue to address. Selwood has introduced a new generation of pumps that it claims are the quietest on the market, with noise levels as low as 58db(A) at full speed and load. Bunded fuel tanks are standard.

Selwood incorporates the Selprime self-priming system with a water-tolerant diaphragm air pump, eliminating problems of oil vapour emissions and oil emulsification associated with other priming systems. Telemetry and auto start systems reduce the consumption of fuel at many sites as the pumps work only when required and start automatically on demand.

The company has a range of hydraulic submersible pumps filled with biodegradable oil. Biodegradable oil has been used in dumpers and excavators when specifically requested. Spill kits are also available.

Selwood is ISO 14001 accredited and finds customers such as large utilities demand it has environmental management systems in place. It has arranged environmental awareness workshops for Yorkshire Water and made a presentation to Thames Water's Sustainable Environmental Action Knowledge working party.

Sykes is in the process of ISO 14001 accreditation and has acted to reduce the noisiness of its pumps. "We have invested heavily in our Super Wispaset range of super silenced pump units, which have sound insulating canopies," says environmental manager David Harris. Wispasets are integrally bunded to contain any spillages and reduce the risk of oil or fuel contamination on site. For the rest of the range, Sykes offers drip trays.

It has also developed the filtration on its Super Wispaset range to reduce the emission of oil mist from the pump priming system. This filtration solution can be retrofitted to any Sykes unit.

Sykes' Model2-100 and Model2-150 Sweepax pumps use biodegradable hydraulic oils, and although none of its hire fleet currently runs on biofuel or has DPFs, these can be specified on request for pump purchases.

Technical director Bob Willoughby adds: "The environmental concerns that our clients most commonly raise are noise and spillage and we have addressed these with a wide range of equipment designed to meet these challenges. Beyond this, there is not yet significant demand for emission control above legal requirements, or for fuel diversification. Indeed, we used to offer propane-powered engines, but demand was so low we dropped them from the range."

However, demand is increasing as Hewden's survey revealed. "We recently surveyed 100 site managers and found that 68% have seen an increase in demand from their clients," Moody reveals. "This clearly shows that the environment is something that affects the entire supply chain. As awareness increases, so too will demand. The same survey revealed that the biggest concerns our customers have are around recycling and energy usage."

But the big question is: are they prepared to pay extra? "It remains to be seen what hire rate premiums customers will pay for greener solutions," Moody concludes.