North East Bin Hire cleans up with Isuzu

North East Bin Hire is based at Albury Wodonga on the New South Wales-Victorian border and have a hardworking fleet of 15 trucks that are used in construction and commercial waste removal, as well as disaster relief and recovery when needed.

Slotting into the roster is a fresh Isuzu FRR 110-240 aptly dubbed ‘8’ (Skip 8), which assists with tackling jobs on the trickier routes and terrain of the Albury-Wodonga hillsides.

Owner-operators Tom Hogan and Shannon Miles manage their 20 team members and capital assets including 900 skip bins in a feat of self-described ‘organised chaos’ aiming for a holistic approach to waste management.

“At North East Bin Hire we try to give a complete service to our customers,” said Tom.

“Whether it's local builders, renovators or homeowners, we provide them with skip bins, then process those through our sorting pads, diverting as much waste as possible from landfill and recycling steel and timber,” he added.

Shannon is the man behind monitoring the movements of the fleet with Tom taking on day-to-day tasks and jumping behind the wheel as the schedule demands.

Taking on the business of North East Bin Hire in 2020, Tom and Shannon found themselves in possession of a mixed truck fleet that was overworked, and ageing.

To maintain efficiency and reliability of service they went seeking a new truck with a generous payload that could fit their Merrill skip lift mechanism. This would replace a 21-year-old Isuzu NQR 450 that had done its time.

They headed to Blacklocks Isuzu in Wodonga to speak with Richard Pineros about the medium-wheelbase FRR 110-240.

“Blacklocks Isuzu are a big part of the community in Albury and working with Richard has been really good,” said Tom.

“With the lifting mechanism on the tray and needing to carry skip bins, payload was extremely important for us with the new Isuzu truck.

“We went with manual transmission for the mixed terrain—that first gear is so low you can pull up hills with no worries.”

The rugged FRR 110-240 delivers on payload with a GVM of 11,000kg and GCM of 16,000kg, supported by a four-cylinder turbocharged engine producing maximum power at 177kW and 765Nm of torque.

With an eye-catching all-over wrap applied by Andrew Reid at Signarama, Skip 8 is delivering great service, no matter what the day throws its way.

“In terms of size, the FRR is fantastic, and the manoeuvrability was a huge selling point.”

“It's great to drive, with a better turning circle than my dual-cab ute,” Tom noted.

Tom believes their business of skip bin hire and waste removal is one of the hardest-wearing applications there is on a truck.

They’ve had no issues with the new Isuzu, which is backed by consistent servicing at the Blacklocks dealership. Knowing that parts are also readily available from the Isuzu National Parts Distribution Centre in Melbourne brings some additional peace of mind to this hardworking operation.

“Our trucks work hard, they’re getting loaded and unloaded multiple times per day in all sorts of situations where we are reversing over gutters, trenches and dirt at work sites.

“So the consistency of parts design is one of the things I really appreciate about Isuzu trucks as a fleet manager.

“If a driver nicks a panel out on a work site or breaks a mirror, I know that I will be able to replace it easily and quickly.

“The consistency and reliability of these trucks for owner-operators is assured.”