Case study

Food waste handling

A commercial food-supplier was looking to improve its manual process with increased efficiency, while reducing the risk of manual strain on its staff.

Manual food handling

Their manual process involved staff members lifting heavy 55 litre plastic tubs and loading them onto flat-bed trolleys that were only ankle high from the ground—involving awkward bending, unsafe lifting and difficult steering. Additionally, the process was made difficult when tubs had to be emptied into larger skip bins at the back of the building.

This physically demanding process also increased the risk of musculoskeletal injuries—which could be costly and inconvenient to the staff with time required away from work, as well as potential lost productivity for the company.

Custom-made food handling solution

Electrodrive worked with the food handling company to design and build a customised solution to help increase their work process efficiencies, while decreasing manual handling and physical labour.

The brief entailed developing a custom-made button-operated loading dock tipper which would empty tubs of waste into a skip bin below.

Looking for a safe, ergonomic and efficient solution for staff to effortlessly move heavy plastic tubs of food waste through the site and to dispose of the waste without the need to bend, lift and twist to manually empty heavy tubs.

A custom-made stainless steel tub trolley was developed for lifting and moving 55 litre plastic market tubs. The user was able to easily position the trolley to secure the tub, and with the simple foot pedal action, by lifting and locking the tub into place. The tub could then be easily transported using the trolley’s ergonomic steering. The tipper was specifically designed for the trolley to slot into place at the top of the tipping dock station.

A control panel was installed for the user to then safely control the tipping of the trolley and tub, emptying the tub into a bin below.