The municipal trucks category is a wide-ranging one that includes new and used asphalt hot boxes, recycle trucks, refuse trucks, vacuum trucks, sweepers, spreaders/gritters, snowplows, traffic management vehicles, and other equipment. Manufactures include DAF, Dennis Eagle, ERF, HINO, Isuzu, IVECO, MAN, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi Fuso, Renault, Scania, and Volvo.
Two larger subcategories of municipal trucks are refuse trucks and sweepers, both of which have roots tied to horse-drawn equipment. Refuse trucks, also called waste collection vehicles, rubbish trucks, dumpsters, bin wagons, and dustbin lorries, advanced greatly in the 1920s when covered models debuted in Europe and later when the Garwood Load Packer introduced a compactor that reportedly doubled the capacity of typical refuse trucks. Current models include front, rear, and side loaders. Additionally, some operators are experimenting with electric models.
Modern street sweepers, also called street cleaners, graduated from the mechanical model Joseph Whitworth invented in the 1840s to sophisticated truck-mounted equipment suitable for streets and industrial sites that integrate brushes, water tanks, jets and sprayers, pumps, suction hoses, and vacuum systems that can pick up chemicals, oil, and tiny particles of dirt and debris. Broadly, municipal trucks integrate GPS, reverse cameras, weighing systems, and other features.
