A unique powerhouse: The new Unimog U 530 used by the City of Magdeburg’s waste management department impresses with its versatile and practical features, which significantly ease the daily workload of Steven Buder and his colleagues.
Steven Buder has been on board since 2013 and is perhaps one of the happiest employees at the City of Magdeburg’s Waste Management Department. “It’s really true, and I’m not kidding: getting to drive the Unimog every day and do meaningful work with it is a lot of fun!” says Buder, who can’t stop raving when asked about “his” new Unimog U 530, classically painted in the municipal RAL 2011 deep orange.
On top of that, the Unimog is one of a kind: long wheelbase, five-cubic-meter roll-off container, remote-controlled Palfinger loading crane with bucket, UNI-TOUCH® control system, auxiliary heater, municipal mounting plate, and front PTO—which is mainly used for specialized tasks. It also features an Aebi Schmidt snowplow blade up front and a five-cubic-meter spreader mounted on top for winter service operations.
“The best part is,” Unimog lead driver Steven Buder continues enthusiastically, “that the Unimog is actually one of the few vehicles in our fleet that runs on HVO100.” This is so-called hydrotreated vegetable oil, a sustainable, synthetic diesel fuel made from waste and residual materials. It is sulfur-free and reduces CO₂ emissions by up to 90 percent. The vehicle is so innovative that Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks even showcases it at trade shows, such as IFAT in Munich.
The fleet of the Magdeburg Waste Management Company otherwise consists largely of just under 30 Mercedes-Benz Econic low-floor garbage trucks. 134 employees work in this division of the fleet. Amid all the Unimog enthusiasm, the vehicle’s actual purpose almost got lost in the mix: Steven Buder and his two colleagues, Marcel Fanselow and Robert Ehrenbrecht, collect bulky waste almost every day with the Unimog. This includes illegal waste that “environmental offenders” prefer to dump in the city instead of properly disposing of it at one of the three municipal recycling centers.
Steven Buder, Staff, Magdeburg City Waste Services
Steven Buder, Marcel Fanselow, and Robert Ehrenbrecht—the three with the Unimog—deal mainly with bulky waste on a daily basis. Every year, approximately 420 tons of illegally dumped waste accumulates in public spaces in the capital of Saxony-Anhalt. A recent curious find was a cache of illegally disposed cannabis: They found three cubic meters of “weed,” packed in trash bags – and handed it over to the public order office. “We take away broken safes, illegally stored car batteries, and other junk,” says Buder, glancing over at “his” Unimog. Tomorrow they’ll be back out in the field, loading up illegal trash.
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