Front-loadable refuse container having side-loading robotic arm with motors and other mass mounted at rear of container and use of same with front-loading waste-hauling vehicle having hydraulic front forks or other retractably engageable lift means

A front-loading, refuse collecting vehicle is provided with a low-profile, front-loadable waste bin (intermediate container) and one or more, side-loading robotic arms. To reduce mechanical stresses along couplings between the vehicle and the combination of the intermediate container and the robotic arm(s), a major portion of the mass of the robotic arm mechanism is situated to the rear of the intermediate container. The intermediate container has a door (e.g. facing the front) and has a section opposite to the door (e.g. between the container and the vehicle), wherein the robotic arm mechanism may be operatively joined to the section so that refuse may be deposited into the intermediate container both through its door and by the robotic arm mechanism. The container also has one or more pockets and/or indents for receiving one or more retractably engageable lift members of a lift mechanism operable to lift the container.