Technology is fundamental to making processes more efficient, more cost-effective and better for end users. For the waste and recycling industry, technologies are being adopted both internally and externally, transforming services and meeting the changing needs of society. Smart bins, smart data and a focus on integrating these technologies for more effective operations are key to this transformation.
Why change?
As populations grow, cities become more congested and housing spreads to more rural areas, good waste management becomes ever more important. There are several factors for waste and recycling management companies – and those who contract to them – to consider:
Reliable collections – residential and commercial customers pay for their waste collection as part of their council or municipal taxes or business taxes. They expect reliable collections, whether they are in the heart of the city or the middle of the country. Authorities need to be confident that their waste and recycling supplier can collect on time – delivering an efficient service every time.
Fuel costs – in the past few years, fuel prices have increased significantly. This has increased costs to waste and recycling businesses, which usually operate a large fleet of vehicles – usually running on diesel fuel. Those companies that are replacing ICE vehicles with electric vehicles know that there are range limitations and so may need to change their route planning to account for range and charging opportunities.
Climate awareness – it’s no longer acceptable to send all waste to landfill. Individual households know that they should be reducing their general waste and recycling or reusing wherever possible. Businesses are subject to increasing legislation and reporting that demonstrates they are making every effort to reduce waste and work towards a carbon-neutral position.
Competition – authorities, local governments and others looking for waste and recycling management services have high expectations. They want to see a commitment to helping their customers meet their legal and societal requirements. Most importantly, they want to contract out to a company that can prove that it is up to speed with the latest technologies and processes. Part of this assessment is likely to look at these companies’ approach to smart bins.
What are smart bins?
Smart bins use technology to improve collection processes. They use individual sensors that send a range of data back to the waste and recycling company. That data is analysed and used to help the company design collection routes that are most efficient and cost-effective.
Cities are already using smart bin technology. In Edinburgh, sensors have been installed on 11,000 communal and street litter bins. The sensors collect data on how often the bin is used, when the bin is full, and when the bin has been emptied.
Similarly, Manchester installed solar-powered smart bins into some of the busiest public areas in the city in 2019. The bins send an alert when they need to be emptied. The bins were also bigger than the original standard litter bins. Manchester City Council ran trials on the bins, which showed that using smart bins reduced the time that staff spent checking and emptying bins by 90%.
The technology – which is also in use in other places for domestic waste collection as well as municipal bins – helps to prevent overflowing bins, and allows staff time to be spent on other tasks.
Smart bins for Pay As You Throw
The next stage for smart bins is one that is already in use in several places around the world. Pay As You Throw (PAYT) is a method for variable charging for waste disposal. Essentially, the more you throw away, the more you pay.
This is, of course, an incentive for people to waste less, to recycle more, and to put more thought into what they are buying and using. Where it is already in place, authorities point to measurable outcomes in terms of lower waste and higher recycling.
For example, South Korea is often used as an example of a country where PAYT is a success. It has been using this system since the mid-1990s and now has one of the highest rates of recycling in the world. Sitting alongside financial initiatives to recycle, PAYT focuses people’s minds on what they are buying, using and throwing away.
In many places, PAYT uses dedicated waste bags, which residents buy, and so don’t need smart bin technologies. However, increasingly new PAYT schemes will rely on smart bin technology because they are likely to charge by the weight of waste rather than the number of bags. Waste and recycling is collected and weighed and then a bill sent direct to the house or business owner.
How could waste and recycling companies really leverage smart bin technologies? Integrating this essential data with other business operations could considerably reduce costs, making the business more competitive and more attractive to authorities that are looking for more intelligent ways to manage this critical process.
Integrating smart bins across the waste and recycling stream
The most obvious benefit to integrating smart bin technology with general waste and recycling management systems is to improve route planning.
The latest smart bin technology relies key data to collection companies. This means that, instead of running the same route at the same time every week, companies can plan routes that only take in bins that need to be emptied.
This increases the efficiency of collections, reduces fuel use – and therefore pollution – and makes more effective use of the collection team’s time. From a customer service point of view, it means that customers don’t need to put their bins out unless they are full, and that full bins are emptied quickly and reliably.
Smart bin technology for other processes
A modern waste and recycling operation needs to integrate technology across the board. Knowing how much recycling is being collected on a daily basis, for example, allows companies to make the most efficient use of their recycling facilities. Over time, the data accumulated from smart bins will help companies to see trends and plan ahead, creating further long-term efficiencies.
It also helps to improve reporting, so that waste companies can show their customers exactly where they are making efficiencies and how they are contributing to positive end-customer service.
Smart technologies from ISB Global
Our market-leading Waste & Recycling One software includes a range of mobile and web apps that support integrated waste management:
RoutiLogix – a logistics and scheduling app that allows companies to manage planning, scheduling and optimisation using a flexible approach based on the latest data.
DriviLogix – with an easy-to-use interface, this app allows drivers to accurately follow routes, plan breaks and manage any field issues, such as waste contamination, sending data straight back to the company.
BinLogix – this is our pre-integrated mobile and web app that uses bin sensors to identify location, collection schedule, fill rate and more.
Find out more about these, and our complete integrated solution for waste and recycling management companies.
