What is smart waste management?
- Smart waste management is a smart city technology that uses sensors on trash and recycling bins to notify sanitation crews when the bins must be emptied.
- Smart waste management programs make waste collection more efficient and less costly, and they improve the visual appeal of public spaces by ensuring that bins are emptied before they are overflowing with waste or they attract pests and vermin.
With the rise of smart city initiatives, many urban areas are implementing smart waste management programs that help to improve the efficiency and reduce the cost of managing refuse collection and disposal operations. But what is smart waste management precisely? How does it enable sanitation crews to be more efficient, and what benefits does it offer citizens? This short introduction, “what is smart waste management?”, provides a brief overview of the technology and information about its benefits.
What is smart waste management?
Smart waste management technology uses sensor-enabled trash and recycling bins to improve the efficiency of refuse collection, to mitigate odor and to enhance the appearance of waste bins in public areas.
Smart waste management is part of the smart cities movement, where data, analytics and technology are employed to improve the management of city services and the quality of life for citizens. Other forms of smart city technology include intelligent transportation programs, smart public safety technology, smart meter and smart grid solutions for public utilities, and digital platforms that improve access to city services.
What is smart waste management intended to accomplish?
Smart waste management addresses challenges that include:
- Inefficient waste collection. The uneven accumulation of trash often means that waste collection teams are tending to trash bins that may be nearly empty while other trash bins that are not on the daily schedule may be overflowing.
- Over accumulation of trash in public spaces. Trash bins that are not emptied in a timely manner can lead to infestations, increase health risks and prompt residents to avoid the area and businesses to relocate.
What is smart waste management technology?
Smart waste management technology includes sensor-enabled trash bins that notify sanitation crews when they are full or when negative environmental conditions are present. Sensors can also prevent odor and pests by dispersing chemical sprays when necessary.
Additional technology may include:
- GPS capabilities to track location of bins.
- Solar lids and panels that can power a trash compacting function.
- An Internet of Things platform to monitor and manage smart waste management networks.
- Data analytics to understand usage trends.
- A powerful network that can link receptacles and transmit data for analytics.
What is smart waste management retrofitting?
Smart waste management can be accomplished with new trash and recycling containers that are manufactured with sensors, or existing bins may be retrofitted with sensors to reduce the cost of implementing a smart waste management program.
What is smart waste management’s greatest benefit for cities?
Benefits of smart city waste management initiatives for cities are primarily related to cost reduction. Smart waste management technology enables more efficient use of time for sanitation crews, which results in less wear and tear on vehicles, reduced use of fuel, and less time and resources spent handling complaints from residents.
What is smart waste management’s advantages for residents?
For citizens, smart waste management means more attractive and safer public spaces, where trash bins are never overflowing, health risks are averted and infestations of pests and vermin are avoided.
What is smart waste management infrastructure from Spectrum Enterprise?
Like all smart city technology, smart waste management requires a foundation of connectivity that can enable the flow of vast amounts of information collected by IoT sensors. Spectrum Enterprise is a trusted smart city partner, providing a two-way, fully interactive digital network along with symmetrical speeds up to 100 Gbps for enterprise clients and city governments. Spectrum also has established one of the nation’s largest LTE cellular networks and more than 350,000 Wi-Fi hotspots nationwide which will soon be capable of handling wireless speeds of 1 Gbps.
Learn more about Spectrum Smart Cities at www.spectrumsmartcities.com.