#Smart trash collection full

Innovations centered around introducing a tablet interface to operate the chute door as well as to improve accountability, according to a blog post on Sidewalk Labs. With the aim to incentivize the community to recycle properly, Google’s smart city arm, Sidewalk Labs, recently hosted a one-week design sprint for a smart trash chute.

Americans toss an estimated 136 million tons of trash each year, over half of which can be recycled instead of taking up space in garbage cans, trucks and landfills. Google Looks at Smart Garbage Chutes to Improve RecyclingĪnother way to improve efficiency is to ensure that trash is properly sorted before it even gets to the curb. With something as simple to implement as a smartphone app, municipalities can gather more intelligence to provide better service to the community,” he writes. “By integrating this existing fleet with data, departments of public works can achieve greater operational efficiency. Moreover, with each city’s garbage fleet costing around $250,000, cities can reduce wear and tear on trucks by optimizing fleet routes through the use of mobile apps, Michael Allegretti, senior vice president of policy and strategic initiatives at Rubicon Global, writes in an Op-Ed on Smart Cities Dive. In fact, several cities - including Boston and Baltimore - are already employing “smart” trash cans with real-time sensors for city sidewalks with the aim to improve trash collection efficiency. According to Navigant Research, the global smart waste collection technology market is expected to grow from $57.6 million in 2016 to more than $223.6 million in 2025. “There’s a race to the bottom on price and companies are always looking for a differentiator.”Ĭompology isn’t alone, however. “Waste collection is a very competitive, highly commoditized business,” Gates says. The most profitable container is one that’s all air.”īut by flipping the model on its head, the startup claims it can cut collection costs by up to 40 percent. Waste companies have designed their business models to profit from picking up containers that are less than full.

#Smart trash collection full

“You use the same schedule to pick up from the same containers every Wednesday, whether those containers are full or not. “Waste collection has been the using the same model ,” co-founder Jason Gates tells Fast Company. Compology produces a sensor placed inside the garbage can that takes a picture of its contents, automatically analyzes it, and then optimizes the routes for trash collectors based on which bins need to be emptied.

But one San Francisco–based startup wants to tap the Internet of Things to improve collection efficiency. Paying trash collectors to pick up empty garbage cans can be a waste of time and money for states. SIGN UP: Get more news from the StateTech newsletter in your inbox every two weeks Streamlining Trash Pick Up Cuts Collection Costs Technology can help balance costs by improving collection and recycling efficiency. So how do cities, especially those with already tight budgets, manage growing collection rates? In fact, the World Bank predicts that by 2025, global garbage collection expenses will skyrocket by 83 percent, from $205 billion a year in 2010 to $375 billion by 2025. The amount of garbage in cities is growing at an enormous rate, along with garbage collection rates for cities. Trash is getting a high-tech upgrade, and for good reason.