Smart Waste Disposal

It’s clear from Conor’s previous post on marine pollution that waste is a global problem. In particular, the problem is what how we collect our waste and where it goes. Here are some summary statistics on municipal waste in the EU and Ireland (municipal waste is a blanket term for everyday items discarded by the public. As such, it does not include waste from businesses or large corporations). For now, I won’t delve into similar statistics for across the pond in the great US of A as I’m fearful of what I could find.

Ireland does not fare well. However, it is not all doom and gloom. Between 2001-2014, Ireland reduced the amount of municipal waste sent to landfill from 71% to 21% (CSO, 2018). This is a substantial improvement so let’s hope it continues long into the future. Other countries are making similar improvements. But how are these improvements being made?Do/Could Information systems have a role to play? In my estate the bins are collected every Thursday. A restaurant I worked in had them collected every Friday. This is a simple system. It’s hard to mess up, but could it be improved upon? Sometimes bins are collected when they are near empty. Sometimes they are chock-full but have to sit around for a week before being cleared. Surely there must be a more effective way to deal with this. “Enevo” is a Finnish company that makes devices for “smart” waste disposal. These devices monitor how full a business’ bins are so that they are only collected when necessary. they are commercially available and currently used by small businesses and large corporations alike. The benefits of this service are two-fold:

1. Businesses save money by only paying for the waste pickups they need.

2. Enevo’s trucks use their fuel efficiently – only picking up full bins.

This has landed Enevo a wide range of clients, most noticeably famous fierce rivals McDonalds and Burger King. A trial in Nottingham, UK, saw McDonalds install 7 of Enevo’s sensors in their bins. This led to a 12% decrease in costs and also a 50% increase in recycling diversion (Crofts, 2018). These figures are nothing to be scoffed at. Whether this type of service will be made available to the public any time soon remains to be seen, but even if it is only used by businesses it will have a drastic effect on waste management worldwide. As a result of the more efficient fuel consumption, this smart waste disposal also results in a reduction of CO2 emissions, the benefits are endless! Indeed there are also other businesses that offer similar services. Netbin and Nordsense also aim to improve their clients waste efficiency while saving them money. however, lets face it, when considering waste disposal, we're not interested in big corporations saving money. As such, it is refreshing to see that smartbins installed in citys like Amsterdam and London (AND Trinity!) have reduced waste collection by up to 85%! (Dimitrova, 2018).

This is a trend I can definitely get behind.

References:

Crofts, A. (2018).How we saved McDonald’s 12% - Enevo. [online] www.enevo.com. Available at: https://www.enevo.com/blog/how-we-saved-mcdonalds-12-44 [Accessed 13 Mar. 2020].

Disruptor Daily. (2017).Enevo: Using Smart Sensors to Make Waste Management More Efficient. [online] Available at: https://www.disruptordaily.com/enevo-using-smart-sensors-make-waste-management-efficient/ [Accessed 13 Mar. 2020].

Dimitrova, M. (2018).Smart bins reduce waste collection by up to 85%. [online] www.themayor.eu. Available at: https://www.themayor.eu/en/smart-bins-reduce-waste-collection-by-up-to-85 [Accessed 13 Mar. 2020].