Smart Waste Management System

Many municipalities today are adopting a smart waste management system to improve sanitation in public areas while reducing the cost of collecting trash and recycling.

A smart waste management system uses trash and recycling containers outfitted with sensors that monitor the amount of material in bins and alert sanitation crews when they need to be changed. These Internet of Things (IoT) devices may also be configured to monitor odors and temperature within the bins as well as their location, tilt status and the types of refuse they contain.

Armed with information from a smart waste management system, sanitation crews can operate more efficiently, collecting trash and recycling or addressing noxious odors on an as-needed basis rather than making trips to every container whether it needs attention or not. 

Additional advantages of smart waste management system include:

• Lower costs for managing waste. By scheduling more efficient routes, cities can reduce the cost of labor as well as fuel and maintenance for vehicles.
• Reduced congestion and pollution on city streets. Because waste management vehicles tend to stop often and create traffic tie-ups, fewer trips inevitably means less congestion as well as fewer vehicle emissions.
• Improved waste management service. Because smart waste management programs alert crews before containers need emptying, cities can avoid the presence of overflowing bins that lead to infestations, public health risks and the kind of negative attention that steers citizens away from public areas and local businesses.
• Greater control of waste management activity. Waste management services often use a variety of vendors to collect various types of trash and recycling. Smart waste management using IoT devices can provide greater insight into both the need for services and the performance of vendors.

How does a smart waste management system work?

Smart waste management systems use many of the smart technologies that are part of any smart city project.

• Smart waste IoT sensors can be retrofitted onto old containers or built into new containers to provide city managers with a wealth of data about the status of trash and recycling bins.
• Network connections – wired, wireless and cellular – connect sensors to each other and to the cloud, transmitting vast amounts of streaming data to data analytics platforms managed by the city.
• An IoT management platform allows public works employees to monitor and manage thousands of trash and recycling containers as well as the sensors within them.
• Powerful data analytics software aggregates data from thousands of containers in real time, analyzing and converting it into intelligence that can be used by public works crews and city planners.

Spectrum Enterprise: an infrastructure partner for smart waste management systems

As one of the country’s largest providers of connectivity solutions to enterprises and governments, Spectrum Enterprise provides the network infrastructure that cities required to implement smart waste management systems and other smart city technologies.

Spectrum has more than 840,000 miles of fiber network infrastructure nationwide, with plans to invest another $25 billion by 2021 to build out additional capabilities and capacity. By continually investing in local communities, Spectrum is perfectly positioned to provide the foundation of connectivity that smart city technologies require.

When adopting a smart waste management system, municipalities can rely on Spectrum Enterprise for:

• A high-performance, high-bandwidth network that can connect smart city waste management sensors and data analytics platforms with symmetrical connection speeds up to 100 Gbps.
• Diverse connectivity options for smart waste management solutions, including thousands of WiFi hotspots and one of the nation’s largest LTE cellular networks – Spectrum Mobile.
• Gigabit connections for homes and businesses within the Spectrum service footprint, enabling citizens and business owners to fully participate in smart city initiatives.

Learn more about Spectrum Smart Cities at www.spectrumsmartcities.com.