Smart Waste Management

Smart waste management solutions are helping cities to keep public areas cleaner while reducing the cost of collecting trash and recycling.

As part of a smart city framework that uses technology to improve city services and quality of life, a smart waste management system uses trash and recycling bins outfitted with Internet of Things (IoT) sensors to alert maintenance crews when bins require maintenance or need to be emptied. With a clear understanding of real-time conditions at every public trash and recycling bin throughout the city, municipalities can plan garbage collection efforts more efficiently while tending to problem areas immediately.

Smart waste management systems involve many of the same technologies used by other smart city initiatives:

• IoT sensors. Trash and recycling bins can be produced or retrofitted with sensors that provide data on location of the bin, temperature inside, fill level, odor, type of refuse and tilt status of receptacles.
• Network connectivity. Smart waste management requires a high-performance network that can connect all smart waste sensors and transmit data to the cloud.
• Data analytics software. Data must be aggregated, analyzed and transformed into actionable intelligence for waste management officials and maintenance crews.
• An IoT platform. City officials require a management platform for remotely monitoring and managing smart bins.
• User interfaces. Waste management crews and city officials need dashboards and alerts that help them to gain clear visibility into the status of bins throughout the city.

Additionally, many newer receptacles may be outfitted with solar panels that can power compacting functions within the bin, increasing the capacity of containers and allowing for longer intervals between collections.

Benefits of smart waste management technology

With smart waste management solutions, cities can:

• Improve efficiency. With smart waste management using IoT sensors, cities can direct maintenance crews to bins that actually need attention, rather than uniformly checking on every bin in the city whether it needs maintenance or not.
• Reduce costs. By enabling maintenance crews to work more efficiently, cities can reduce the cost of labor and overtime pay. More efficient routes also help to reduce fuel and maintenance costs.
• Extend the life of assets. Real-time data enables more efficient use of truck fleets, reducing wear and tear and extending the life of these vehicles. 
• Reduce congestion. By minimizing trips to empty trash and recycling bins, cities can put fewer trucks on the road and reduce congestion, noise and air pollution.
• Enhancing public spaces. By emptying bins before they are full or overflowing, cities can improve the appearance of public spaces, reduce infestation by pests and quickly address odors and unsightly messes that may deter pedestrians from public areas and business districts.
• Simplify management. Waste management in urban areas is often conducted through public/private partnerships with a variety of vendors. The real-time data provided by smart waste management solutions can help to manage these partnerships more effectively and cost-efficiently to more meet waste management objectives despite budgetary constraints.

Spectrum Enterprise: infrastructure for smart waste management programs

Like all smart city initiatives, smart city waste management programs require a network infrastructure that can easily manage the flood of data that smart waste management sensors produce in real time. 

Spectrum Enterprise, a leading provider of connectivity solutions to governments and enterprises throughout the U.S., already provides a foundation of connectivity with more than 840,000 miles of fiber network infrastructure nationwide. With another $25 billion investment in additional capacity slated to be completed by 2021, Spectrum is fully committed to serving as a trusted partner for cities implementing a wide variety of smart technologies.

To enable smart waste management programs to work smoothly and flawlessly, Spectrum Enterprise provides:

• A two-way, fully interactive digital network with symmetrical connection speeds up to 100 Gbps for enterprise clients and governments.
• Diverse connectivity options, thanks to thousands of WiFi hotspots (which will soon offer speeds up to 1 Gbps) and one of the nation’s largest LTE cellular networks.
• Gigabit connections for homes and businesses in the Spectrum service area.

With Spectrum Enterprise as a partner, cities have the connectivity framework and state-of-the-art infrastructure to take advantage of new and innovative smart city services.

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