Every year the world generates over 2 billion metric tons of municipal solid waste. The World Bank estimates that by 2050 annual waste generation will increase by 70 percent—to 3.4 billion metric tons. This is particularly worrying for City managers, who need to ensure effective waste collection and treatment to preserve public health and overall livability.

Most Cities used to have a reactive approach in dealing with waste management, thus investing only in light of emergency situations, or when pushed by regulatory compliance issues. Today they are turning proactive and looking at Smart Waste not as an expenditure item, but as an opportunity to improve quality of urban life.

PE Smart Urban Network includes a ready-to-use Smart Waste application for City and utility managers to enhance municipal solid waste collection. By equipping waste bins with Paradox Engineering – MinebeaMitsumi 6LoWPAN sensors, it becomes possible to collect and send data about the level of filling, date and time of latest waste collection, and predict when the bin will need emptying.

PE Smart CMS also generates alerts in case of fire, vandalism or unauthorized bin movements.

The intelligent routing software can correlate data including types of container, their locations and ownership details, sorting centers, truck fleet operation history as well as maps and traffic, dynamic routing and weather information. This allows trucks to be dispatched when the bins are close to full (or when the City prefers).

Thanks to PE Smart Urban Network, Cities can optimize solid waste collection and the process of route-planning and scheduling for trucks, reducing the number of truck rolls and the mileage associated with them, which in turn reduces the fleet carbon footprint and urban congestion. City manages can also better plan their resources by assessing the appropriate truck fleet and equipment for handling the expected waste volumes, and analyse filling patterns to take data-driven decisions about the quantity, capacity and location of containers.

Alarms sent from bin sensors allow Cities to be far more responsive and reactive to issues such as when a bin is damaged or stolen. Real-time information such as this improves quality of service, but also contributes to create more attractive and livable Cities.