The Cube, the Cloud, and Spatial Data: Changing the Waste Industry one bin at a time
Simon Best
UPG Solutions
Executive Summary
Australia is one of the highest waste producing countries in the world on a per capita basis1. Contrary to popular belief, domestic waste collection is a complex process that involves many factors such as collection rounds, waste yields, tight timeframes, cars parked in front of bins, bins that are forgotten to be placed in the correct location by ratepayers, and public space bins. Much of the information on waste collection routes is stored in driver’s head and this poses a potential risk to the Council and/or waste collection company.
Route optimisation, telematics, RFID, digital work order dispatch, spatial data analysis, and cloud-hosted infrastructure can reduce the complexity for daily waste collection operations. At the core of this process is the waste bins, many customers (the ratepayers), and a supplier (Council), who may provide the service, or sub-contract to a third party (the contractor).
Every ratepayer generates waste regardless of the economy, political landscape, weather, or their socio-economic statuses. Each ratepayer expects their waste to be collected by their local Council on the correct, designated day. If a bin is missed Council is the first to hear about it from a disgruntled ratepayer. Without evidence to explain why the bin was not collected, Council may face the prospect (and cost) of having to return to the property to empty the bin.
Councils across Australia have been, and continue to be, strong users of GIS for asset management, property data, planning, and natural disaster management. Technology has allowed Councils to leverage their GIS investment further, through the introduction of additional GIS-based solutions to better manage waste collection.
Bringing this GIS technology to the Australian waste industry has been shown to increase service level benefits to the ratepayer, Council, and contractor, and even open the opportunity to consider a user-pays model.
Problems such as a bin that isn’t present on waste-collection day are photographed by the waste truck and sent in real-time by the 3/4G mobile network. The photos are viewable via the web in real-time, and allows the Council’s customer service staff to resolve ratepayer enquiries more efficiently and matter-of-factly.
Waste contractors who want to lead the way by adopting route optimisation, GIS, and other technology tools will also benefit from improved daily operations, the ability to monitor driver safety and behaviour in real-time, and provide an increased level of service to their customers.
Integrated technology and software deployed via the cloud allows access for all levels within the organisation – from the CEO, through fleet managers, operational managers, and administration staff to real-time waste truck fleet data and contract performance metrics.
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