Outsmarting Growing Waste Generation with Smart Waste Management

Globally, the amount of waste generated is growing. According to the World Bank, in 2016, cities generated 2.01 billion tons of solid waste, amounting to a footprint of 0.74 kilograms per person per day. With rapid population growth and urbanization, annual waste generation is expected to increase by 70% to 3.40 billion tons in 2050. With waste generation comes the issue of waste management. When comparing countries of varying levels of development, residents in developing countries suffer the most from unsustainably managed waste. In low-income countries, more than 90% of waste is disposed in unregulated dumps or openly burned, leading to serious health, safety, and environmental consequences. The poor management of waste creates an environment where diseases can manifest, and also negatively affects the climate through methane generation. In 2016, there was an estimated 1.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO2-equivalent) greenhouse gas emissions generated from solid waste management.

Within the solid waste group, food and plastic waste stand out as having a greater impact on the environment. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, it has been estimated that if food waste was a country, it would be the third highest emitter of greenhouse gases after the U.S. and China. Globally, one third of greenhouse emissions come from agriculture. Of the food produced, 30% is wasted, amounting to about 1.8 billion tons a year. A report by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), warns that if plastic production stays on its current trajectory, the resulting greenhouse gas emissions could reach 1.34 billion tons per year by 2030, equivalent to the emissions of 300 new 500MW coal-fired power plants, hindering our ability to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5˚C.

In order to effectively tackle the issues resulting from rising waste generation, companies have leveraged the use of IoT technologies and AI to develop smart waste solutions. IoT sensors can be attached to trash bins allowing them to be connected and remotely monitored. From these sensor devices, data such as fill level and date/time of latest waste collection can be collected, while also generating alerts in the event of fire, vandalism, or unauthorized bin movements. The data collected from these sensors can be further analyzed through the use of AI, allowing for predictions to be made on bin emptying cycles. Trucks can then be dispatched to bins that are almost full or filled to a specified level based on a city’s requirements. This will allow city managers to make better informed decisions on allocation of their truck fleet and equipment, further improving the efficiency and quality of waste collection services, and providing added cost savings in the form of lower fuel usage and maintenance costs.

Sensoneo, a provider of enterprise-grade smart waste management solutions, recently partnered with Sigfox Germany to introduce an end-to-end solution for monitoring indoor waste bins and optimizing waste collection. The solution involves the use of Sigfox 0G sensor button technology to aid in identifying full bins, as well as Sensoneo’s smart waste management system to collect the data and develop optimized routes. Another company, SLOC—an IoT solutions provider with a focus on waste management and logistics—collaborated with Telekom’s Magenta Business to optimize their waste management sensor solutions. The sensor devices monitor temperature and movement of the waste containers, and report battery status to facilitate timely maintenance. Similarly, the solution targets optimized waste disposal route planning to reduce CO2 emissions by saving on mileage and road use. There are also an increasing number of startups that look to tackle the issue of waste. One of them is Lumitics, a startup based in Singapore, which focuses on targeting food waste by using image recognition, AI, and data analytics. Lumitics’ tool increases visibility of food wastage in kitchens, providing chefs with added insights into how to optimize their operations to minimize food waste and cost.

According to ABI Research’s Smart City Market Data report, it is forecasted that IoT revenue from Smart Bins and Environment Sensors will reach US$305 million by 2026, up from US$94 million in 2021, growing at a 5-year CAGR of 26.5%. This forecast highlights the growing emphasis on the use of IoT in waste and environment management. As the global population continues to increase, it is prudent that governments allocate more resources to tackling the growing issue of waste, while companies continue to develop and innovate their solutions. The use of IoT and AI technologies in smart waste management will allow cities to more effectively and efficiently organize waste collection and optimize their resources. In addition to protecting citizens from potential diseases, smarter waste management can help lower greenhouse gas emissions from waste as well as from the trucks used in its collection. To take it one step further, waste recycling can be implemented into waste management solutions as part of wider circular urban economy practices.