A quarter of all waste bins in apartment buildings and businesses in Växjö have been fitted with level meters, which are connected via Wexnet's Lorawan network to Bintel's technical platform. When the total number of bins at a collection point reaches a certain level, the system calculates when it is most optimal for the refuse truck to arrive.
-We will test the benefits of the AI technology and optimize during the project based on different parameters, says Per Gunnarsson IT and Digitalization Manager at SSAM.
- It will be exciting to get started, but we already have a lot of data to act on. The sensors have been installed since December 2021, says Jennie Orton, CTO at Bintel.
The background is that studies have shown that Växjö residents' waste bins are far from full when they are emptied and that half of them could be emptied more efficiently based on fill rate instead of static driving rounds.
- The data we get can also be used in other areas, such as how well different Recycling room performs and comparing them with national indices. "Bintel's goal is to increase the amount of material separated and become as resource-efficient as possible," continues Jennie Orton.
The food and Residual waste bins of nearly 450 Recycling room are connected in the pilot project, which will run until February 2023. This makes "Smart bins" the largest installation for demand-responsive emptying in Sweden, perhaps even in the world.
At the end of the project, an evaluation will be made of how the demand-responsive emptying differs from the current system in terms of aspects such as driving distances and fuel consumption.
-After that, we will have to decide whether this is something that should be introduced permanently," concludes Per Gunnarsson.
