A Sensor's Tale

"You're installing a trash-cam? Neat, but how does it work?" Believe us, we get this question a lot. And because it sounds a bit mythical, we would like to invite you on a journey to a place that never sleeps. No passport needed, and you may stay seated throughout the entire trip!

It certainly sounds a little sci-fi: a smart dumpster that keeps an eye on what is going on in your waste, communicates with other systems, and makes recommendations about how to improve services?! Totally Star Trek and Dr. Who.

Most people have never heard of smart recycling technology, and that's no surprise. Waste is one of those things we tend to only notice when something isn't working well. As long as everything is running smoothly, it's out of sight and out of mind. 

On a corporate and institutional level, however, your waste containers warrant a little bit of TLC for a number of reasons: from improving recycling rates to coddling your bank account. So let's get back to the initial question:

How does it work?

If you've used our service before, you know the practical part of it: our mystical waste wizards take a dragon over to your site and fairy-godmother a little magic mirror onto your bin (Ok, the dragon is a car and the magic mirror is a bunch of sensors, but that doesn't make it any less fascinating).

At RecycleSmart, we use optical, ultrasonic, and energy monitoring for containers and compactors. They are small enough to fit in any bin and powerful enough to collect a ton of relevant data on fill levels, composition, accuracy of pickups, and so on.

• 'Optical sensor' is fancy speak for camera. RecycleSmart's high resolution trash-cams turn your dumpster into a photo-op, multiple times a day. 100% instagram-able.
• You probably know ultrasonic technology is also used in medical imaging (like for example the ultrasounds people post of their babies). The sensor emits sound waves and different materials reflect them back with varying intensity. When the sensor picks up the returning waves, it can piece together the information and build a 3D picture of the inner life of your dumpster.
• Energy monitoring measures everything to do with electricity in your dumpster and is especially useful for compactors. Among other things, it gives you an overview over energy consumption, compacting efficiency, and system functionality. If your waste room is equipped with access card entry, you can even track who forgot to close the door last weekend and let the racoons in to party.

Trash Talking

Our sensors are natural communicators: through the Internet of Things (IoT), they give new meaning to the phrase 'trash talk.' New data automatically gets transmitted back to the RecycleSmart lair (of course we operate out of a bat cave!) and processed via our very own software. 

Everything you need to know about your garbage gets delivered directly to your computer or mobile device. You can sort and evaluate the data by different factors, and choose from a bunch of options - such as scheduling special pickups or setting up appointments with the fairy godmothers of garbage: our waste auditors. Together, they recycled happily ever after! 

Better garbage, better end.

Liked this tale? Talk to one of our waste oracles today and find out what trash miracles your future might hold. Aussi en français!