{"id":7664,"date":"2022-03-14T15:13:24","date_gmt":"2022-03-14T22:13:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/routeware.com\/blog\/blog-smart-cities-series-smart-city-solutions-for-solid-waste-challenges\/"},"modified":"2025-05-23T15:17:04","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T19:17:04","slug":"blog-smart-cities-series-smart-city-solutions-for-solid-waste-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/routeware.com\/en_gb\/blog\/blog-smart-cities-series-smart-city-solutions-for-solid-waste-challenges\/","title":{"rendered":"Smart Cities Series: Smart city solutions for solid waste challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"

This blog post is Part 2 in our Smart Cities Series.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

In the race to build better, stronger, more resilient communities, the term \u201csmart city\u201d gets used a lot. It\u2019s a term that\u2019s easy to say and harder to understand \u2014 and one whose nuances are certainly still up for debate.<\/p>\n

And yet in the public works space, at least two things are clear: The first is that public works departments tend to lag behind others in their use of technology to improve life for both staff and citizens. The second is that some solutions do a better job than others at helping public works directors deliver the productivity and customer service improvements they are responsible for.<\/p>\n

Why public works\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n

Aside from mail carriers, no other municipal (or federal) employee frequents each street and dwelling as often as sanitation workers and solid waste haulers.<\/p>\n

For this reason and others, cities interested in generating significant, citizen-centric impact with smart initiatives should seriously consider the ways their public works departments use technology.<\/p>\n

New York\u2019s sanitation department director of communications Belinda Mager said it best in a CNBC article: \u201cYou can go your whole life without ever calling upon a firefighter or a police officer, but you can\u2019t go more than a couple days without having a sanitation worker in your life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Citizens may never see them, or spot them infrequently \u2014 \u201cbut you\u2019d know it if they were not there,\u201d Mager said.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the pandemic has highlighted the truth of this statement, as evidenced by the public response to shuttered recycling programs and other driver-shortage-related collection changes.<\/p>\n

Smart technologies improve resilience in solid waste<\/b><\/h3>\n

In smart cities, the internet of things (IoT) can address the critical challenge of efficient waste management, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health website.<\/p>\n

For instance, RFID tags and other sensors may be placed on items such as trash and recycling bins and dumpsters to instantly transmit data \u2014 to the truck and the office \u2014 about service delivery, driver performance, route efficiency and more.<\/p>\n

It may be argued that the most valuable technologies in solid waste management focus on core collection services to ensure that they remain efficient and effective, and that cities are able to adapt to change in the form of labor shortages, new recycling legislation, or changing customer behaviors.<\/p>\n

If we have learned anything from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is recognizing the importance and value of planning ahead and investing in technology. From increasing residential trash as people work from home and order more items online, to staffing challenges and reconfiguring routes, technology has helped smart cities make it work while keeping residents in the loop \u2014 in real time.<\/p>\n

Smart tools for solid waste challenges<\/b><\/h3>\n

So many moving parts within smart cities are designed to help municipalities increase sustainability and provide better service to their communities while also freeing up funding for other investments. By using smart city technology to automate a variety of processes and allow for data-driven decisions and design, solid waste and public works teams can lead the way in delivering on your smart city agenda and improving the quality of life for people in your community.<\/p>\n

When it comes to addressing solid waste through smart technology, Routeware can help. Our tools<\/a> for smart cities and smart haulers align with municipal and private goals for improving service and lowering costs, not to mention making the work of solid waste easier and more enjoyable \u2014 no small thing, given heightened pressures surrounding talent attraction and retention.<\/p>\n