As of spring of 2021, the Czech capital will pilot collecting waste via automated routes able to dynamically respond to changes in waste production and the city’s infrastructure.
Dynamic waste collection is part of an ambitious project of Sensoneo focused on the demonstration of environmental and economic benefits resulting from large-scale deployment of the Sensoneo solution. Given the scope and the tools applied, it is an ultimate and revolutionary model example at a global level. The project is co-funded by the Horizon2020 program of the European Innovation Council.
Thanks to efficient collection planning, the city of Prague will be able to systematically decrease the environmental impact related to the waste collection process, maximize efficiency of the currently available vehicles (trucks) and employ flexibility in the case of unanticipated changes. The ongoing pandemic of COVID-19 is one such example, as it is profoundly changing traditional waste generation patterns and standard collection frequencies, and the current routes are not able to flexibly cope with these changes.
„Cities around the world face challenges related to growing urbanism, increasing volume of waste and insufficient flexibility, which has been now even more highlighted with the ongoing pandemic. Innovative technologies, which we will test during the pilot project, follow Prague’s strategy, focused on sustainability and a circular economy. I am convinced that this project will contribute to our plan of making Prague an active initiator of green technologies.” adds Petr Hlubuček, Deputy Mayor of Prague for the Environment, Infrastructure, Technical Equipment and Safety.
The project, unprecedented and unique by its large-scale deployment, includes the following procedures:
- Collection Efficiency Analysis (AS-IS ANALYSIS) for all waste commodities using Sensoneo’s unique method, based on processing all currently available data related to containers, vehicles and realized routes – provides the identification of weak points and opportunities for savings and improvement of the quality of service;
- Set-up of the new cycling routes and frequencies (TO-BE ANALYSIS) in order to increase the continuous efficiency and quality of service, combines the shortest possible routes, on-time collection, and maximum possible utilization of vehicle capacity with the long-term goal to reduce the number of vehicles used during waste collection;
- Collecting waste via automated routes (flexibly reflecting daily specific requirements) using Sensoneo’s navigation, which is tailor-made for the unique requirements of individual waste collection vehicles -> this facilitates the employment of drivers without prior driving experience in particular districts or particular routes;
- Final evaluation – showcases savings (time, cost, fuel, emissions) with a BEFORE-AFTER comparison
Along with the above, the project also includes the realtime monitoring of 550 containers for electronic waste with Sensoneo sensors to optimize waste collection, ensure sufficient free capacity for citizens and thus, support the recycling of this commodity. The operation part of the project will take one year. The city of Prague thus receives a unique opportunity to live-test the technology, which has the objective to cope with the current waste challenges in cities.
The preparation phase of the project has already started and the launch of the operational phase is scheduled for March 2021. The entire project, including the evaluation, will run until September 2022.
This project is co-funded by the Horizon2020 program of the European Innovation Council under the Agreement no 101010676.
