These Trash Cans Know When They're Full, And Need Picking Up. Imagine a block with 10 public trash cans on it. Now think about the truck that picks them up. At the moment, it goes to all the cans, every time--regardless of what’s inside. Sometimes there’s little to pick up; sometimes it’s overflowing. This is dumb trash collection, the old way. Developed in Finland and used by a few customers there on a trial basis, Enevo is a sensing and route planning system for garbage. "In Europe, there are some customers that have been using it a few months, and they are getting a pretty accurate readings," Marrku Lento, Enevo’s CEO. "In Finland, we have a couple of containers with customers who are next to a little harbor.
We’ve covered a few smart bin solutions. But, like the Renew, the Big Belly is expensive. Whether through sun compaction or better route management, though, fewer collections is better for everyone. Methods to monitor and evaluate household wa... [Waste Manag Res. 2010. For a truly sustainable world, we need zero waste cities.
The current state of worldwide urban development is depressing. We are not moving towards environmentally sustainable design and reduced consumption quickly enough. There have been dire warnings about the implications of global climate change and a strain on the full range of resources from fuel to food. But there are neither regulations nor political will to make the changes to meet the growing challenges for urban communities for the next 20 years and beyond. How much longer can we sustain the high-consumption lifestyle we are used to? Who’s consuming? And what happens to the waste? To get the full picture on consumerism we need to understand inter-connected global systems of production and consumption.
Globally, consumption patterns are unequal and wasteful. Material resources are depleting at such a rate that we are likely to soon face shortages in materials we currently dump in landfill - lead, copper, cadmium, wolfram (tungsten) and zinc, to name a few. Designing zero waste cities. Measuring waste prevention. [Waste Manag. 2013. Zorpas AA. Measuring waste prevention. : (2013) | Pubget.