Under the Sarawak Digital Economy Strategy, one of the strategic actions under smart city include developing a smart solid waste management system.
This may include upgrading and improving Works to Green Waste Disposal Centre, integrated and intelligent waste planning and management.
These days, the outlook for waste management in smart cities is changing rapidly as municipalities around the globe are joining in the ‘smart city’ movement to become more efficient and innovative in managing waste.
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With the rising human population as of the main the challenges in major cities around the world, the improvement of urban waste collection and management through the adoption of adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies is becoming a necessity in smart cities.
Aside from the increasing population, the economic and environmental reasons are also the reason for the integration of technologies in waste management.
As of today, one of the latest technologies that is adopted in the field of smart waste management involved the use of sensor to measure the fill level of trash bin.
Measured data is then sent to Cloud for further processing and analysis and from there, the collection of trash and route of waste collection truck can be plan and optimised.
In 2016, Singapore became the first smart city to implement the intelligent rubbish bin concept experimented using smart-solar powered rubbish bins as internet hotspot and fill-level sensors.
Each bin was equipped with a compactor which gave it eight times the capacity of a normal rubbish container.
In Seoul, Korea, the smart waste solutions by introduced by installing Clean Cubes, a solar-powered waste compaction bin with embedded sensors.
This solution has reduced Seoul’s waste collection costs by about 85 per cent.
As integrating technology to waste management around the world is becoming more of a norm it has been giving benefits to smart cities.
For instance, by using the sensor technology, the collection is only initiated when the waste container reaches full limit.
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Signal can be sent on real time to management for collection or an automatic alert when the sensor in the bins stop working, thus ensuring an efficient management of waste collection.
Then, data which may include road restrictions or traffic congestions will help design the route on the waste collection vehicles.
This in turn will save a significant amount of energy, time and also carbon footprint due to unnecessary collection trips.
Aside from efficient management, citizens will also not be facing the issue of overflowing waste containers that attracts rodents as well as other pests and cause odours, thereby giving positive impact on the wellbeing and health of the society.
