Department of Innovation & Digital Services at Bratislava City Council decided to pilot waste monitoring sensors in small trash bins in the most frequented locations of the city downtown. The City Council plans to use the data from the sensors to ensure a clean city environment free of litter and more efficient frequencies for emptying bins.
Cleanliness is a very important attribute for the citizens to make them feel good in the city. Bratislava City Council works on both long-term and short-term projects that help to achieve this. While the results of the revitalization of public spaces can be seen over months or years, there are also „quick-wins“ which are visible at first glance – and cleanliness of public spaces is certainly part of them. This motivated Department of Innovation & Digital Services at Bratislava City Council to pilot Sensoneo sensors to monitor trash bins located in the most frequented locations of the city center.
The biggest challenge in these busy locations is the high seasonality and irregularity of the filling cycle. Popular hangout spots, such as Old Market square, are busiest on Friday or Saturday evenings. Much more trash is produced and bins get full quickly. However, we do not have exact data and that is what we expect from the pilot project. It is important for us to make better, more informed decisions in the future,
Mária Kostická, Innovation Manager at the City Council.
Early intervention and accurate data
Sensoneo smart sensors were installed at the Old Market Square, Hurbanovo Square, Klobučnícka Street, Primacional Square, Šancova Street, and at the Main Train Station. Sensors will measure bin fullness every 2 hours. All data can be easily integrated into any other data management tools & platform including Sensoneo’s free Citizen app which will navigate the citizens to the nearest available bin. City employees will have the data accessible via a user-friendly mobile application and a cloud platform. This way they can intervene immediately when an incident occurs and promptly remove the clutter. The city is thus able to avoid overturned rubbish bins or blown waste from overfilled containers, which would pollute the surroundings.
Monitoring small trash bins in city centers or tourist attractions is a very common request from cities looking for ways to ensure clean & litter-free public spaces popular among citizens & tourists. These trash bins are available to everyone and filling is unpredictable even if emptied daily. Another factor is the pandemic, which changed the usual behavior forcing cities to look for ways to be more flexible. We believe that thanks to this solution, we will be able to provide the city with valuable data necessary for the right decisions,
Tomáš Vincze, Sales Manager for Slovakia at Sensoneo.
How it works
Sensoneo sensors use ultrasound to measure bin fullness. Besides the fullness, sensors provide fire alarm & overturn notification as well as service verification (emptying). Data are sent via the Internet of Things networks – in this pilot project it is LoRaWAN. According to the schedule, the sensor “wakes up” to measure fullness and sends the data to Sensoneo Platform. Then it falls asleep again. The sensor is made in Slovakia under the principles of eco-design and thanks to this energy-saving mode, the power supply can last without any intervention for several years.
Besides the early intervention capability, the city also wants to use the data to re-consider the current collection frequency set-up: concludes Mária Kostická.
„The pilot project will help us to prove the ability of this technology in regards to the challenge of the clean public spaces. Based on results, we will consider further extension of the project to other locations,“
concludes Mária Kostická.
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