In a region of Czech Republic called Dolní Poberouní, 16 towns and municipalities joined together and formed an association named Poberounské odpady. From July 2022, they will collect waste using their own municipal company called POBERO s.r.o. The intention of this association is to gain more control over their waste management costs. One of the main actors of the union was jointly with other municipalities, also the town of Černošice near Prague, more specifically its mayor Filip Kořínek.
“Payments for waste collection and disposal are constantly increasing, and unfortunately it will continue due to rising costs and fees. As responsible managers, we want to ensure that the impact of rising prices on our municipalities is as small as possible in the future.”
Petr Weber, Deputy Mayor of Karlštejn, representative of the Poberounské odpady association (Odpady magazine, October 2021)
Each municipality may continue to have its own frequency of collection system, type of containers and fee structure. The ownership of waste management processes provides the municipalities and towns with a free hand to quickly implement changes and try out innovations that would be very difficult to enforce and deploy under standard waste management circumstances.
Černošice testing smart waste technologies
Similar to other municipalities, waste represents a major topic for Černošice as well – from the city’s point of view, the operational side and costs are demanding, and from the citizens’ point of view, there is an intensive demand for clean streets free of litter and container collection on-time. The coronavirus pandemic also had an impact on increasing waste production:
“We have noticed an increase especially in separates – we attribute this to the constantly increasing awareness of the right approach to sorting by our citizens, as well as environment cleaning activities, in which citizens were engaged actively during the lockdown.”
Renata Petelíková, Head of the Černošice Technical Services Department
As the cycle of filling of the containers for separates like paper, glass or plastic changes constantly, it became more difficult for the town to define the correct collection frequency. These reasons motivated Černošice to install monitoring sensors by Sensoneo in twenty semi-underground containers, so the small town can remotely verify the fill-level and free capacity in the containers in real-time. In mid-March, the town will move these 20 smart sensors with their own help into twenty 1,100 liter containers for waste monitoring purposes.
“Of course, the biggest advantage of sensors is, that we can check the fill levels in bins at any time online. As soon as the container got full, we know about it and can handle accordingly. ”
Renata Petelíková
The sensors monitor different types of separates
In addition to a mobile app, where up-to-date data about the fill level in bins is available to waste management staff straight away, the town also uses an online platform that provides more data, especially practical for the planning of the waste pick-ups. Thanks to POBERO, the town will carry out the waste collection independently, and by using the sensors, the town gains a simple tool for a dynamic waste collection – according to the actual need and through optimal waste collection routes.
Semi-underground containers are one of the ways to collect waste within the town aesthetically and practically in the same time, as they are built into the ground, which reduces the smell and slows down the decomposition of waste. Another advantage of semi-underground bins is the large capacity – 5 cubic meters.
The town of Černošice uses various dimensions of semi-underground containers – 5, 3 and 1.5 cubic meters. In the near future, the town with smart city approach plans to further expand their network of semi-underground containers. Together with the replacement of the public collection company by their own municipal collection service organization, these are the two closest planned waste projects in the town.
