Smart Sensors Optimize Prague’s Underground Waste Collection

Smart waste management in Prague, Czechia

Project and customer description

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic and the 14th largest city in the European Union. It has a population of approximately 1.3 million, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have nearly 2.6 million residents.

Operator ICT is Prague’s municipal enterprise dedicated to Smart City projects that also manages consultancy in ICT and implementation of ICT projects for municipal districts.

Pražské Služby is the second-largest municipal service company owned by the City of Prague, responsible for waste management. In 2023, the company collected 80,431 tonnes of separated waste and 253,806 tonnes of solid waste.

Challenge

The City of Prague has been considering the implementation of underground bins and completed one of the largest installations as early as 2018. This investment served as the main driving force for adopting smart technology to monitor waste fill levels. To optimize waste collection for these bins and obtain real-time data on their fill levels, Operator ICT initiated the selection process for a smart waste management partner. In the autumn of 2018, the City of Prague finalized the process and chose to partner with Sensoneo, a global provider of smart, data-driven waste management solutions.

The entire project aligns with the Smart Prague 2030 plan, which also includes the “Zero Waste Plan,” based on responsible and smart waste management.

Solution

Partnering with Sensoneo, so far Prague deployed 3,294 ultrasonic fill-level sensors across the city to monitor fill-levels in underground bins. This innovative solution provides real-time data on bin fullness, enabling precise and cost-effective waste management. These smart sensors became the eyes of the city’s waste management system, providing real-time data on bin fullness across multiple waste streams like beverage cartons, white glass, colored glass, metal, and multi-commodity waste.

All data from Sensoneo sensors go to Prague´s official data platform – Golemio, where it is visualized and used for predictive models on waste collection frequencies.

Impact

The benefits extend far beyond financial savings. By reducing unnecessary routes for waste collection vehicles, the city has significantly decreased carbon emissions, noise, and traffic congestion. Bins are collected exactly when needed, preventing overflow and littering while ensuring cleanliness around them.

Key achievements

• Significant cost savings
• Prevention of unnecessary pickups
• Comprehensive data analytics on waste production and bin fill-levels
• Optimized waste collection routes
• Reduction of bin overflow incidents